Rising from the Ashes
by Elizabeth Carter
Summary: Book one: Sovereign is dead, the Citadel is in ruins and so are many lives. Before the Spectre finds away to stop the Reapers the phoenix must once more fly. Will Shepard rise from the ashes of fall into the depths of the abyss? note: Fem-Shepard/Liara ME2-ME3
1. Rising from the ashes

AUTHOR: Elizabeth E. Carter

TITLE: RISING FROM THE ASHES

SERIES: Mass Effect

PAIRING: Paragon F Shepard / Liara

CATEGORY: action / romance  
RATING: M for mature

SPOILER ALERT: ME2, some of the books, comics and ME3

SUMMARY: Sovereign is dead, the citadel in ruins the council is saved, but Shepard's task is yet unfinished, The Reapers remain a threat. And life is always in the balance (A rewrite of ME2-ME3 with quite a few changes thus it has slightly become an AU from cannon as most fanfictin is)

DISCLAIMER: Bioware owns the concept of Mass Effect and all of its characters. This fanfic is for entertainment and no profit what-so-ever

And a special thank you to my wonderful team of beta readers. Two of which are reediting the whole thing.

AN1: It seemed that Shepard would have been a bit more banged up than seen at the epilogue of the Paragon: saving the Council ending. I drew out the drama a bit more. Inspired by the Sam-bashing in SG1 episodes this pays homage to that as well. Sorry for lack of med-research, inspired as I said by scenes in Stargate SG-1 and Dr. Janet's Fraiser. And I wanted to incorporate some of the tec from what cannon Shepard was given in the Lazarus Project here, so that it more-or-less matches. Went though a bit of rewriting, so even if you've read this, parts have changed a bit.

AN2: Ash's lines inspired by her character in the Undercity in Knight's of the Old Republic. Done in the classic ME developer way of their many many Easter eggs and homage to the general Sci-Fi genera. Looking back now I can see that my writing has evolved from this chapter into the later ones.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Chapter 1: Rising from the Ashes

The image of the commander unloading her pistol into the chest cavity of the Saren-husk was burned in the chief's mind. Shepard had launched herself into the air, tackled the husk in a fluid movement that became a dark dance of death. The snarl of anger on the Spectre's face as she brought her side arm to full bear until it overheated and nearly exploded in the woman's hand. The bodies tumbled back to the garden's earth.

The sound of inorganic pain moaned above them, shifted, all around them, grinding metal against metal from behind. Liara summoned to her fingertips the power of a _singularity_, Williams lifted her assault rifle, her own implant attuned to the mechanics of the firearm set to overkill and aimed at the spot Shepard had fallen.

Shepard tossed the body from her even as detritus from the battle overhead rained down upon them. "GO!" Shepard shouted over the din of explosions. She accentuated her command with a forceful biotic push that sent both Liara and Williams across the quad.

The chief rolled to her feet just in time to see a massive chuck of Sovereign's hull cascade through the tower's shattered roof right onto the commander.

"NO! No it's not fair!" Ashley screamed. "You can't take her! It's not fair! You can't take her, you can't!"

Liara moaned "Oh Goddess no…please…"

The ground beneath quaked as even more debris crashed down upon the horror struck women. Smoke cloyed the air, sparks erupted, shrapnel fell and darkness consumed consciousness.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEME

"They're here!" a voice broke out from the invading light now visible in the darkness of destruction. "Captain, I found them." A male voice called out.

Ashley opened her eyes, but it did little good, for the world looked as if someone had smeared it with grey chalk. It dawned on the young marine that something was wrong with her visor. She gingerly removed her helmet just as Captain Anderson knelt before her. He smiled at her, "It's alright, it's over. You're safe."

Ashley looked over the man's shoulder to see that Dr. T'Soni had her own helmet removed so she could breathe. Her blue eyes clouded with tears that had nothing to do with the smoking ruins.

"Where's the Commander?" Anderson asked.

Ashley swallowed the lump that had suddenly grown in her throat. Tears fell down the proud marine's face as she shook her head. "I….she…my fault…she chose…to save us…she should have shielded herself. She…she's…gone…"

Anderson winced; the words hit him like a physical blow. Shepard had been the best of humanity, their best hope to prove themselves to the Council - to the other races. Her orders to protect the Council had insured humanity a place on the Citadel Council. She had given so much of herself. Others had died today - a great many humans to protect the Council. Some would blame her choice, but Shepard must have seen the long reaches of her decision to protect the Council even at the loss of so many Alliance vessels. Because of that choice the Citadel and the Council were now indebted to humanity.

Liara looked to the spot where Shepard had been crushed. "She gave her life for ours." Liara spoke perhaps more to herself than anyone listening.

"She made a choice, Chief." Anderson said. "Just as she did on Elysium, just as she did on Virmire. She chose the Council, you and Dr. T'Soni. She died as she lived, a hero. Honor that sacrifice."

'Her blood is on my hands.' Ashley gave no voice to her thoughts. 'If she would have used her biotics to shield herself, she might have lived.' She looked at the openly weeping asari. The young archaeologist hadn't simply lost a commanding officer, or friend she had lost the love of her life, her intended. Ashley felt more guilt than before. 'I am so sorry…'

Broken and wounded, Ashley and T'Soni allowed the medic to lead them from the decrepit metal skeleton of what remained of the Citadel tower. More now than ever Williams resented the Council. If they had only listened to the skipper before Ilos... just listened... so much could have been avoided. All this death. Shepard would still be alive. She and Dr. T'Soni would be planning their nuptials. Instead a funeral lay in the future. It wasn't fair.

Liara looked back to the mound of sheered burning metal "It can't be…" She dare hope to trust what she thought she saw.

Anderson frowned; clearly the young woman was going onto shock. He gathered from the rumors he had heard that Shepard and Dr. T'Soni shared an intimate relationship. He had no idea how asari related to death, but he knew young lovers were reluctant to believe the one they gave their heart to was dead, even more unwilling to leave their bodies behind. "Dr. T'Soni..." he moved towards her then paused as he followed the young woman's gaze to the rubble.

Black and red moved against grey metal.

Black and red? The colours of Colossus armour!

"Samantha!" T'Soni started rushing towards the debris.

"Skipper!" Ashley right next to her.

"I'll be damned." Anderson laughed with relief, awe and disbelief. "Shepard... how in the hell?"

Lumbering out of the detritus, clutching her side was none other than Commander Samantha Shepard first human Spectre. With a massive mega watt smile on her face. Blood slid down her grime caked face, but she was alive. Despite all the odds she lived!

Liara was at her side embracing the woman she loved with all her being, kissing her face frantically. "I believed you dead, _Melethril_."

"Owww!" Shepard moaned before she fainted.

"Oh!" Liara lessened her hold but only slightly. Samantha's weight was quickly falling upon her. Liara slight lithe form belied the strength inherent of the asari but the shock of seeing her beloved alive nearly caused the young maiden to buckle at the knees.

"I got you Skipper." Ashley's voice cracked with overjoyed elation. As Shepard had when on Virmire, now Williams carried the fallen comrade over her shoulder rushing for the medical-evac Mako. Upon entering the cabin she gently dropped the commander down on a gurney. "Medic!"

Dr. Chakwas rushed to the gurney pushing Williams to one side. "Shepard, can you hear me? Shepard?"

Williams and Dr. T'Soni ducked out of the way as a field medic rushed past on their flank intent on getting to Shepard's side. She quickly detached the locks on the hardshell cuirass and dropped it to the side out of the way. With a pair of shears she cut open the commander's tunic and sports bra. Blood gleamed from a four inch gash along Shepard's right side, where Saran-husk had plunged his talons. A second medic picked up the chest piece and tossed it to Williams who managed to catch her commander's armour before it clattered to the floor of the Mako.

"How's she doing?" Chakwas demanded still trying to assess the extent of Shepard's wounds. There was a regular menu of injuries: deep lacerations, extensive blood loss, broken ribs, a collapsed lung, internal bleeding, concussion and that was only what was evident on a cursory examination.

"Respiration is shallow, pulse is weak and erratic," the nurse answered.

Chakwas pried open Shepard's eyes, first the left then the right shining a penlight into them trying to assess head trauma. "Commander, answer me."

"I've lost the pulse."

"She's in de-Fib. Bag her." Chakwas announced suddenly. "I want an EKG and an EEG stat." She punched Shepard's chest to try and restart the heart's regular rhythm.

The medic quickly and efficiently attached leads to Shepard's chest over her heart as well as to her biotic implant which connected her to a medical scanner. The medical HUD bleeped to life, but made no other sound.

"Are we in?" Chakwas demanded still forcing air from the bag into Shepard's lungs.

Liara held her breath as she looked to the monitors showing a flatline, the single monotone note: an electronic death knell. She was acutely aware of Chief Williams pleading under her breath for her God to save the Spectre. Her own prayers were already being sent to the Goddess that her beloved be restored.

"Charge the paddles to one hundred. Take over." Chakwas shifted from her position over Shepard so the medic could take over the air-bagging that was helping Shepard to start breathing again. Chakwas took the paddles of the defibrillator from the nurse.

"Clear?"

"Clear." Said the nurse bagging Shepard. She lifted up and away from the body.

Liara jumped at the sound of the paddles discharging and seeing her lover's body jolt off the gurney.

"What've we got?" Chakwas handed the paddles to her assistant beside her.

"Nothing."

"Charge to two hundred."

"Charging."

Liara came to herself forcing herself out of the horror stricken daze of watching the medical team trying with near febrile desperation to bring Shepard back to life. Ignoring the protests at her movements and the threats that she would be forcefully removed, the asari moved towards her lover's head.

"Embrace Eternity." She uttered softly as her eyes went black. All the noise from Dr. Chakwas' team faded away she was dimly aware that the physician had ordered them to clear once more. Again the sound of discharging paddles echoed loudly but all of Liara's will was steeped in ferreting out the spirit of the Commander from the darkness of death. She would not allow her love to slip into the cold unknown, not when they had so much to live for.

"Pulse is back. Regular sinus." The nurse called out. "She's out of de-fib."

"Okay, let's get her in the infirmary, let's move."

"Joker! Get down here now!" Ashley barked the order. Despite the fact the pilot was technically a superior officer, the Gunnery Chief had no qualms about issuing the orders. She doubted the sarcastic pilot would even protest.

"Already on the away, Chief."

Liara remained touching Shepard's brow. Her mind mingling deeply with the Specter's. She deepened the bond drawing out the memories of her beloved, to their ancestral core. As they had when they first made love their spirits intertwined, their mind becoming one. In one desperate moment, fearful of what the future might be, Liara caused her nervous system to blend with that of Shepard's. If her the love of her life was going to die, the asari maiden would hold a part of her to live on.

Whatever Liara was doing to Shepard it was stabilizing the Commander, Chakwas was sure of it. She knew the asari were able to blend their nervous system to that of another, generally this was for reproduction, but perhaps Liara was using such a method to connect Shepard's body to a stronger, healthier nervous system. Liara's heart seemed to be beating for both of them.

For a moment Shepard's eyes flickered open. The medic who was assisting with the breathing took the bag away, allowing for the commander to drawing a gasp of air. At the same moment Shepard inhaled Liara exhaled. Her eyes changed from full black to their usual azure blue.

"He-ey beautiful," Shepard managed to mutter as she quickly focused her eyes on the very worried look on her lover's face. Her consciousness didn't last long and just as quickly as she had woken she slipped back into unconsciousness, but at least she hadn't gone back into de-fib.

*Medi-vac, _Normandy_ here ready for pickup, hatch is open.* Joker's voice came over the comm-system. *Med-bay on stand-by.*

"Good work, Lieutenant." Chakwas answered.

Ashley hadn't even been aware that there was a driver in the Mako and only became aware of so now because he was deftly maneuvering the ambulance into the bay where _Normandy's_ Mako used to be parked. Chakwas and her team deployed from the vehicle, rushing Shepard out of the bay, into the lift and headed up for the infirmary. Liara was on their heels the whole time. Coming back to herself, Williams rushed for the lift just as the doors closed, berating herself for those few moments of unfocused worry because now she'd have to wait to catch the elevator on the return trip as the others were already gone.

When the lift returned she bound inside, leaving the worried voices of the crew behind her, and slammed the controls, lurching the lift into upward motion. As soon as the doors opened Ash was sprinting past the mess hall and sleeper pods to the rear of the second deck, still clutching the Commander's dented and bloodied cuirass, Ashley made for the infirmary.

The infirmary's surgical bay was a hive of activity: medics scurrying trying to get units of blood into the Commander as she was being prepped for surgery. Chakwas wasn't seen; no doubt she had made for the wash station to sanitize herself. While she was away, a nurse forcibly removed Liara from Shepard's side.

The effect was immediate as Shepard began flat-lining the instant Liara's nervous system was ripped from hers.

"What are you doing!?" Chakwas barked at the nurse who was attempting to sedated the struggling asari to prevent her from reaching the Commander's side.

Liara's hand glowed an electric blue as she summoned her power to send the nurse as far from her as she could.

"She's clearly hysterical, I thought it best to sedate her." The nurse said matter-of-factly, slowly getting to her feet and glaring at Liara.

"Don't! Dr. T'Soni, reestablish your link." Chakwas ordered. "Quickly!"

Glaring at the nurse the asari shoved past her to Shepard's side. Her voice a husked whisper as her hand touched Shepard's brow. "Embrace Eternity, Samantha."

Williams watched as Liara's eyes once more became completely black.

"Doctor I don't understand, why do you allow her near our commander?" The nurse stated bluntly as she disdainfully watched the asari woman and the unconscious figure.

"Asari can link their nerves system to another. Whatever Dr. T'Soni is doing is keeping Shepard stable and alive." Chakwas pointed to the monitors that were now reading normal pulse, sinus rhythm and heartbeat.

The nurse inwardly seethed that some alien was interfering, but outwardly seemed to concede to the older doctor, "I see..."

"We need to stop the bleeding, she has a punctured lung and God knows what else." Chakwas said, returning her attention to Shepard. "I am sorry Chief you're going to have to leave."

Ashley hesitated slightly. "Doc... I have the same blood type as the Skipper, we're both B-positive. Blood, bone marrow, organs, whatever she needs I'll gladly donate them. Just please... save her."

Changing her mind about ordering Ashley to leave, she nodded. "Your blood is greatly appreciated, Chief." Chakwas turned and commanded the nurse that had tried to sedate Liara only moments before." Marina, see to the transfusion."

Ashley sat upon one of the beds watching, or rather attempting to see what was going on in the surgical bay. Chakwas was calling for a plethora of medical equipment, ordering medics to perform various duties the Chief couldn't follow. Unlike her sisters she never got into medical holo-vids so she didn't follow the medical language Chakwas was issuing. All she could understand was that as long as T'Soni maintained the asari mind meld, Shepard was stabilized.

Nurse Marina grumbled, "Even if it's amazing it's still hocus pocus. That's not real medicine. I'm with you Chief; asari mumbo-jumbo has no place on this ship."

Williams didn't say anything at first; the nurse taking it as a sign of liberty to continue to speak openly. "That little asari girl playing at doctor with the Commander's life is deplorable. It's their kind that put the Commander in jeopardy in the first place."

Ashley glowered. "The Commander won't like it when she hears your comments about our allies."

"Our allies?" Private Marina Stevenson scoffed. "Humans died by the score to save the Councils' sorry asses... you of all people should hate them for what they did on Shanxi."

"Just draw the blood, Private," the chief ordered soundly. God did she really sound like that? It truly had an ugly sound to it. "Dr. T'Soni is a valuable asset to this crew. She's keeping the commander alive so Dr. Chakwas can save her life."

"Ma'am," was all the nurse would say. The Chief had pulled rank, if Marina didn't want a further disciplinary mark on her records she knew she would have to keep her tongue. She finished drawing blood from Williams and returned a little more sullenly to the surgical-bay with a fresh pint of blood in her hands.

Ashley thought of the Skipper's steadfast belief in their allies, in the ideals of galactic unity. Having seen what horrors humans had committed upon other humans perhaps Kaiden was right; Aliens are jerks and saints just like humans.

_'I can see where your concerns are coming from Chief. But this is a multilateral mission__,__ you're going to have to work with aliens whether you like it or not.'_

Ashley recalled the mild rebuke from the strong woman now lying on the surgical table. Williams had said it wasn't going to be a problem and in truth it hadn't been. Or at least she tried not to let it be. The chief had a difficult time adjusting to the fact she was required to work with aliens. She had wanted to be posted on a ship for so long and she loved that she had been given that chance.

Even if it was difficult to adjust to the small cramped areas, communal sleeper pods, lack of fresh air, and utilitarian painted walls and bulkheads instead of open skies. The chrono telling her the time of day rather than just looking at the sun, moon or moons as the case might have been. There had been so much to adjust to those first days of their mission, and through it all the Skipper was there to lend advice, offer a tutoring hand and even, when necessary, discipline. Williams would follow the Skipper on any mission, anywhere, anytime.

_'When I need words from the head I go to Alenko, when I need them from the heart I go to you.'_

The words had astonished Williams when the Spectre first admitted them, and they still did now. Shepard wasn't taken in by her own glory and hero status or the fact she was the first human Spectre. She seemed to have a very real perspective of herself. A trait Williams thought to be admirable. Shepard had taught her so much in the months they had served together. There were times when Ashley felt as if Shepard was molding her into officer material, for command. Even Alenko had commented on it. No other officer Williams had worked with had done such a thing so deliberately. Oh, they had promoted her to squad and platoon leader given her recommendations and commendations but not one of them took extra time out to guide her into the field-school of command.

Now this remarkable woman who had come to mean so much to her might be dying. If that happened, Ashley swore she would carry on in her Skipper's footsteps to honor her. She had sworn to honor her grandfather and father and bring honor back to the Williams name she would give no less of herself to the Commander. She would bring honor of the humans to the other species of Citadel space. She left med-bay for there was nothing more she could do but be in the way. Numbly she moved forward towards the open mess hall her mind replaying Shepard's fall and miraculous rise and near dead body on the gurney inside the belly of the Mako. There was just so much blood.

"Well? Does she live?" rumbled the deep bass of the krogan.

Made aware of another's presence Williams pulled her thoughts back from her own mind. In fact, the mess hall was filled with the bodies of the team, all them waiting for her to return from the med-bay. Wrex was leaning with his elbows on the table watching Ashley, waiting impatiently for her to speak. A worried looking Garrus paced, Tali was wringing her fingers fretfully; even Joker was there at the table fidgeting with a tired looking paper napkin. Lieutenant Presley leaned against the bulkhead looking apprehensively towards the medical-bay, afraid what news Williams would bring them.

"She... she flat-lined twice. T'Soni... um, linked their nervous systems so basically she's the Commander's life-support. She's pretty busted up. I think something burst inside. She lost so much blood."

"Are you injured Chief Williams?" Garrus said nearly startling Williams that anyone would think of her when Shepard was so injured.

"Bruises, a mild concussion. I did a number on my wrist but it isn't broke."

Garrus pointed to the bloody tunic and cuirass Williams was still carrying. "Are you positive there is nothing more?"

"Wha..." Williams stopped speaking when she noted just how damp her tunic was. The blood was so thick it was still dripping onto her boot. Ashley looked decidedly green and ran from the mess hall, dashed into the head and emptied what little was in her stomach into the toilet. Wiping her mouth with the back of her trembling hand, she fell back on her heels, shivering.

The Commander's blood was all over her. It must have happened when she carried Shepard into the ambulance unit. Now the cool air of the bathroom, dry-heaving and the very real prospect of Shepard dying came cascading down around Williams in a spectacular blow. In the privacy of the stall the Chief wept.

Back in the mess hall Tali rose from her chair and picked up the red and black cuirass the Chief had been carrying and realized that the bit of hard-shell armor had to have belonged to the Commander. "Keelah!"

"What is it?" barked Wrex. He was never one for patience and these flimsy females, (even if one of them was a hardened warrior) didn't do his nerves any good.

The quarian dropped the cuirass onto the table. "This is the Commander's."

"Damn!"

Who swore first Tali couldn't be certain but they all had muttered the curse. The armor's chest plate had a long gash running from the right shoulder down to the left side. The metal was gouged and torn. Blood stained the edges of the now serrated metal like broken teeth of a fishdog There were dents, carbon-scorch marks, deep cross-hatched scratches and melted fragments no doubt from biotic powers being unleashed.

"She still lives after that?" Wrex was the first to comment recovering from the shock of seeing the battered hard-shell. "I'll give Shepard this she's one hell of a warrior."

"Her life is still in the balance." Tali said pessimistically. "If any of you have a deity, I would suggest offerings of prayer."

"The doc will save her." Joker said. "She has to. Chakwas is one of the best. She'll pull the Commander through. I'm not giving up on the Commander."

"We may have to accept the inevitable." Pressley, the current XO of the _Normandy__,_ spoke with a pragmatic but apologetic tone. "She's beaten the odds too many times for them not to go against her."

"Believe what you want Lieutenant Pressley. You might serve on her ship but you haven't fought alongside her, not as we have." the terse reply came from Garrus. "She does not give up; she will struggle to the last. She will not yield to death, and Liara will not allow it. If they are linked as Chief Williams says then it is this joining that will save our Commander."

Joker looked up hope in his green eyes. "I don't get this joining business. How can Doc T'Soni join her nervous system to the Commander's? I get the mind-meld thingy that helped sort out those hinky visions but this... this is way in the left field"

It was the turian who answered the question. "Typically such a Joining is for asari procreation; the asari are able to link their nervous system to that of another species of any gender. The bond isn't always physical but it is always highly mental. Liara has melded her mind to Shepard's twice in our company and the effect was profound as we have seen. Perhaps they have shared such Joinings, quite possibly more intimate ones privately. Liara's heart now beats for both of them. It is even possible that our young Prothean expert breathes for both of them as well."

"Wow. That's deep. Pretty handy for the Commander to have her own walking-talking life support system. It's gotta make things easier for the doc to patch the Commander back up." Joker commented, impressed with the abilities of the resident asari.

It was no secret to the crew of the _Normand__y_, though they pretended not to notice, that their heroic leader had returned Doctor T'Soni's interest. Shepard was discreet about it, however. The only way no would notice the attraction between the two was if they themselves were utterly blind, clueless or stupid, or if they were so in love with someone else that they had no reason to notice. Scuttlebutt was they were a couple.

Lieutenant Alenko never stood a chance against the asari despite the fact he was in love with the Commander. He had, according to Williams, thought the strong friendship he held with Shepard was more than it was, but the commander had eyes only for T'Soni. He must have misinterpreted the signs of the commander's feelings for the archeologist to be for him. Hell if the relationship saved the commander's life Joker wasn't going to say boo about it. He didn't think anyone, not even the ornery Chief Williams, would condemn it. Not now. Not even Presley - the wooden man himself - seemed overly concerned about the interspecies relationship between the Commander and Dr. T'Soni. Apparently the other aliens on board accepted it readily enough for none of them even uttered a word of protest.

Williams gathered herself, her nerves back under control or at least the mask of it. She had taken a moment to use the shower, watching mutely as the blood, grime and sweat of the battlefield dissolved. She ran the shower a second time to clean her uniform as she had nothing else to change into. Even after being cleaned by the sonic scrubbers, Williams felt as if she was still covered in the Commander's blood. She doubted the phantom image would leave her anytime soon, if ever. Raking her fingers through her shoulder length black hair she discovered tangles and she cursed under her breath for the lack of a comb to un-snare them. It'd be a holy nest of knots later but there was nothing for it, her only choice was to tie it back as per regulations.

Time dragged its feet. It was a strange sensation as one hour slipped into four then into six, until Shepard was stable enough for Chakwas to call in reinforcements. Perhaps the ideal solution would have been to transfer the commander to the Huerta Memorial Hospital, but they themselves were already inundated with an overabundance of victims from the fallout of the attack on the Citadel. Admiral Hackett, Captain Anderson and even Matriarch Lidanya however answered the call and sent over their best orthopedic, cardio-thoracic and trauma surgeons.

The damages Shepard sustained might have taken several weeks, if not longer, to repair had her surgeons not combined their collective skills when operating. Instead the projected recovery time was to be, miraculously, only seven days, give or take.

On later reflection Joker would recall how spooky it was that upon the toll of the Witching hour, Dr. Chakwas emerged from the med-bay carrying the news of Shepard's fate. From her expression it was difficult to say what that news was. Chakwas and the three other physicians were beyond tired and stressed. _Normandy's_ CMO turned to each of the other physicians and shook their hands, her voice sounded weary as she thanked each in turn.

"What's the news?" Garrus said rising to his feet as he watched the asari and two other human doctors.

The asari had to have been sent over from the _Density Ascension_. An expert no doubt in neuro-trauma and biotics. Of the humans: the male Garrus didn't recognize but by the look of his Alliance fatigues the man no doubt came from the _Kilimanjaro _- the flagship of the Alliances Fifth Fleet under the command of Admiral Hackett. The other doctor, Garrus recognized immediately as Dr. Chloe Michelle, a woman who had once run a clinic in the Wards but was now practicing in Huerta Memorial. The latter waved to him in a mixture of shyness and bone-tiredness. All of their expressions were equally as grim as Chakwas's lined face. That wasn't good.

"How bad?" Garrus's voice took on slight edge to it almost regretting it was soon as he saw Chloe flinch. He hadn't meant to sound that harsh he was just tired. He couldn't imagine how exhausted the team of doctors and nurses were.

Karin Chakwas took a moment to study the anxious faces in front of her. Garrus, Wrex and Williams, all looked worried. Pressly appeared to be waiting to hear the worst. Joker tired to remain optimistic and Tali's expression was of course unreadable, but the slightly hunched shoulders and bowed figure said much more.

It seemed that the entire time Chakwas was in the theater with her colleagues, Shepard's team had waited in the mess hall. Fortunately the sleeper pods were close but she doubted they had seen much use from the six individuals before her. Hell, she managed only a few hours of rest herself when one of the others had taken over.

"The Commander sustained extensive damage that could not be healed by conventional medicine." she said at last. "We had to implement many bio-synthetic procedures. To list just some of the minor injuries, she had a collapsed lung, five broken ribs, four sprained as well as a severe concussion. The massive trauma to her."

"Doc please - do we have a Commander or not?" Williams demanded. "What's her status?"

"Commander Shepard is alive." She cut over the excited voices that her first statement had made quickly though. "There were complications however. Many of her major organs had to be replaced by cybernetics and bio-synthetics, as well as the bones in her right arm and leg. She's in recovery now. But she will pull through, thanks in no small part to Dr. T'Soni's ability to maintain a lifeline. She was literally her life-support; no machine could have done better."

"And you! Shepard's a live because of you. You did it!" Williams was all smiles. The Chief rushed the exhausted physician hugging her. "Thank you! If you're not the best damned doc in the Fleet I don't know who is."

"I didn't do it alone, Chief. And I couldn't have. You should thank the others as well."

Which of course they all did. Soon after the three took their leave.

"We gotta tell the crew." Joker struggled to his feet making a grab for his crutches, causing the braces on his legs to creak.

"I'll do it." Williams darted past the pilot making a bee-line for the bow of the ship communications.

"Yeah sure, take all the fun just because you can run." There were times when Joker loathed his bone crippling disease. Times like now when he wanted to be the one to announce the glorious return to life of their beloved leader. But even if he tried to run the hollow bones in his legs would snap and shatter. Besides, Williams was half way up the flight of stairs that led to the command deck before he even managed to sit back down. She must have taken them two or three at a time. In no time at all the click of the innership intercom opened up.

*This is Gunnery Chief Williams; it is my privilege to announce Commander Shepard is alive. Repeat the Commander is alive!*

All over the ship cheers of jubilation rang out above the thunder of applause and foot stomping. Soldiers hugged one another, slapped each other on the back, and toasting their skipper. Once more Shepard had bested the odds and came out on top.

"When will we be able to see her?" Garrus asked of the doctor.

"Maybe a few days. Her body needs to recover; the surgery was only half of it. She isn't fully recovered just yet. But the signs are good. I've placed her in a medical induced coma for the duration. When she's able to have visitors it will only be one at a time and no longer than two minutes. Not yet. She needs a lot of rest. She's not completely out of the woods yet but she's getting there. She's tough- a survivor - but she still needs to recuperate like any mortal."

"Where's Dr. T'Soni?" Tali asked looking around the human female for the asari. There was no sign of the graceful archeologist. She rather doubted Liara would willingly leave Shepard's side anytime soon.

"She exhausted herself with the link and is resting," Chakwas answered. "Something I'm also going to go do. If you excuse me there's a shower and sleeper pod with my name on it."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Below deck crew members had rolled out a keg of contraband moonshine from a well hidden still. Or at least the commander ignored it for the most part. As long as there were ships to sail the seas or the stars there would be contraband brew as well. No one dared to exploit the blind eye the Spectre had turned and abuse her feigned ignorance to drink on duty or become derelict, but right now it was time to celebrate and they didn't think the Commander would begrudge them this celebration.

Someone had a fiddle, another had an Irish harp and still another had a harmonica. Chief Engineer Adams had even pulled out an asari dulcimer. Someone kept time by using a work bench as a make shift drum. Old Earth sea shanties rang out cheerfully as crew members allowed themselves the frivolity of dancing in the manner of ancient sailors when the tall ships still ruled the oceans of earth.

Even Wrex join in the festiveness, belting out an old krogan tune of the glory of a hard won battle in some long past war. Garrus watched in amazement at the humans' ability to lose themselves in the moment of music, dance and drink.

But what was not to celebrate? Sovereign was dead and so to was Saren. Best yet, Shepard was alive. The Reapers were still out there, but civilization had a greater chance of winning the war with Shepard leading from the front. Garrus knew the Spectre would not stop until the dreaded foe was vanquished for all time. He vowed as did everyone else on the _Normandy _to be with her every step of the way.


	2. More to healing than just stitches

Chapter 2

One Week Later:

Though the surgery took four days, Shepard had been in placed in a medically induced coma for the duration to ease the stress on her body due to the extreme measures it took to save her life. Dr. Chakwas had only recently removed the drip allowing the Spectre to awaken on her own power.

The Commander opened her ice-blue eyes trying to force the world to come into focus, but it was not being co-operative. She only managed to make out Liara's form hovering over body with an anxious expression on her face.

Shepard opened her mouth to speak but found her throat dry and constricted. She swallowed hard to loosen up her vocal cords, which caused her voice to come out as a rasp. "Liara."

"Oh by the Goddess!" the asari gasped, her hand reaching out to touch the too pale face of her lover. "Samantha, I thought you lost to me."

"You're safe." The Spectre said as if trying to reassure herself this fact was true.

"Yes Love, I am safe."

"Williams, safe?"

"Yes, you threw us both from danger. You didn't have enough energy to cast a barrier. You used all of your energy - what remained of it - to throw Chief Williams and myself from the crash." Liara's voice quaked. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the sheering metal of Sovereign's hull crash through the windows of the Citadel Tower and smash into the garden. Great chunks of metal crashed exactly where Shepard had crouched after tackling the husk of Saren and unloading her pistol until it had overheated.

"Good." Shepard's voice was still agonizingly hoarse. "Citadel... Council... out of danger?"

"Yes my love we saved them."

The Commander managed a weak nod, her eyes closing of their own volition. She felt a brief touch of warm lips on her mouth.

"Rest now." Liara felt her hand being touched and smiled as even in her sleep Shepard reached for her.

"Protect you... keep you safe." The words were a rasped whisper almost too faint to hear, but the asari have keen hearing and Liara heard the desperate words.

"You did, _Melethril_." Liara kissed the chapped lips once more. "You did." Blue fingers feathered back the locks of loose black hair. "Now I will keep you safe. I will protect you."

If Shepard heard the words it was difficult to tell, for the Spectre had fallen back into sleep's warm embrace. Liara remained seated on a chair near the bed, her hand still held by the commander as her free hand continuously fingered the black locks.

Dr. Chakwas came over to the bed with a data-pad to record the bio-readouts from the monitors around Shepard's bed. "I thought I heard the Commander's voice?"

"She spoke a little yes. She needed to know that Chief Williams and I, as well as the Citadel and Council, were free of danger. Once she learned this was so she fell back to sleep." Liara looked from her lover to the doctor. "She is exhausted."

"As she would be. I don't have to tell you her body took quite the beating, not to mention she exhausted herself using her biotic abilities past the implant's capacities. She's not as powerful as an asari despite being an adept. If she had continued to use her abilities as she had been she would have given herself an aneurism. She has done this to herself once before during the Blitz, it's amazing she didn't come out of that incident with brain damage.

"She would have now if it had not been for the Prothean beacons awakening dormant areas in her brain and rewriting them. Her beta waves are now those of a natural born biotic almost matching those of an asari child. Still her abuse of her mental capabilities should have had graver results other than a migraine.

"Which brings me to another point, Dr. T'Soni. Both times she arrested your melding restored her to stable levels. During the surgery, you managed to keep her at those safe levels. I know you shared two melds with her before, both of which left you exhausted. From my understanding of asari physiology the melds you used to save her life should have left you drained from the intensity, yet you suffered no ill effects as you had before. Can I assume there has been a change in your connection to the Commander?"

"We Joined in Union." Liara said softly. "Our spirits melded, our souls and minds merged into one, for a moment we were one entity." Her voice was almost wistful. "It was the most intense thing I have ever felt. I have… I… I have never Joined with another, never shared the Union. Before I have only brief shared melds with Samantha and before that the familiar mind-melds a daughter shares with her mother."

One entity. Had Dr. T'Soni been a human, the physician might have deemed the phrase as poetic for making love. But for asari it was truth - minds, spirits, souls become one. It was a profound experience, more so if both partners were biotics. With Shepard's Prothean scrambled mind and the markers left behind, the Joining had to be one hell of an experience. The beta waves would have been off the charts.

"I see."

"From your tone, you disapprove of our Union." The shy archeologist uttered.

"Yes and no. Yes because... with all due respect, Dr. T'Soni you are new to this and Commander Shepard should know better."

The asari's heart sank at the thought of a woman she considered a friend would disapprove of an inner-species relationship.

In a softer tone the physician explained. "There are regulations for engaging in sexual intercourse, more so with other species. For as long as the military has been there have been regulations to monitor sexual activities. In the old days STD's were a grave danger as well as accidental pregnancies. Those concerns are still viable. There are certain precautions that have to be taken."

Chakwas continued to explain. "Given you're both female getting pregnant isn't an issue and given your pre-relationship status as… er… a virgin, STDs aren't an issue. I know Shepard is clean. Still you have to try and understand why the military has to have concerns over such things. Though you're not military. Dr. T'Soni, we have rules for pretty much everything. If you're in a relationship with the Commander you'll have to abide by them as well."

"Oh!" Liara gasp and felt ashamed that she had assumed Dr. Chakwas would think such harsh bigoted xenophobic things as humans and asari should not share a Joining. "Yes… of course. I beg your indulgence, Dr. Chakwas but there was little time… our Union took place just before Ilos"

Dr. Chakwas smiled. "Night before the big battle. I'd be an idiot if I thought there weren't a few others engaging in 'intimate encounters.' Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we may die. It's an old Earth saying and tradition. I don't begrudge the sharing of such intimacies."

"Forgive me Dr. Chakwas, but do we have to inform you every time Samantha and I engage…"

"Good heaven's no! I simply have to be aware there is a relationship. Please, I do not want personal information, that's private." The 'older' woman smiled shaking her head. "There is such a thing as too much information, I certainly don't want details! I have to say I'm happy for the both of you. Forgive my candidness but she needs someone like you, Dr. T'Soni. She seems less stressed in your company. She still has her edge, her sharpness as a leader, but you'll forgive the clichéd metaphor…you are a sheath to her blade. She needs stillness to the chaos and storms around her or she will burn out."

"I will never allow that to happen." Liara affirmed strongly. "I will watch over her always."

Dr. Chakwas placed a motherly hand on the young asari's shoulder. "Good to hear. By the way marines are notorious for being horrible patients. They want to hop out of bed the first moment they can and get grumpy when they aren't allowed to. Now _you_ get to hear that bitching. 'I'm fine; I don't have to say in bed… Doc.' As if _they_ went to med-school and could diagnose when they are fit enough to return to duty. As a warning: Shepard's one of the worst."

Both women shared knowing a smile.

"I have seen her deny pain and disorientation during our missions, especially so when she encountered the Prothean beacon and artifacts and when she gained the cipher." Liara said. "Even Chief Williams noted she looked 'queasy' after Samantha accepted the cipher and second beacon. She told us it was nothing and we needed to continue with the task at hand. I remained very concerned despite her denials. For a long time after she was so pale and had such a distinct expression after each encounter I was worried for her health. They seemed to drain her and although her mind wasn't shattered but she was in immense pain."

"Indeed. The beacons and cipher as I said changed her mental physiology. I don't know what the Protheans were like but the artifacts seemed to have tried to rewrite her synapses and created unique beta waves to match theirs. It makes for interesting study."

Liara blushed slight for she had made a fool of herself saying nearly the exact same thing to Shepard. But could it be denied what happened to Commander Samantha Shepard was anything but fascinating?

"I'll keep her here for observation until tomorrow evening. Then I will release her to bed-rest in her quarters. And Dr. T'Soni, I don't care how persuasive she is - no, I repeat no strenuous activities." Dr. Chakwas voice held superior command that would brook no arguments.

"Of course, Dr Chakwas."

"I mean it. We both know she can be very charismatic, very swaying. Do not give into her. Remind her that her body has to heal properly. I have already removed her from active duty for the present and placed her on medical leave at least for the next week. As the CMO I have that right. Medicine has always been able to override the orders of a commanding officer in all things medical. You might need to remind her of that, Spectre or not."

Liara nodded. "I will keep that in mind Dr. Chakwas."

"Yes. Good luck with that."

Liara looked down at the sleeping form of her lover. The melds they had shared had bonded them one to another emphatically. After the sharing of the Union that bond had grown exponentially. Samantha had not made a mention of this unique tie between them but surely the Spectre had to have noticed. Yet she did not bring this fact to issue. Liara's scientific mind analyzed the possible reasons for this. One: Samantha had not noticed - possible but unlikely. Two: Samantha didn't want it and ignored it, again not a plausible given the Spectre's blunt habit of speaking her mind when an issue concerned her. Three: she merely accepted the bond, had not had time to think beyond the mission and the haunting images in her mind to ask Liara about the tie that united them. This last theory fit but there was also a fourth possibility: Samantha noticed the bond, didn't know how to approach the sensitive subject, yet accepted their empathic tie as a part of the Union. This could also be the case, or a combination of some or all of the above.

At first Liara was uncertain why there was such a strong all encompassing bond between them before they had shared the Union. Melds were not known to create such link, not with two minds that hadn't shared the Union that is. After sharing a Union the Joined pair would indeed have an empathic bond, but this connection between Samantha and herself felt different to Liara. She doubted it was her inexperience, or that the Spectre had been her first Joining that gave this impression to the young woman. She had heard other asari speak of being Joined and their connections to their partners, but none seemed as powerful as the one she and Samantha shared.

The first time the doctor realized a bond formed was just after she first merged her mind to that of the Spectre's. It was more than the dominant role of the meld that left Liara staggering and lightheaded. It was the overwhelming presence of Samantha's mind in her own, her personality, and her spirit was like staring at the heart of a super nova. It was a flood of sensations, emotions and images. She hadn't been exaggerating when she said she had immersed herself in the Spectre's thoughts. It was a near perfect blending that Liara had thought only possible with the Union.

At this moment more than any other Liara wished her mother were alive, not the shade of what Saren turned her into but the true Benezia. She could share enlightenment on this bonding, this union of spirits. The only other elder asari with such insight at hand was Consort Sha'ira. Perhaps when Samantha was better rested there would time to seek out the Consort for advice and information on empathic bonding.

Unwilling to leave Samantha's side for long, Liara settled tailor style on the camping cot that she had been sleeping on in the back science lab. The lab itself had become more or less hers; at least the crew had seen it that way. It contained crates filled with survival gear, medical supplies and secure storage lockers that contained the various artifacts discovered in the numerous systems and dozens of worlds the _Normandy_ came across in their unending hunt for Saren. Prothean artifacts, writings of an ancient asari Matriarch, relics of battles long since passed and forgotten, service medals of Honor given to salarian and turian warriors—the list went on. It was the Prothean artifacts that Liara concentrated on, though this was of no surprise. But perhaps the long dead matriarch's writings might prove to have answers to powerful empathic bonds. It wasn't unheard of for such bindings to occur between two asari, but when another species came into play it set a whole new precedence of bonding.

Liara left the more delicate of the writings and watercolors in their sealed document cases on her desk and took the treatises on the Goddess Athame, philosophy, and traditional sacred hunts of the giant firaxon sharks. Liara read of codes of honor, warfare and of asari reaching the stars. The archeologist knew as all asari did that approximately 2,700 years ago her people began to explore the mass relay network after developing FTL space faring capabilities based upon Prothean technology. With reverent awe she read of how those first asari discovered the titanic Citadel space station and explored it.

How many hours she sat and read, Liara could not begin to say; she had lost herself, as she was want to do, in the annals of history. Only once had she come across something that might have shed light on what she was now experiencing with Samantha. Two minds so interconnected, two hearts so intertwined prior to Joining in the Union that during such an intimate time, bonding intensified tenfold. Even after for the complete merging that occurs during the Joining such a melding will bind one to another that the shared emotions, thoughts and rare instances physical experiences are transferred one to another.

The matriarch wrote that bindings of this nature occur when two souls recognize one another, souls that transcend time and space to be together as they always have been and always will be.

'I feel I know you, yet we are strangers,' Liara once told Samantha when the doctor was first integrated into the crew of the _Normandy_. Twice before Liara had immersed herself into Samantha's mind, into all that was the Spectre. It left her feeling drained, and exhilarated. The merging mind meld had sparked her heart and her mind into recognition of another [its other half], and when she withdrew her body, her soul cried out as if in withdrawal. Her mind sought out that connection and grasped what little scraps there were. She only felt faint whispers of emotion but they were enough to sustain the need within the asari. Liara had not set out deliberately to do this but a body sometimes moves on instinct. It was as if her body needed nourishment and created cravings that would sate these needs.

While on Therum, there was a constant need to stay hydrated or perish on the volcanic world. If she went more than a few hours without access to water Liara would begin to grow faint, her lungs would feel tight and her throat constricting. She experienced almost the same sort of feeling when pulling away from Samantha. The distant whisper of emotions seeping into the asari became like sips water on that dry planet. During the Union, Liara wept for the joy of the All. There was no other word Liara could adequately use to describe what she felt that night. All: it seemed to be the only fitting word. The bonding grew and more and more emotions leaked through until the whimpers became a soft lullaby that contented the soul.

After the terrifying moments just before and during the surgery, Liara pulled Samantha's mind into her own. The asari attuned the electrical patterns of her nervous system to Samantha's. Liara consciously initiated and received impulses directly through the skin and in that moment they were one unified nervous system. The bond between Samantha and Liara flared brilliantly, strongly, no longer a sweet lullaby but a lover's familiar constant caress. Now the bond was a soft butterfly kiss dancing upon sweet harmonics within the soul.

"He-ey what's a girl got to do to get some attention around here?" croaked a very hoarse Spectre.

Liara snapped her head up at the sound of her lover. "Samantha!" she jumped up off the cot and made ready to pounce on her lover, but pulled back at the last possible second remembering that the Spectre was still in need of tender care. It was such an odd spectacle to see the graceful and delicate form of an asari stumble and nearly slip on her backside.

Samantha smirked, snickering. "That was cute." She flashed a large lopsided smile hoping to show her asari she was teasing.

Liara first reaction was to stammer out an apology until she saw the smile on the Spectre's face, which caused her to grin herself. "I admit that was less dignified than I would have preferred."

Samantha burst out laughing which went into a grunt of pain. "Don't make me laugh." Strange how a human face can simultaneously grimace and grin at the same time.

"I apologize, _Melethril._" Liara's hand reached out and touched her Samantha's temple. "I will call Dr. Chakwas. Is there anything you need?"

"You," the Spectre said "and a glass of water."

Liara smiled softly as she was reminded of her recent metaphor for her Spectre. "I can relate."

"Huh?"

"It is nothing - a stray thought. I will fetch your water. As for me… you will always have me." She leaned over to kiss Samantha.

The Spectre didn't fully return the kiss. "Sorry, but I feel like there is wool in my mouth and there is no doubt I need to brush my teeth. I'd love to kiss you after I've taken care of that little problem." She grinned hoping to take any sting out of what might have been taken for rejection.

"Then we shall have to do this to sustain us." The asari kissed her lover's forehead as she tenderly sent a pulse of her love through her fingertips into the soft flesh of Samantha's cheek. A rush of love laced adrenaline shot through her body making the Spectre gasp, echoed by Liara's own.

"Wow! For a non-kiss-kiss that was wonderful. Do it again!"

"You are incorrigible or should I say insatiable?"

"You make it sound like a bad thing." The Spectre snickered then groaned as her stomach muscles reminded her that such activities were not medically advisable.

Liara leaned over and once more sent waves of her love coursing though the empathic bond, this time through the softness of her purple lips. The pad of Liara's thumb traced the sickle scar just under Shepard's right eye, again sending pulses of her desire though her fingertips. The sound coming from Samantha this time was a moan of pleasure.

"I will get you your water now." Liara whispered before disappearing to the small synthesizer station in the medical bay.

Samantha lay in a very contented daze. It was almost that happy-giddiness she would get if she were just on this side of tipsy, not drunk but that blissful state of euphoria. No, this was more pleasurable because it was a gift from her lover.

"I would say you have a bit too much pain killer in your system if I hadn't seen Dr. T'Soni leaning over you a moment ago." Dr. Chakwas commented coming up to the prone Spectre. She hit a button that would slowly raise the bed to a forty-five degree angle, allowing for Shepard to sit up without having to move much. "Speaking of pain, you know the drill Commander. On the scale where is it?"

"About a seven," The Spectre answered honestly. "Feels like a steel girder ran me through."

"That is not far from the truth, Commander," Chakwas said sternly. "Saren very nearly eviscerated you and a ship's hull landed almost on top of you. How you weren't crushed I don't know. I saw ground zero." This time the stern voice was a little shaken.

"I used a _singularity_ to keep it off of me after I fell into a… well I guess I'd call it a fox hole." Shepard admitted. "I seriously didn't think it would work, I was tapped…"

"Yes, and we will talk about that later." Once more the stern frown was on the older woman's face.

"So what's the damage? What I'm I looking at in recoup-time, Doc?"

Chakwas gave Shepard the butcher's menu of injuries she had incurred. Ruptured spleen, kidneys, perforated liver, her appendix had to be removed , collapsed lungs, dislocated shoulder, compound fractures in her right arm and leg, concussion, trauma to the hippocampus area of her brain due to overexertion of biotics as well as five broken ribs. Bio-synthetic fusion had replaced what cybernetic implants had not.

"Broken ribs, again." She rolled her eyes. "Son of a bitch. I hate it when that happens."

Liara approached carrying not only a glass of ice water, but a small tray with a toothbrush, toothpaste and a cup to spit in.

"My hero." Shepard made a grasp for the water after flashing cocky grin. Liara smiled back then blushed, realizing Chakwas was watching them with a bemused expression.

Despite her thirst, the first thing Shepard did was to make a thorough cleaning of her teeth. A moment later she greedily snatched the glass of water and began to quickly drain its contents.

"Don't drink that too fast and not too much at one time. We'll also have to get your electrolytes back up to acceptable levels. I need to talk to you about what happened with you and Dr. T'Soni."

Shepard sighed. "Look I know the regs, Doc. But frankly there wasn't time to… it wasn't something we had premeditated. Well we had but that was talk about sometime in the future. When it happened it was the night before planet-fall on Ilos."

"I am not speaking of the Joining. Not in that regard." Chakwas commented. "As I told you before your connection to the first Prothean beacon had changed your beta readings and every encounter you have had with Prothean technology since has augmented that change further. When you gained the cipher you simply weren't given the Prothean Rosetta Stone, Commander. You were made to think as a Prothean because whatever the Thorian did to Shiala she passed to both you and Saren. It rewrote a part of your cortical synapses that controls biotic powers as well as the more dormant sections of the mind. It is as if you have a Prothean protein marker in your brain-chemistry. This was augmented by that blasted Prothean artifact on Eletania and the second Prothean beacon on Virmire." The doctor waited a while to allow all she had said to sink in.

"As I told, Dr. T'Soni your abilities match that of an innate biotic, a young one but one able to function without the need of implants."

Shepard frowned. "Wait a minute are you saying I don't need to use my implants to use biotics? How is that possible? The only species that don't need implants are asari."

"Yes, the only living species to date." Chakwas answered keeping her tone clinical to ease the agitation growing in the Spectre. "I suspect that your Joining, augmented what the Protheans did to you. You said it yourself Commander; when you used the biotic _singularity_ you were drained, the implant needed to 'cool-down' or it would have gone into flare-up. Had you been using the implant to stabilize your abilities this would be so. Instinctively you tapped into that newly awakened part of yourself and summoned a singularity.

"So... so... does this mean? I'm what, part Prothean now? What the hell..?"

"No." Chakwas shook her head. "But you have changed."

Liara could feel anxiety, fear, anger and unease coming off of Samantha in tidal waves. '_Be still my Love, I will see you through this_.'

"I know you will." Samantha said softly not realizing that she had heard Liara in her mind rather than preserving the vibrations of sounds though her ears.

"Why did you say that?" Chakwas was puzzled.

"Say what? I was talking to Liara."

"She didn't say anything."

"Well she might have whispered…"

"No Love, I did not speak aloud. I thought those words."

The Spectre snapped her head towards Liara. "But I heard them."

"She's right Commander, she didn't speak. This is what I am talking about. Humans like the other races have developed the abilities of telekinesis, spatial distortions and kinetic fields because of the exposure to Element Zero. Some have shown more empathic tendencies or at least hyper awareness of other peoples' emotions. But not true empathy nor telepathy, not yet anyway at least there are no documented cases. This is natural for asari, especially asari who share a Joined mind with another biotic user. This is new territory for humans, it's not that we lack the mind-power of such, but it is dormant. So far no biotic has shown any talents for it, though no doubt Conatrix, Cerberus and ExoGeni have been trying very hard to make this happen. The Thorian is a prime example."

"Yeah that didn't turn out so well. Everyone undergoing 'treatment' went mad or worse." Shepard snorted. "So what now… what does this mean for me, for Liara?"

"Let me lay to rest the real question you wanted to ask. I don't foresee this hampering your fitness for duty, Commander. The Prothean marker was implanted when you were caught by the first beacon. That was the strange beta readings I picked up in the scans after that encounter."

"Okay fine, great. I was joking with Liara before, but I sure as hell don't want to be some lab specimen for the military's science corps they can dissect to see why I can use biotics without being stabilized by my implant. And they aren't getting their hands on Liara in some half-ass theory she augments my biotic abilities, or that I'm the next step in human biotic development. I'm a fluke. I will go rogue if only to protect her from them." Shepard's voice was as sharp and firm as if giving orders on the field of battle.

"Samantha!" Liara started. "You can't mean that. You would never betray your oaths."

The Spectre's gaze told the young asari everything. Shepard had broken the law, risked capital punishment not only for herself but for the crew of the Normandy to save the galaxy, when she stole the ship. To save the woman she loved she would willingly - deliberately forsake her oaths, her bonds of loyalty to the Alliance and flee with Liara to some remote region of space.

Chakwas didn't have to be telepathic to know what was conveyed in the expression. The determination in those eyes said it all. It was the same expression the Spectre held just before touching down on Ilos. Shepard would never gamble the lives of her crew to save Liara T'Soni but she would give her own without question.

"I think you are being a little overly melodramatic, Commander. Must be the painkillers talking. Alliance Medical has previously been advised about the Prothean marker encoded in your brain. That hasn't changed. Besides I sincerely doubt a Spectre would be forced into such a position to become a lab rat. To make something perfectly clear Commander, I came from Alliance Medical; we are not Cerberus or ExoGeni."

"I didn't mean the inference, Doc."

The older woman smiled softly. "I know. I understand your drive to protect the person you obviously deeply love. I will continue to monitor your biotic abilities, and its effects on you. Besides, on becoming a Spectre all your medical files were classified under Citadel Council's authority and have been sealed. Not even Alliance Medical or the Military can access them. Or did you forget that little bit? For now you are stable. That is my primary concern. Get some rest, Commander. Your body still needs to heal."

"To tell the truth I had forgotten my records are now sealed." The Spectre seemed to relax a bit more given this new information. Her general records could still be accessed such as what happened during the Blitz. "So… how long am I grounded, Doc?" Shepard decided to change the subject just a bit.

"A week of bed-rest, enforced if necessary, and after that a month light duty." Chakwas held up a hand, "One word of protest, marine and I am doubling the times, you get me?"

Shepard saluted. "Loud and clear, Doc. We're five by five."

"Humph! I've instructed Dr. T'Soni to make sure you follow all medical orders regarding your convalescence. And I will say this. No libidinous activities, Commander. I mean it. Don't think I've forgotten what the honeymoon stage is in new love. I already warned Dr. T'Soni about such things. No means no."

Shepard actually pouted. Though she would argue that Spectres don't pout they brood. "I heard the release of endorphins could help restore a body."

"Yeah? Fine. Sit up straight." Chakwas folded her arms over her chest, her expression was stern. Marines were sometimes like little children you had to let them get a little singed by fire to make them understand it's hot and shouldn't be played with.

Shepard did, grunted and fell back down against the upraised half of the bed, her face pale.

Chakwas smirked. "You marines are all the same."

"Right, no libidinous activities," the Spectre responded sheepishly. "Got it."

Liara shook her head chidingly. Her hand caressed her beloved's cheek, sending pulses of her love through her fingertips, causing her to gasp. '_There are other ways to show our affections, Samantha.'_

The monitors reading the Spectre's vitals flared with an increased heart rate. Chakwas glanced over and shook her head. "Yes well keep _that_ down to a dull roar."

"Of course Doctor. I will do nothing that will endanger Samantha."

"I will trust you to keep your word, Dr. T'Soni." Chakwas gave a knowing smile. "Commander, are you up to seeing some visitors? You have a very concerned crew. Below deck scuttlebutt is that you came back from the dead like some rising phoenix. "

"Yeah well not without you, defibrillators and Liara." Shepard waved off any myth that she was impervious to death or could miraculously rise out of the ashes of war unmarred but for a few bumps and scratches.

"Do not forget Chief Williams. She donated much needed blood." Liara said softly. She remembered seeing the pools of dark red blood. "Without her aid our efforts would have been in vain. Dr. Chakwas used all the type O blood in the medical stores. Chief Williams said she shares the same blood type as you and could readily donate; indeed she was ready to donate her organs if it would save your life." Her voice grew quieter the more she reflected on remembering the blood freely flowing from Samantha's broken body.

The deep red color had startled the archeologist at first. Human blood was such a vivid color compared to the normal asari purple she was accustomed to, more so because it had all been Samantha's. The blood wasn't even bright like the orange of the many krogan mercs and battlemasters they had fought over their length of their journeys. The turians' blue was even more familiar but the shock of red that turned darker the longer it was exposed to air would stay with her for a long time.

"Hey…" Samantha touched Liara's cheek. "I'm here now. Thanks to all of you, I'm fine now. Don't worry, Babe." The pad of her thumb softly touched the angled jaw of her asari lover. "I'll talk to Ash in a bit, I owe her a lot, and I know she had to have been flying high and to the right with self imposed guilt." The Spectre's mind flashed back to the night after Kaiden fell on Virmire. Despite the fact that it was by Shepard's orders, her choice, Ashley Williams blamed herself for the sentinel's death. There was no doubt in the commander's mind that Ashley apportioned all blame that her Commander had been gravely wounded onto herself.

"I'm afraid you will get similar reactions, Commander from the others. You mean a great deal to all of us." Chakwas said. "It is why I am only allowing one visitor at a time and for only two minutes each. It will be physically and emotionally draining for you. After a couple of days you can speak to them at length but right now, I'm sorry I need to limit the visits."

"I understand, Dr. Chakwas. And thank you for everything." Her blue eyes reflected her emotions, her gratitude more than words could have ever conveyed.

'Brave soldiers with piercing eyes and sensitive souls.' Chakwas whispered to herself. Shepard had one of the deepest souls she had ever come across. Perhaps this was what the saying meant: 'Spectres aren't made, they are born.' "You're welcome, Commander. Just don't pull a stunt like that again,"

"Didn't plan to the first time, Doc." the corners of Shepard's lips curled up.

"I'll inform your 'squad', they should be the first to see you. Remember two minutes, I won't have you pushing yourself and undoing all that work I put into you, Commander."

Liara leaned over the bed, kissing the Spectre softly, "I think perhaps the others should have their brief moments with you alone. I'll be in the lab if you need me." Her thumb tenderly brushed the warm flesh of Samantha's cheek.

"You'll return when visiting hours are over?" Shepard asked hopefully.

The asari nodded, "Of course."

Garrus was the first of them to make an appearance. He lingered near the door a moment unsure what he wanted to say. He had never felt this close to a human before or known the fear of having nearly lost her.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it's impolite to loiter in doorways? Someone might think you're up to something."

Garrus found himself chuckling. It was good to hear the Spectre's strange sense of humor. He knew then she was going to be fine, everything was going to be fine. "I'm sorry Commander," he said quickly. He had never apologized to a human as much as he did to Shepard. Her opinions mattered to him. If not for her he would have turned his back on C-Sec or even the possibility of becoming a Spectre himself. She had given back his purpose and sense of justice. For that he would, until the day he died, be forever in her debt. "You were so still I didn't know if you were awake despite Dr. Chakwas's announcement you were able to have visitors."

"Don't sweat it." Shepard smiled easily.

"I... I'm glad you're not dead." Garrus groaned. "That was the dumbest thing to say," he chided himself.

The Spectre snickered, "Let me guess you had rehearsed everything you wanted to say just before you came in here, and whoosh, all those poetic words evaporated?"

The turian nodded. "Yes." He took a few steps closer. "Commander, when we saw you on that gurney, bleeding we thought we lost you. It had not been something I was prepared to face. I knew I might easily die on this mission. I was prepared for that death, it is the turian way. But to see you fall... I felt a great void. For a turian to die in service, there can be no greater gift, no greater honor. You are not turian, yet you follow the path of honor just the same..." He sighed. "I do not mean to ramble like some youngling... you've changed the way I see the galaxy, justice and service. Even when the Council would not heed your warnings, ignored your wisdom, you saved them. I would never have done that. I would have allowed them to be sacrificed and used all fire power to take Sovereign. But you... you saved them."

"I had to. No doubt I'll be defending my orders until my last breath. Even if the Council were ignorant enough to ignore the warnings about Sovereign, we need them. The Reapers are still out there and now they see the danger. I loathe politicians but they are a necessary pain in the ass. Citadel Space needs to heal. We need strength and familiarity of trust. The Council will give that. We cannot rebuild, heal and face the Reapers without being unified. The Council is the only way this will happen."

"The whispers I have heard are true. You do possess the wisdom and forward thinking of an asari matriarch even if you are so very young."

The Spectre chuckled which caused her to groan.

"You are in pain!" Garrus made a move to for the door to fetch Dr. Chakwas but was halted by the Spectre's voice.

"No, it's just laughing kinda hurts the gut."

Garrus flinched as his mind flashed on the lacerated cuirass that once protected the commander's chest. "I shall endeavor not to make you laugh then."

Shepard smirked.

"Dr. Chakwas gave strict instructions you were not to be taxed, Commander. I should take my leave so the others may have their turn to see you." Garrus took a deep breath, "I just wanted to say thank you. For all you've done, despite the Council dragging their heels at every turn. Commander it's been an honor and a privilege to serve alongside you."

Shepard smiled. "So…tell me what will you do now?"

"I will go back to C-Sec as I said before. What you've shown me, taught me can never be repaid. You've given me a sense of justice and duty I never knew I could hold. But Commander if you will have me, I'd like to serve aboard the _Normandy_ until we push the Reapers back into Dark Space. I served with you long enough to know that once you are medically cleared that is exactly what you will be doing. Charging ahead to stop the Reapers, I want to be at your side when you do so."

"Thanks, Garrus. It means a hell of a lot to me. I've come to rely on you. Damn straight I'd like you to stay on."

The turian smiled. Or at least Shepard interpreted the slight purring sound and the upward twitch of his mandibles as a smile. Turian muzzles simply weren't made to smile, snarl yes, smile no.

"I will serve as I am needed." It was a traditional turian vow. One that Shepard took solemnly.

"That is all I have ever wanted."

"I should leave, the others are anxious to see for themselves that you are better than the last time we saw you. Tali... is quite distraught as well as Chief Williams."

Shepard nodded, thinking of the quarian girl. The young woman had grown fond of Shepard as the weeks turned into months in their search to find and stop Saren and the Reapers. Tali's father had never smiled, never shown the girl an ounce of pride and any parental affection died with her mother. Shepard had become some bizarre form of maternal figure, favorite auntie and big sister all rolled into one to the young woman.

"Do me a favor Garrus, despite what order you all gave yourselves to see me, and I know you guys did, send in Tali next."

"I will do so, Commander." The reformed C-Sec officer bowed his head in respect.

It had to be nanoseconds between Garrus's announcement that the Commander asked for Tali and the girl's presence in med-bay.

"Shepard!" Tali exclaimed rushing the bed but stopped just short of flinging herself into the Spectre's arms.

Shepard smiled and patted the bed, on which the quarian very gingerly sat down and surprisingly took the older woman's hand into her three fingered one. "I... I was so worried. I saw Dr. Chakwas trying to keep you alive as they rushed you here a week ago. There was a trail of blood… and your hard-shell. It was nearly cracked in two!" the girl was sobbing

"He-ey…it's okay." Shepard coed softly. "I'm going to be fine. Okay?"

"But you weren't! Shepard... you... you're the best friend I've ever known. Losing my mother was difficult. To lose you after... it would be worse."

Shepard had no idea she had meant so much to the young engineer. She was lost for words. So she did the only thing she could think of and hugged the younger woman. Tali instinctively hugged back tightly until she heard Shepard gasp.

"Oh! I've hurt you!" Tali pulled back quickly.

"Still tender. It's okay, just…" she grunted a little pushing down the pain factor so it would not show on her face. "Just um… not so tight."

"I will get Dr. Chakwas."

"No. I'll be okay, just give me a moment." The Spectre said unconvincingly as she again pushed the pain from her.

MEMEMEMEMEME

Several Prothean data disks fell from Liara's hand and tumbled haphazardly to the floor. Pain shot from her chest down her spine making her go weak in the knees. Her whole body felt as if it had been struck with a seismic event and dipped in molten carbon. Every nerve raw, awake and screaming could only mean one thing: her beloved was in agony.

"Samantha!"

Liara dashed from the back room quickly making her way to her lover's side. The Spectre might have been able to pull on a tight mask of indifference to the pain soaring through her but she could not hide it from her soul mate.

"Samantha?" Liara called gently reaching the side of the bed in five quick strides. "What has happened? Your body screams in pain." Liara was dreadfully worried. Each word was a note of concern. She touched Samantha's sweating brow as if to take the pain onto herself. The cooling caress did indeed ease the jolt of throbbing pain Tali's hug had given her. Liara took hold of Samantha's hand into her own. She felt the Spectre's hand squeeze back as she struggled with inner pain management.

Tali looked down ashamed her over exuberance of accepting Shepard's tender touch had caused such great suffering. "I will leave." The quarian moved off the bed, her head hung low and dejected.

"No." Shepard said in a voice of full command that stopped the girl dead in her tracks. In a softer voice she said. "It was a genuine mistake, okay? I'll be fine, Tali look at me."

The girl did.

Liara knew Samantha was lying. She was still quivering in silent pain, but she would not let it show for Tali's sake. The doctor continued to stroke her lover's hand to share the pain between them, trying to abate or at least defuse [some of] it. She could feel Samantha's gratitude for keeping silent about the truth and for the sharing of pain, and more so for charging in to the rescue. No doubt this incident would be brought up in a later conversation.

"Stay. I'll be okay, don't you feel guilty about it. It was an accident. So let it go. Do I need to make it an order?"

"No Commander."

Shepard smiled warmly. "Good"

For the first time, Tali realized that the asari had not left the Commander's side nor let go of the hand she had been holding. "May I ask...Commander, Dr. T'Soni, are you paired now?"

Shepard looked up to T'Soni and flashed a brilliant grin as their eyes looked at one another. "We are." She was grateful for the change of topic.

"This is good news!" cheer found Tali's voice once more. "I knew you two were perfect for each other. I've seen you two give each other secret glances." The voice sounded as if the quarian was grinning ear to ear, though it was difficult to make out any expression from behind the tinted visor of her helmet.

Both older women blushed slightly. "I guess we weren't as discreet as I thought." Shepard said. "I'll have to cap the scuttlebutt quickly."

Liara frowned a little but said nothing. There were some conversations best spoken about in private.

'_Okay let's see if this telepathy goes two ways_.'

'_Samantha?_'

'_Huh! I knew it would. Listen, Angel-Eyes. __If w__ord gets out about us, it won't just be us, it will be us and the whole bleeding media circus of Citadel Space. I'm a Spectre and you are the daughter of a once very powerful and much respected Matriarch. That's news the media hounds will scarf up. I'd rather not share my - our bliss with the likes of Kalisah Bent Al-Jilani or even the good ones like Emily Wong. I'm selfish; I want you all to myself at least for a little while longer. I want something that is just us. Our companions can share in our happiness but I just want us for us, besides most of the squad already know. Liara, I love you and there is no way I would ever deny what we share or us, but let us be selfish for a little while. Please'_

Tali saw the asari smile such a soft smile - one that conveyed understanding, love and agreement. Yet nothing had been said between them. She had never seen her father smile, not once. She doubted if he had ever looked to her mother the way Dr. T'Soni looked at Shepard or vise versa. Before she wanted to leave for the pain she had unintentionally given the Commander, now Tali wanted to slip away to give the two some privacy. She had felt guilty for the former, for the latter she didn't begrudge the fledgling lovers their moment.

Shepard must have sensed the girl's unease of the moment for she turned and addressed the young quarian. "We've stopped Saren, the geth and Sovereign. I suspect you will be returning to the Flotilla soon." There was a hint of regret in the Spectre's voice. "I'm going to miss you Tali. I suspect Chief Adams will miss you nearly as much. He said you were the best damned engineer he'd seen in a long time."

"It has been an honor to serve with him and more with you Commander." Tali tipped her head. "If... if... Commander? I need to get the information you gave me back to the Flotilla but… I… if you still need my help... if you're going to face the Reapers, I would offer my help."

"I'd happily take it Tali, in a heartbeat. But to be honest I could be facing a very long prison sentence, if not capital punishment."

"Surely the humans will not prosecute you! Not now!" Tali nearly shouted. "You stopped Sovereign!"

"_WE_ stopped Sovereign, Tali. We did it, all of us. I could never have done it without everyone on the _Normandy_."

Shepard proclaimed she would take Liara and go rogue if Alliance Medical attempted to bring her lover harm because of their bond. Liara now made that same vow. She may not be the powerful biotic her mother was, in truth none in Citadel Space were when she was alive and it be a very long time before another was again. But Liara is... was... Matriarch Benezia's daughter and that power was within the young asari. Liara would never allow such a travesty of justice to be committed against Samantha. The idea of capital punishment was ludicrous to the extreme.

"Samantha, your tenacious quest to stop Sovereign is the only reason Citadel Space is not now overrun by the Reapers. You are a Spectre. That has given you certain rights and privileges. One of which is you are not bound by laws that would impede your duty to protect the galaxy. You confiscated the _Normandy_ and its 'volunteer' crew to carry out your primary objective." Liara pointed out.

"In theory yes. But you think Udina or Mikhailovich will let this go? Mikhailovich is a bigoted Rear Admiral who hates the very idea that the _Normandy_ was constructed in the first place. Besides which we... that is to say the _Normandy _and me, were supposed to be in his flotilla after the shakedown cruise to Eden Prime. As for Udina, he is a slime ball who thinks of nothing but his political agendas and would gladly release the hounds on me after he's thrown me under the wheels of a Mako to save his own skin.

"I doubt either of them understands the concept of what the scope of being a Spectre is. They seem to think Spectres are just another shadow police force. Spectres are so much more than that. Hell I don't fully grasp what it is to be a Spectre, save we are responsible for the wellbeing of all innocent life in Citadel Space[the galaxy], regardless of the rules, laws and politics. We are set to protect all species not just the one we come from. I just wish Udina, Mikhailovich and people like them understood that."

"Commander, you have great favor with some powerful asari. The Consort for one and then there is Diplomat Nassana Dantius, not to mention the asari Councilor. I bet they will have something to say if Ambassador Udina and that admiral try to make you… what do humans say trip on the dagger?" Tali said.

"Fall on the sword." Shepard corrected.

"The Council will not allow them to make you into a scapegoat." Liara commented. "They will be vilified if they even try to do so."

"I'm not worried about myself, but they could make the lives of my crew hell if I don't do some preemptive political maneuvering of my own. I think I will have to push the whole Spectre rank a great deal to save them from the figurative and literal firing squads. Speaking of which Tali… what about you and the quarian Admiralty? Are you in any danger? I'm sure the Council will allow you to seek asylum on the Citadel. I will definitely give it. I think as a Spectre I'm allowed to do so."

"Hijacking ships is a capital offense but for our success in stopping Sovereign I believe I will be pardoned. But thank you, Commander for your offer. As I said before I wish to stay on the Normandy until we stop the Reapers. I will give the Flotilla the information on the geth. But I have a greater duty. The quarian people are insular and may not understand what drives me to serve with you, Commander. I'm not sure myself but I want to. I need to."

"Glad to have you Tali." Shepard grinned. "Why don't you get some rest while you can, there is a lot of work ahead of us. I know Adams and the engineering crew will be ecstatic to hear you're staying on. The _Normandy_ will be in top shape in no time."

Though it was difficult to see through the face mask, there was no doubt in either of the older women that Tali was grinning ear to ear. She was positively beaming in her jubilation. "Of course, Commander, I'll get right on it." She made a dash for the door - her excitement was uncontainable.

"She holds you in great esteem, Samantha."

"She's a good kid. Smart too. I'm not kidding she'll have the _Normandy_ five-by in no time at all. Adams made her the unofficial Two-IC of Engineering. I agree with him."

Liara's expression changed to match the concerns in her mind. "You should rest, Samantha. I felt your pain as if it were my own."

"I'm sorry Liara. I didn't know that would happen. I don't ever want my actions to hurt you. Knowing that my pain is yours…."

"Enough." Liara placed a delicate blue finger on Samantha's lips. "We will turn this new connection to our advantage. I think it is also advisable we meditate together. Now that you are relying less and less on your implant you will need to meditate to center yourself and control your biotics. I think it will also help us to gain control over our bond rather than it controlling us."

"I'd like that." Shepard took Liara's hand and kissed it. "I'd be so lost without you Liara. I could never have done what I did in our mission if you hadn't been there every step of the way. I can't face the Reapers without you. You are my center."

Liara rested her forehead against the other woman's, "What about being swept up in the storm?"

"All storms need a calm center."

"Eye of the hurricane?" Liara teased.

"Yes. You know the eye of the hurricane is more dangerous than the storm itself?"

"Then I shall be your calm, my beloved Spectre. I will do so gladly." Liara gave a thought back to what Dr. Chakwas had said about her being the Commander's stillness in an otherwise chaotic existence. "I will always be your calm center."

Love flowed easily from where flesh touched flesh, coursing through them both causing each to gasp in heated desire.

"We… we had better stop." Liara said with no hint of conviction in her voice. "Or we shall be caught in the middle of something that we will not desire to be interrupted."

"Not convincing me, Babe." Samantha purred.

"Wrex and Chief Williams still need to see their Commander, Samantha. Ashley especially needs to see you."

The Spectre nodded. "I'd like to see her as well. I owe her a lot. I have to make sure she doesn't do some dumb-ass thing and blame herself for what happened back there."

"I will take my leave for now. Are you hungry, Samantha? Perhaps a bit of soup?"

"Yeah actually I am. That'd be great, thanks Babe."

Liara leaned over and kissed Shepard soundly before heading for the door of the med-bay.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"That isn't some holy relic of a saint you know." Joker pointed to the ruined hardshell cuirass Gunnery Chief Williams had been fidgeting with for the past ten minutes. The pilot watched as Williams ran her fingers lightly over the serrated peaks and crevasses of the deep gash in the armor that once covered their commander's chest. "Touching it ain't gonna give you good luck or something."

The jagged line went from shoulder to waist, a grim remember of what the husk of Saren had done to their CO. Despite the red and black of the Colossus shell you could plainly make out the blood that stained it.

"I know that." Williams grumbled. "I'm not the superstitious sort."

"I don't know. You get ripped nearly in two and live, sounds pretty damn lucky to me." Wrex commented touching the jagged edge himself as if to the good fortune of Shepard's survival would somehow soak into him. "If I were you, Chief, I'd send that hardshell to the Council. Make them see just what happened to Shepard. Make 'em see what they almost lost due to their stupidity and politics. Hell, make 'em worry she ain't gonna make it same as we did."

Williams grinned devilishly. "I think that's a perfect idea Wrex. Make them sweat a bit. Maybe next time she warns them about something they will listen."

"Finally," Wrex rumbled deep from his belly as they watched a very excited quarian bounce out of med-bay and head for the lift that would take her below deck. She was followed a second later by a smiling asari maiden. "This won't take long."

"Shepard."

"Wrex." The Spectre nodded acknowledging the effort the krogan was making by making a show in med-bay. Typically the battlemaster would not have given a second look to a fallen comrade before joining up with the _Normandy_. It simply was the krogan way of looking at battle, you fought, you killed or were killed. If you were wounded, keep the scar, move on but don't hamper others with your recovery.

"You keeping the new scar?" Wrex never understood the fleshy mammals and their finicky ways. If you got a scar in battle wear it with pride. At least Shepard had one visible scar just under her right eye.

"To tell you the truth I haven't given it much thought. I think even if I got cosmetic surgery I'd still feel it. It will always be there. Like the other one." She touched the sickle shaped scar under her eye. It had been caused by flying shrapnel from a grenade going off near her head during the Blitz. Though she lost no vision in the eye, Shepard at times still felt the pain of the blast causing her muscles to twitch. It was a reminder of what happened - of her vow to do better, she would not allow herself to fail again. Not like that. She hadn't been able to get everyone to safety, to protect everyone on Elysium. Many had died because she wasn't able to defend them all. Yes Elysium still stood, because of her, because she stood one against many. When the colonists fled into the storm bunkers she was left to defend the colony by herself until reinforcements came nearly a full day later. The scar was also a reminder that she had lived despite the odds she had nearly lost her sight but she was fortunate. The scar proved she could survive.

The wound left by the husk of Saren would most definitely leave a jagged scar that would stretch diagonally from shoulder to waist. She had nearly died and the scar would remain as a testament to the companions, allies, loved ones and friends who stood by her and ensured that she lived. It would remain as a reminder of all the brave women and men who laid down their lives to save the Council and fought against Sovereign.

"Yeah, it stays."

Wrex grunted his approval. "You still going to play hero?"

"The mission to stop Saren is over. That battle won. [But] The war isn't over."

"Yeah I figured you'd say something like that." The reptile shook his massive head. "Looks like I ain't out of my battle oath to you then. Still get claim on the spoils of the fallen, still gotta make credits one way or another. Being a hero don't pay well. And I don't do the hero thing."

"You've done pretty well so far."

"You trying to insult me Shepard?"

"Wouldn't dream of it Wrex."

"One thing."

"What's that?"

"Don't mind bunking in the Mako on a sleep mat… but damn the seating arrangements on this ship. During the refit, get some of your engineers to install some decent chairs. Those dinky things you lot sit on are for skinny twig people like you, T'Soni and the quarian kid. Even the turian can sit his scrawny ass in a human chair, but they ain't fittin' for a warrior of my stature."

Shepard laughed, grunted as her ribs reminded her that such actions were inadvisable. She flashed an amused smile. "I'll make the order myself, Wrex. I'll even see if we can't install a decent sized sleeper pod…"

"I ain't sleeping in no coffin Shepard. I told you I don't mind having to sleep on the floor of the Mako when we're flying around. Hasn't been a real issue before, can't see it will be now. Like I told you when I first signed on to your crew I slept in far worse places."

"Giving your history as a merc I wager you have. Alright then, just a couple of decent sized chairs, provided of course I still command the _Normandy_ after I meet with the Council and Alliance Brass. There is no telling what will happen in the next few days. There are going to be a lot of questions, a lot of demands being made and a whole lot of healing that needs to be addressed. But I won't give up."

"Yeah I guess there will be." Wrex commented dryly. "Now they know the Reapers aren't some made up varren shit by Saren or you. Even if you don't get the _Normandy_ back, the Council won't ground you. They need you and you need your crew, and I ain't never broken a contract yet, nor battle oath. Ain't 'bout to now."

Shepard smiled. "I'm proud to call you friend Wrex. Glad you have my six."

"Now you're trying to make me cry Shepard. I'm going to get something to eat." The large male rumbled. He was nearly out the door before he craned his thick neck around to look upon the woman laid up in bed. He'd never admit it aloud or [even] under torture, but the human had become something of a hero to the krogan. He was more than flattered she had called him a friend. "Yeah for soft-skinned mammal you ain't so bad. Too bad you ain't a krogan female, you might have been decent to look at too." He barked out laughing.

Shepard snickered. "I don't even want to go there Wrex."

Wrex like the others came out of the med-bay smiling. Williams couldn't recall ever hearing a krogan laugh before. It sounded like something between a thudding of a bass drum, the howling bark of a kath hound alongside a cat throwing up a hairball and a hydro spanner caught in the intake valve of an engine.

She watched the krogan head for the chow line and plate up a massive amount of food. He plunked down in a chair opposite her, mumbling under his breath about the size of the chair before stabbing his fork into the indescribable mound.

Ashley found herself wondering what might have happened on that beach on Virmire had the Skipper not made Wrex see reason. There was no doubt in Williams's mind that she would not have hesitated to cap the krogan in the back. She had quickly maneuvered herself behind him to do just that. There was no way she would ever allow the bruiser to harm her Commander. Her finger had been gently squeezing the trigger and all it would take was a small touch of pressure and her assault rifle would have torn through Wrex's armor and shields.

Shepard had worked her magic on Wrex and made him see reason. She was charismatic and willful, and much more. She made him follow her orders without question. The Spectre's will became his unwavering obedience. Her voice and her strength dominated and others followed with no hesitation. Even now Wrex had pledge to stay at the Skipper's side to face whatever may come without the guarantee of success.

Silently Ashley contemplated her future and found only the face of the Spectre - her Skipper waiting for her. Rising from the table in the mess hall Williams strode without sound to the pneumatic door of the med-bay.

She waited a moment for her eyes to adjust to the dim lighting as Chakwas had rendered the illumination of the room to thirty present of normal. It was warmer in here for the patient's comfort without having to resort to heavier blankets that might chafe against healing wounds.

"Skipper?" Ashley asked softly but got no reply. Stepping closer she found that the Commander was sound asleep. Shepard seemed so different in sleep. Awake she was a wave of activity; Shepard wouldn't know light in a black out, and was always on duty. But asleep she was a calm shadow. There was a strange softness to her features that made her look almost vulnerable. It was strange.

The first thing that popped into Williams head was a poem by Walt Whitman. Softy she began to recite the first few lines:

"'O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done;  
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won;  
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,  
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring:…'"

"If I remember right the captain died in that poem." Shepard jibed. "I'm not dead yet."

"Damn, Skipper you gave me a heart attack! I thought you were asleep. I didn't want to awake you. Sorry if I did." Ashley stammered. She flashed an embarrassed grin and looked away feeling rather foolish for reciting poetry at her slumbering Skipper.

"I was dozing. Combination of the warm room and pain killers, I guess."

"Skipper, are we off the books?"

"Yeah. Besides I don't know if I can even call myself Commander anymore. Lay it on me Ash what's on your mind?"

Williams took in a deep breath, "Okay... I... I just had to make sure you're okay. What happened back there on the Citadel... you got hurt because I didn't move fast enough…"

"Hold it right there Chief! I got hurt because a big chuck of Sovereign's hull landed on me. Ash, you have such a great and terrible reverence for guilt. It is almost as great as your reverence for your faith. For once in your life will you try not to take on the sins of others on your shoulders? If I have to I'll make it a fucking order as your Commander but I'd rather ask it as a friend. Let it go Ash.

"There is no fault here so why are you making it yours?" The Spectre placed a comforting hand on the marine's shoulder. "By the way... if you didn't pay attention before: not dead yet. And that has a great deal to do with you: pulling my arse off the battlefield, getting me to a medic and not to mention your blood in me to keep me alive. If you ask me the Williams name is one of honor, duty and respect. You definitely have mine." Shepard smiled as she did the only thing that would have an impact on the guilt-ridden gunnery chief. She saluted her. That salute remained until Ashley shakily returned it.

"Ma'am." Tears collected in the corners of the dark brown eyes. As far as she was concerned there could have been no greater acknowledgement, no greater honor than to be given a salute by a superior officer. Not just any CO but one Ashley had considered a hero since her time in Basic. That perception of Shepard had only grown in the months of service next to this woman.

"So Whitman eh?"

The shy grin returned on the younger woman's face. "Next time I'll stick to Tennyson." The smile grew larger. "I'm not a 'word person,' Skipper. Other people say what I mean better than I do. We're mutineers. We stole the most advanced warship in the Alliance Fleet and sailed into the most hostile territory in the galaxy. I couldn't blame the Council for calling us reckless and aggressive.

"'Death closes all; but something ere the end, Some work of noble note, may yet be done, Not unbecoming men that strove with Gods'." Williams stared hard at the prone woman before her. "Skipper there is a reason for everything that happened. You took leave on Elysium which put you at the right place at the right time, which lead you to the _Normandy_. It brought you to Eden Prime and to me.

"Skipper, I spent my whole life trying to get what I wanted. To get it done I had to bury a lot of things. During that whole time not even once did I feel I was worth what I was fighting for. You make me feel good enough." Ashley looked down at her hands not daring to look at the woman she had come to admire, who she 'wanted to be when she grew up'. Not the Spectre, or the Commander or the Hero of the Scalene Blitz but who Samantha Shepard truly was.

"Ash…" the Spectre could not fathom the words spoken to her or the emotions that went with them. "You are one of the most remarkable people I've ever met. I meant what I said before. If I need an opinion from the heart I go to you. You keep me grounded, human. I love Liara - she is my soul mate and we will have a life together. But you, Ashley Williams, are my closest friend, the only other person I can say that about is Garrus.

"And you're one of the finest and [most] honorable soldiers I have or will ever serve with. I give you an order and I know without question it is carried out. I never have to ask or double check to confirm my orders; I know they will be carried out to the letter and to the spirit of them. I know it will be so. I put any sort of firearm from a pistol to a nuke in your hands and I know you will become more deadly than a krogan battlemaster. I know you will have me covered from facing off an arrogant son of a bitch ambassador to a thresher maw.

"I put innocents and civilians, even 'Miss Prothean Expert', in your charge and I know they are protected and will be until you breathe your last breath if needs be. I put a team, a squad, a platoon, hell my ship under your command and I trust that you will give your all for them. This is who you are Ash. This is who you are to me and to those who know you, truly know you. You are worth so much, one day you will believe that." Shepard grinned warmly but her eyes reflected strength and conviction that could not be denied.

Ashley's face began to redden from the praise and adulation this heroic figure had given her. It was overwhelming so much so it caused a short circuit of emotional over stimulation in the younger woman. She did what she had always done whenever Shepard paid her a true a deep complement. "I also play a mean game of pool. Once you're up to it Skipper, I'll challenge you."

"You're on. I play poker far better than pool. I'll catch on soon enough. It's like riding a bike right? Once you learn you never forget."

"Um yeah not so much, Skipper." Ash grinned. "What you... don't play pool?"

"Haven't since Basic." Shepard shrugged wincing as she did so. The pain from a healed dislocated shoulder is easy enough to forget compared to the other healing bits of her anatomy. The gesture made her recall she had other injures on top of other injuries "Like I said, I'm good at poker and even chucking darts. How hard can whacking colored balls on a velvet table into pockets with a pointy stick be?"

The grin on Ashley's face broadened.

"That looks good on you." Shepard tilted her head.

"Skipper?" Ash's face contorted into an expression of confusion.

"Happiness. A smile - even if it is mischievous thinking you're going to kick my ass at pool." Shepard winked. "Seriously Ash you don't always have to fight or to prove yourself. Certainly not to me. And you don't have to prove yourself to anyone else aboard the _Normandy_ or to Captain Anderson. It's time to stop fighting yourself. Trust those that know you, have bled with you, fought and grieved and celebrated with you. We know how worthy you truly are."

Ash swallowed hard, the mutinous tears once more threatened to spill from dark chocolate eyes. "Yes ma'am."

Shepard nodded. "I hate to admit it, but I think I'm about taxed out of my reserves for now. I think I'll get some rest the pain killers are kicking in their second round."

"I'll get Liara."

The Spectre's lips curled into a smile. "You know everyone else offered to get Dr. Chakwas. You're the only one who offered to get Liara for me."

"Skipper, they're not marines, they don't get it. Calling for the doc right now isn't want you need. You need your girl." Ashley smirked knowingly.

"The whole kiss and make it better?"

The younger woman shrugged. "Couldn't hurt." She looked back over her shoulder to the door leading to the labs. "At first I didn't know what to make of you and her being hooked up. It ain't the lesbian thing at all, hell that's perfectly natural. Lynn is one." The Chief chuckled nervously. "I am sure as hell glad you didn't walk by when I was reading her email. Bad enough you heard Abby talk about Kaiden. I think I would have asked the floor to open up and swallow me whole if you heard what Lynn said about you."

"Now that would have been worth seeing. It was funny seeing you stammer about Alenko when I asked if you we're interested. When you said he was sweet on someone else I thought you were trying to dodge the inquiry or I'd go ape-shit over it if you were. He said he was into adventurous women so I naturally thought of you."

"Me? Phft. Skipper you had to have known he was talking about you!"

"Not at first no. He said something about cutting corners and I was trying to figure out what the hell he meant. I assumed it was because of the new members of our crew. Or I didn't put a security detail on Liara when she first joined us. I thought maybe he believed I'd take advantage of being a Spectre and trash military regs. That kinda pissed me off to tell the truth. Everyone with the exception of you, Captain Anderson and later Liara assumed because I could break the rules I would, or that I had forgotten my loyalty to the Alliance because now I serve the Council. Later I realized he was referring to a personal relationship, though he had an odd way to bring it up."

"He really had a thing for you."

"I know and I didn't mean for him to get hurt. I didn't even know he was reading something more into our friendship. I didn't treat him any different than I treated you when we were having a bull session. Didn't think he was the type of guy who thinks just because a woman talks to him that she wants share her rack with him. He thought we had something and… I couldn't be the person he wanted me to be." Shepard's voice became distant. "I just thought he already knew I preferred women. I more or less outed myself when we all on the Upper Wards proper."

"'What's not to like we have oceans, beautiful women and this emotion called love…'" Ashley quoted with a grin. "I think it went over his head, Skipper. Of course you ignored his comment about what's not to like about you..." there was smile on the younger woman's face.

"It was a slip of the tongue and there wasn't a reason to crack the whip about something like that. Though I should have in hindsight, might have detoured his thinking we were more than friends." Samantha smiled. "And no… I never intentionally flirted with you Ash. You're too close to my personality even if you were sly. We'd rub each other the wrong way soon enough. Though I'll admit you did peak my interests a little even if you are hetero. You're one hell of a soldier, tough, strong and a sharp snarky sense of humor and you enjoy mushy stuff in secret as well. Same as me, how else do you think I knew all those poems and who wrote them? And you're gorgeous but I tend to go for the bookish sorts." Shepard shrugged slightly. "I find science geeks endearing."

Ashley laughed at that. "Don't forget the innocent looking doe eyes." She blinked her eyes several times to mimic T'Soni's expression when some human expression went over her asari head.

"You can lose yourself in those eyes." Shepard admitted more to herself than to Ashley.

"Skipper, I'm really happy for you and Liara. Somehow you two are perfectly matched. She got on my nerves at first because she was always so serene and graceful. She's so alien but her face is so human... and beautiful. She made me feel like a stocky mongrel thick-headed leatherneck compared to her poise and grace. I know she didn't mean to, I guess it's a natural asari thing. Shit she even made the Thorian slime look good when she was coated in it."

The marines shared a laugh at the memory of the three of them stumbling out of the hidden chambers coated in foul smelling pus, goo and grime from their battle with the Thorian and its thralls. "Guess I'm really trying to say, I'm glad you have her Skipper. Besides she needs someone like you to pull her out of Prothean bubbles."

Shepard's face beamed in a large grin. "One hell of a way to meet the love of your life." She snickered. "I couldn't help but laugh and feel sorry for her all at the same time. If the circumstances hadn't been so dire I think it would have been hilarious."

"That's scientists for you, exploring things and pushing buttons better left alone. Hell if we didn't come along when she we did she might have a lot worse off, then a bit of dehydration and sleep deprivation."

Shepard thought of her beloved Prothean expert trapped in a force-bubble behind an energy barrier. For all her experience Liara had stumbled and touched something she ought not have done and trapped herself even as she protected herself. It would only be humorous if the place wasn't crawling with geth, a krogan merc and the distinct possibility that behind suspended in a [stasis] bubble would disintegrate her health. No water, no food and inability to sleep would have taxed the asari placing her in very grave danger. The soft vulnerable voice calling out for help... so desperate so trusting... so tired pulled Shepard to her.

"Okay maybe not so hilarious after all. Well, if I wasn't right there to get her out of it immediately it would have been."

"You've got it bad for her don't you, Skipper?"

"Oh yes." Shepard didn't try to hide the affection she held for her asari.

"The lower deck had a pool going as to which one you'd choose and when. We all knew um... LT was, as I said, sweet on you, and... Liara definitely was interested in you as more than a source of Prothean data. A few even betted on a three-way."

"How much did you win?" Shepard gave a knowing smile.

"After your comment about men needing a cold shower that lasted from age twelve to twenty-five... I won about three hundred credits."

"That's insider trading you know." She waggled her finger in the Chief's direction.

"Not going to be 'problematic' is it Skipper?"

Again a knowing smile. "I have no idea what you're talking about, especially if you smuggle in a pint or two of 'grease monkey grog'."

Ashley grinned conspiratorially. "Consider it done, Skipper." Ash made a move to leave so her Commander could rest. "Skipper? About you and Liara, I'll make sure the grunts of the lower decks keep mum about it. I know Lt. Pressly will have the upper deck officers. We're the crew of the _Normandy_, ain't nobody gonna tear us apart Skipper: We've all seen way too much, and been through too much. We were tested by fire and galvanized, we'll stand together over the big things and the little ones."

Shepard was flummoxed, agog and completely astounded she had such unwavering sway over her crew. She sat a little straighter, a little prouder in the bed. Saluting the Gunnery Chief she smiled and said two words. "Dismissed Chief."

Williams returned the salute, "Ma'am."

Shepard seemed to mull something over in her mind before called out to stop Williams from leaving the med-bay. "Chief? Wait there is something else, something I should do. I am not huge on the religious thing, despite my father being a druid and my mother... well she's what I'd call more of the lukewarm holiday observations type with the ancestral totem thing. I owe something to someone one and... you and Liara are the only two I know who can show me how. How to do it right."

Williams never had seen Shepard this hesitant before. It was unnerving. "Skipper?" She stood close to the bed. "How can I help you?"

"Teach me to pray."

Ashley grinned softly. "It would be my honor, Skipper."

MEMEMEMEEMEME

"The Skipper's fine, a bit tired but she needs you." Ashley said softy walking up to Liara. The asari had waited patiently for the Chief to have her time with the Commander. Ashley had no knowledge of the deep bond linking the two and her love was simply tired.

"Thank you Chief Will-"

"Don't you think you can call me Ashley now? Or even Ash? You're not military you don't have to use my rank. You call the Skipper by name when not on duty and in front of others well... save for me."

The azure asari smiled warmly as she received the gift of the usage of the human's name graciously. "Ashley, thank you." Liara rose eloquently to her feet. "Not simply for the allowance of your given name but for your genuine friendship and acceptance of me. I know you distrust nonhumans…"

Ash held up her hand. "Wait... okay? I'm not some Terra Firma bigot. It's a little personal… you have the right to know. My grandfather was the general in charge of the Shanxi garrison. He was the only human to ever surrender to aliens."

"That is only logical since he was the first military officer to have been confronted with first contact with non-humans."

"Um yeah but…" Ash frowned. "Alliance military didn't see it that way, they saw failure and since then the Williams name is one of suspicion in the military. Despite that I [still] joined up. I've blamed aliens, mostly turians, for what happened. When the Council continuously ignored and turned their backs on the Skipper the more pissed off I got at the Council races."

"My race."

"Yeah." Ashley looked down at the floor. "But you've always been there for us, more importantly for the Skipper. I should have said this way before but I'd like to call you my friend."

Liara's face light with beaming smile. "I would honor such an offering, Ashley. I wholeheartedly accept."

"Well that wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be!"

Both women laughed softly in the shared moment.

"You better go in, you know the Skipper. She doesn't do waiting well."

"Oh I don't know. She has always been very patient with me."

"You really want to test that patience when she's laid up in med-bay?"

"Ah, I see your wisdom. No I do not. I do not relish the idea her 'grumpiness' directed towards me. Besides I promised to fetch a meal for her, as she is no doubt famished."

Ashley watched as the asari gracefully took a tray of hot soup from the synthesizer and headed back into the med-bay. She turned away heading around the bulkhead for the lift when she stopped dead in her tracks. Coming down the stairs leading to the upper deck was an officer in full dress uniform. Ashley was astounded into dumbfounded amazement yet was quick enough to give a salute and remain at full attention until the unknown officer passed by. A shiver ran through her as she saw the shade of the future stride by in a too familiar gait.

'Oh my god!'

Samantha displayed a full mega wattage smile when she saw her lover walk through the door. "I think I need a kiss more than that soup." She purred.

Liara gave her own coy smile as she set the tray down on a counter behind her. "Kiss and make it better?" she jibed.

"Absolutely, exactly what the doctor ordered.

"Indeed." Liara teased. "I wasn't aware you held a doctorate, my beloved Spectre."

"No but you do. So go ahead and order it."

"I shall do more than order, my love." Liara was at her lover's side in two quick steps, her mouth descending upon Samantha's ravenously.

The door swooshed open admitting a shadowed figure that neither Spectre nor Prothean expert took any notice of. The kiss consumed all thought, all consciousness and desires.

"So this is how medicine is practiced on the _Normandy_. We do things a bit differently on my ship."

The kiss ended abruptly as the figure stepped from the light. Two sets of blue eyes both darkened by desire registered the presence of the interloper.

Samantha Shepard, first human Spectre, could only stare in paralyzing open mouthed awe.

"Mom?!"


	3. Aftershocks

Chapter 3: Aftershocks

"Mom!" Samantha gasped.

Liara sprang back from her lover as if stung by a bee for having been caught in a very intimate moment by her lover's mother. Openly sharing affection was not a taboo for the asari as it was in human culture but no one likes to be caught by one's mother or soon to be mother-in-law in the act of passion.

Hannah Shepard was a woman of trim physique and poise. She was of medium height, standing five foot six. Her hair was styled not unlike Dr. Chakwas. And whereas Samantha's hair was coal black with seemingly blue highlights, the elder Shepard's hair was stark white. The shape of her eyes, eyebrows and even the ice blue irises matched those of her daughter. Or rather the reverse would be more true. Hannah clearly was a woman proud of her body for it was not only fit but refined. Their faces were much alike, high cheek bones with an almost gaunt look to them. Their lips had the same upwards curl with the same full bottom lip. She even had the same splash of freckles across the bridge of the nose and under the eyes. Hannah's skin tone was darker than her daughter which represented her Native American heritage. No doubt Samantha's lighter caramel-cream skin came from a blending of both parents. Hannah was quite stunning, there was little doubt in thirty years time this was what Samantha would look like.

"You know I caught you doing this the last time I came for a surprise visit." The corners of the older Shepard's lips curled into a very familiar smirk.

"I was sixteen!" the Spectre protested.

"I come home for shore leave off the _Einstein_ and what do I find - my only child locking lips with another teenager. She was an admiral's daughter wasn't she? What was her name…Raven?"

"Revan." Samantha shifted uncomfortably in the bed and it wasn't from tired muscles. "Um... Mom, I'd like you to meet Dr. Liara T'Soni our resident Prothean expert and my intended. Liara, this is my mother, Captain Hannah Shepard XO of the _Kilimanjaro_."

Liara turned, she touched her fingertips to her forehead and brought them slowly down palm side up and gave a very slight bow to the elder Shepard. It was the more traditional greeting when meeting an older asari. In this case a show of respect to Samantha's mother. "It is a pleasure to meet you Captain Shepard."

Hannah knew enough about asari culture to know the honor she had just been given and smiled back with a tilt of her own head. "Hannah, please. If you're that close to my daughter to be her betrothed I think rank is a little beyond that. Don't you?"

T'Soni titled her head. "Thank you."

"So... you're going to be married then?"

Samantha gave a chagrined smile. "I proposed just before Ilos. Liara accepted."

"I see." Hannah crossed her arms under her breasts studying the asari archeologist. "How many know?"

"Only one other, my groundside squad's Two-IC - Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, she is also my very good friend. Others on my ship know Liara and I have a relationship and they aren't bothered about it. She isn't military; it isn't exactly breaking any regs." Samantha became a little defensive.

"It could compromise your command." Hannah tested. "There are some orders a commander must give that result in the death of a soldier."

"You don't have to tell me about that kind of an order, _Mother_. I already gave that order. I lost a very good officer and friend because I had to give '_that_' order!" Samantha snapped jolting upright then growling as the pain on her ribs lanced through her.

Liara immediately placed a hand on her lover's shoulder. "Calm _Melethril_. I do not believe your mother is intentionally antagonizing you, but testing your resolve. Is this not so, Captain?" Liara used the rank as a matter of course.

"Very astute Liara, but would Sam be able to give that command to you? Order you into danger knowing you will not survive in order to complete the mission?"

"Yes." Samantha said without hesitation. "If it were the only recourse, the only way the mission could be completed. Yes. And she would comply without question."

Hannah grinned approvingly. "That is all I needed to know." She moved with quiet deliberation to her daughter's bedside and gave her a gentle hug. "How are you doing, Sam?"

"It's only pain. But I'll be five by five soon. I've been grounded to the rack for a couple of days."

"I believe Dr. Chakwas was very firm that you are confined to bed rest for a week." Liara corrected her. "And light duty for a month following. Your list of injuries is quite extensive."

"Tattletale." The Spectre brooded. "If you were a subordinate I'd order you to button your flap. Haven't you ever heard of 'don't tell Mom'?"

Hannah found this immensely amusing. "Oh I like her. I think I'll keep her as my soon to be daughter-in-law."

Liara beamed. The effect soothed the ruffled feathers of her lover, though the Spectre retained her pouting expression.

"How bad is it, Sammy?" Hannah asked once more, this time her voice was tender and filled with a mother's need to know.

"Chart is over there." Samantha pointed to the metal flip chart attached to the foot of her bed. "It looks bad but I'm on the mend. So don't go ape shit when you read it."

Hannah frowned in hearing the dismissive tone in her daughter's voice. When Samantha said she was 'fine' she truly was anything but fine. In fact it was quite the opposite. It wasn't bravado, rather perhaps naive thinking that if she dismissed the pain it would go away and leave her alone.

The older Shepard studied the chart and long list of injuries her child had suffered. "Oh my god, Samantha! You arrested twice?"

"Liara and Dr. Chakwas pulled me out both times."

"Broke ribs again? What is that now five times?"

"How do you know I've broken my ribs that many times?"

"I'm your mother."

"You keep updates on my medical files?" Shepard was stymied.

"I'm your mother."

"But I'm an N-Seven special ops decorated officer now not some little rug rat."

"I'm your mother."

"Right. I get that. But come on, chasing after my medical records seems to be a little frivolous, especially for you. Isn't it?"

"Sam, I might be an aging sea dog who always put duty before family and duty before my personal life, but that doesn't mean I don't love and worry for my girl."

"I know that Mom. Hell, it was you more than Dad that installed that drive in me. But it seems silly to look up my medical files when you can just ask me."

"And if I did what would you say? You're five by five? You were always reluctant to inform me of any injuries that happened to you."

"Well you used to get all worried. You get this look on your face. Like now. I don't like being pampered - it makes me feel weak. If I get injured in the line of duty I'd rather get the healing over and done with so I can go back to work."

Hannah smiled a mother's smile. "And now that you will have a partner how do you plan on downplaying your injuries to an empath?"

"We're working on that." Samantha said looking to her lover before returning her attention back to the older Shepard. "Wait, you're supposed to be on the _Kilimanjaro_. I can't believe you took leave just to see me laid up in the med-bay."

"The _Kilimanjaro_ is here actually. Or did that knock on your head make you forget that it was Hackett's fifth fleet that engaged in theater against Sovereign. Interesting orders by the way. Rather than using the armada against the Reaper you ordered the salvation of the Council."

Samantha pursed her lips into a thin line. "Is this a professional opinion ma'am, or personal?"

"Both."

The Spectre remained silent.

"The immediate strategic course should have guided you to sacrifice the Council, and wait for reinforcements to attack Sovereign. However the longer reaching strategy of your choice insured a greater foundation for the future of galactic unification and stability. Something we will need if there are as you say more Reapers out there. You have always displayed a remarkable foresight even as a child. You were born old, Samantha. That insight makes you a good leader."

"Yes ma'am." Samantha responded as if addressed by a senior officer rather than her mother. It meant far more to both of them as such.

"John...has his hands full with repairing the damage the _Kilimanjaro_ took. I'm sure he'll see you when he can."

"I'm sure that is the common state of all engineers," the Spectre commented dryly. "As well as anyone who can handle an omni-tool, I shouldn't wonder. And Dad and I... forget it. I'm not bothered. You came." There was a sad truth in the younger Shepard's words. She and her father had never been what one would have remotely called close. They more or less tolerated each other for the sake of Hannah. "Say Ma, I'd think you'd be up to your neck in overseeing the repairs."

"Indeed, I myself have been press-ganged into helping restore parts of my ship. All-hands-on-deck as they say." Hannah commented. Her own training as an infiltrator gave her the talents to work an omni-tool as well as small arms. In fact it had been Hannah who had first instructed her daughter in the use of small arms far before basic training had even begun. Of course that was very common amongst spacer-military brats. By the age of twelve most of them could field strip any weapon in under in under a minute.

"_Kilimanjaro_ wasn't as lucky as the _Normandy_. We took a few hits from the geth dreadnoughts but we were lucky enough not to take any direct hits from Sovereign. Her main guns tore though the GARDIAN of other ships as if they were tissue paper. I've never seen anything like it before. Whatever tech that rat-bastard Saran got his talons on is some very serious weaponry."

"It's Reaper tech, Ma not geth. And there are more out there just like it."

"Ah hell. You sure?"

The younger woman nodded her head. "Yeah and there's more. A lot more. Most no one will believe. Hell I was still skeptical until I heard the intel repeated from another source. A Prothean VI confirmed what Sovereign told me. I'll go into length later."

Hannah nodded her head, she knew better than to push her daughter. The girl had a sensible head on her shoulders and wasn't prone to exaggeration or flights of fancy. If Sam said there were more Reapers out there, then there were more Reapers out there.

"Speaking of Dad, you telling him or am I?" Samantha turned her gaze from her mother to Liara, deciding to change the subject.

"I think it best it comes from me." Hannah sighed.

"Is there a problem?" Liara asked well aware that some humans had issues with inter-species relationships. Some went as far as to protest their hate mongering on the Citadel itself. Samantha's request to keeping things quiet suddenly made far more sense than simply keeping the media hounds at bay. The Terra Firma party would no doubt target not only the Spectre but Liara herself. Quite possibly with physical violence.

"John is..." Hannah tried to reassure the young woman who was going to be her daughter-in-law. "He isn't opposed to other races; he isn't a member of the fascist's party if that is what worries you, Liara. Actually you being asari might make it easier for him to adjust. You see John, has some archaic view about the necessity of grandchildren and the way they are 'traditionally' conceived."

At this the Spectre rolled her eyes. "He still isn't on about that is he?

"OH!" Liara blurted out. "I understand. With my people's ability to conceive as we do his idea of 'natural conception' is placated. But it would be me not Samantha who was pregnant; perhaps this does not fit the parameters of his wishes for his daughter or the possibility of grandchildren."

"Well he can hold off the desire to bounce a gurgling baby granddaughter on his knee. I want to enjoy my life with Liara before going into the whole family mode, thank you very much. My maternal clock isn't ticking and I doubt it will any time soon."

Neither caught the subtle uncomfortable shifting of feet and weary sigh that came from the asari at Samantha's words.

"Don't pout, it's unbecoming." Hannah admonished her daughter.

"Spectres don't pout they brood." Samantha folded her arms under her breasts and scowled at her mother.

"Well you're doing a damn good show of pouting. Come on, Liara give me the nickel tour of the _Normandy_ while my daughter gets some sleep. Apparently she needs some rest."

"Ah-hey!" Shepard protested. "I'm not a little kid, you can't tell me to go to my room or to bed."

Hannah laughed. "Really? Tell me then just where are you?"

Liara had a bemused look on her face. "It does seem you are indeed sent to bed, my Love."

"Don't encourage her." The Spectre addressed her lover.

Hannah chuckled as she left the two alone and headed outside.

Liara was still smiling as she leaned over her beloved and kissed her quite soundly. "I will return later. Do try and rest, my love. The day has been long and quite emotional." The pad of her thumb stroked the soft creamy-caramel skin. "I will not tarry long."

"You know she will drill you with questions, want to know all about you."

"I am betrothed to her daughter, I suspected as much."

"Take her to my... our quarters for any private debriefing. Might get a little uncomfortable. Sorry."

"Samantha, you make it sound as if she is interrogating me."

"Got it one, Li. Don't back down and don't give ground about anything you believe in, don't try to butter her up. She won't respect that. She will challenge you. My mother's the XO of a dreadnought she will take command of the conversation if you let her. Don't. She has made marines and even senior officers squirm, I saw it all the time when I was growing up."

"I was a matriarch's daughter, Samantha. I know how to speak with a dominant personality. But thank you for your warning _Melethril_." Liara kissed Shepard's brow once more before leaving the med-bay.

She found Hannah Shepard leaning against the bulkhead that separated the rear of the turbo-lift from the mess.

"If you desire the tour I believe that Gunnery Chief Williams or XO Pressly are better suited both by profession and military regulations to do so."

"Quoting regs to me?" The white eyebrow rose a little, a small bemused curl of the lips indicated the senior Shepard wasn't offended by the asari's diversion.

"That would be futile would it not?" Liara commented simply. "Samantha has offered the use of her quarters for a debriefing. Perhaps that will be more fitting for any questions you no doubt have."

"Lead the way."

Shepard's quarters were on the opposite side of the mess, a mirror reflection of the space in the med-bay. Where the lab was in the back in medical there was instead a twin bed, separated from the larger space by a bulkhead. In the center of the room proper was a circular table and two chairs. Because this was the captain's quarters it had its own ensuite as well as its own mini-fridge.

Hannah had forgotten how small frigates were. On board the _Kilimanjaro_ her own quarters were almost twice the size as her daughter's privileged captain's quarters. But then again the senior Shepard also shared the space with her husband.

The room was sparsely furnished giving no indication that it was actually lived in. The critical eyes of the Captain looked at the bed and saw the military corners of the coverlet. Since she was a child, Samantha had been taught and expected to keep her room tidy, her bed's covers so tight you could bounce a coin off of them. A white glove inspection would not find a molecule of dust. Hannah gave an approving nod to the room before she sat down in one of the chairs.

Liara smiled, Hannah had taken the same chair her lover always did during their shared meals. Her back was to the bed, so she was always facing the door. Hannah further turned the rotating chair just a fraction aside so that if she had to she could bound out of the chair without being trapped between it and the table or banging various parts of her anatomy on the edges of furniture. Exactly like Samantha.

"Have you dined? I have found a conversation over a meal or even a cup of tea to be most enlightening. Indeed it is a custom amongst my people that to share a meal over topics of personal import is the best course of action. "Liara offered before going over to the small fridge and the automated teapot. She poured two mugs of tea and sat them down on the table thus giving Hannah no chance to refuse.

"Sharing a meal will even the battlefield. It's a good diversionary tactic, people are most vulnerable while they are either eating or sleeping. A person can't get all superior or smug while chowing down."

"All manner of topics are discussed over a meal for it is often a place of calm. I must admit I am stymied by the human saying 'not at the dinner table.' Perhaps we are breaking a taboo in your culture while honoring mine. So I will leave the decision to you." Liara turned her back on Hannah smiling to herself knowing the subtle gesture and affirmative action had impressed the 'older' woman. By deferring to Hannah she was making the human confront any preconceived notions she might have had about Liara. It was a tactic the doctor had seen her own mother use on others if she wanted to gain the higher philosophical ground as it were.

"Perhaps something light to go with the tea?"

"Excellent."

Hannah had to admit she was impressed with [Dr.] T'Soni thus far. The asari had diverted the senior Shepard away from the military distractions the tour would have offered, made her choose to observe asari culture as well as gaining the more tactical high ground with deft delicate subtleness.

Liara returned to the table carrying a tray of rich aromatic cheeses, crackers, savories and dried smoked meats. "Quite the spread." Hannah said critically. "I didn't know the _Normandy_ had asari gourmet cuisine in their mess, or is this a Spectre's special?"

"Many simple foods placed together make for a fine feast." Liara sidestepped. "Indeed the cheeses are commonly served aboard asari military vessels. Humans also have such simple fair in their mess do they not?"

"True enough. I never thought to serve olives, gherkins and raw mushrooms with herbal crackers and chunks of cheese."

Liara smiled. "Perhaps you will now. Sometimes it takes another to reveal how something so very simple can be a delight. You are correct however in that the cheeses are asari recipes. After eating MRE's for the better part of fifty years while on remote digs I find the change of diet refreshing."

"Wait, are you telling me you ate meals-ready-eat for fifty years!"

"They were most efficient," Liara commented dryly, "though not always the most palatable. Sometimes I would hunt indigenous flora and fauna while on a planet but for the most part it was the MREs that sustained me."

"Fifty years? Girl, I just turned sixty. You don't look a day over twenty. Just how old are you?"

Liara shifted her gaze to the small wedges of cheeses. "I am only a hundred and six. Though in a few months I shall turn hundred and seven."

"That's a little creepy. My mother-in-law is that age. That had to hit Sam upside the head."

"It is something we came to terms with. While a century may seem like a long time for a short lived species. I am barely more than a child to my people."

"I have to tell you, I was a little put out when I saw just how young you were next to my Sam. She'll be thirty in a couple of days." Hannah used the small knife to cut into a diminutive delicate wheel of rose-colored cheese. "To find you're at least three-times her chronological age eases me a bit." The senior Shepard bit into the cheese and her eyes snapped open with surprised delight. "Wow, what is this? This is wonderful."

Liara glanced at the cheese her would be mother-in-law had chosen before taking a morsel herself and popping it into her mouth. "It is called Chessentan lotus cheese. It comes from the region of the Sea of Fallen Stars on my homeworld. It is made out a mixture of roses, cherry-blossoms, honeysuckle and lotus petals."

"It's wonderful." Hannah reached for another bit of cheese.

"I will have an OSD uploaded with common asari menus for our military ships. All the newer additions were a gift from an asari diplomat that we aided sometime ago. She had Samantha's name added to their preferred client list. I believe the menu was one of the perks of that list."

"So what other delights do we have here?" Hannah explored the offered cheeses. She reached for a very small brick of green wax. She could already smell the strong spices as she cut into the rind.

"Take only very little of that and eat it with an herb cracker, I also suggest eating it with a plain black olive and a mushroom. Green calishite is mixed with ground curry. It is the curry that gives the cheese its radiant aquamarine hue as well as a warning to the uninitiated. Many a krogan has been brought low by grabbing a hunk of Green, thinking it an ordinary cheese and biting into it."

Hannah did as advised. As soon as she bit into the small morsel of cheese her eyes watered, and her mouth felt as if it was on fire. She popped an olive and a mushroom into her mouth which seemed to cool it a little. "Gack... that… is strong!" Hannah coughed.

Liara smiled softly. "Samantha had much the same reaction, and I do believe she drained the entire contents of her drink after."

"I think I will stick with the lotus cheese." The Captain still felt the burning in her stomach, and that was from a small smidgen.

She was surprised to see Liara take a much larger piece of Green to be placed upon a cracker. There was no outward sign of distress for eating such a potently spiced cheese.

"Asari must have stomachs of titanium." Hannah wiped the corners of her eyes with her napkin as they still watered from the effect of ingesting curry powder.

"It is not a flavor for everyone. Samantha however has grown to like small quantities of it when we eat pasta. She will crumble a bit on top of the basil and tomato sauce. I have found I enjoy it that way as well."

"Her father likes spicy things as well. I'd get off shift, come home to our quarters and the two would be snacking on wasabi and peppered hard bread. I've never known another four year old who liked such hot and spicy foods. She was also very liberal in her use of Tabasco sauces, the hotter the better. She used to put it on almost everything. She gets that from her old man. John would definitely like the Green."

"Then take the remains to him when you depart the _Normandy_." Liara offered. "As a token. And take the remains of the lotus cheese for yourself, Hannah. "

"Getting to your father-in-law through his stomach?" Hannah laughed. "Good tactic."

"It was not meant as a bribe." Liara defended feeling as if she had suddenly lost all the ground she had so recently gained with the 'older' woman.

"Relax, Liara I was only joking."

Liara snickered despite herself, Hannah and Samantha were so much alike. The same smile, the twinkling of blue eyes. Even the same sense of humor and the same indomitable presence of personality were shared between the two Shepard women.

"So tell me more about yourself, Liara. How did you come to meet my Sam?"

"I am afraid there is little interest in who I am."

"I doubt that. My daughter has very discerning tastes over whom she gets into a relationship with. She wouldn't be engaged to you if you were a dull stone. So out with it."

"I am an archeologist, specializing in the Protheans. A rather rebellious profession for an asari, especially one who is the daughter of a Matriarch." The asari let out a lyrical chuckle thinking back to the first few conversations she had shared with her beloved.

Over the next two hours as they ate, Liara had described the meeting between herself and the Spectre, of Samantha's defiance to the krogan battlemaster sent to hunt and capture Liara. She spoke of the battles on several planets from the Thorian to Cerberus. She described the confrontation with her mother on Novaria and the generosity, kindness and compassion Samantha had offered after. Liara spelled out the events that took place on Virmire and how the Spectre made Wrex see and accept reason. She spoke kindly of Lt. Kaiden Alenko's sacrifice and how hard it had hit Samantha having to choose one life over the other. She described the battle in the waterworks and how Samantha had freed herself from Saren's stranglehold so she might rescue Ashley and get her to Dr. Chakwas.

The asari spoke of the Council's decision that, because Samantha was a Spectre, she had the right to go into the Traverse and confront Saren but it was Ambassador Udina's political hunger that grounded the _Normandy_. Liara was clearly angered at this. The man had placed his political agenda over the lives of billions. The human had clearly stepped beyond his station when he had interfered with military protocols. The _Normandy_ was a joint effort between the Council and the Alliance Military not the civilian politicians. Captain Anderson knew and understood and further more sanctioned the need to go to Ilos. If not for his actions to clear the _Normandy_ for flight by hacking the ambassador's computer, this conversation between mother and daughter-in-law would not be happening.

Liara mentioned only briefly the night before Ilos and the tenderness Samantha had shown. Of the proposal two minutes before planet fall and Ashley's acceptance to stand with Samantha on that day. The doctor further explained with fervor the finding of Vigil and the Conduit. She went into great detail over the battle within the Citadel Tower with Saren while overhead Sovereign was being confronted by Citadel and Alliance military. Liara's voice dropped to a hoarse whisper was she spoke of how she thought her beloved lost to her. How they struggled to keep Samantha alive and the joy of realizing she was going to live.

When she had finished both Hannah and Liara felt emotionally drained. Hannah closed her eyes thinking how close she had come to losing her child. She didn't know if she could have borne such sorrow. She wanted to kick herself for almost dismissing Sam's call. 'I don't have time for a personal call, I'm on duty.' She was about to tell Sam she was going to clear the channel but something in her daughter's voice made her pause. At least when they had signed off, Hannah had told her child how proud she was of her. 'Take care of yourself Sam. You're making us proud.' To think that might have been the last time she spoke to Sam hit Hannah hard.

She looked over to the young woman who had become so important to Samantha. Her hand touched the shoulder of the asari as a mother would. "I'm sorry about your mother. If you ever need... a mom, you give me a call, Kiddo. Not a problem."

Liara's voice was small and quiet when she spoke. "Thank you for your kindness."

"Anytime, Liara."

"I believe Samantha is asleep. But all children know when their mother lingers at the threshold of their bedrooms as she watches over them in their slumber. I shall see you are undisturbed," the asari said rising from the table. She wrapped the cheeses in a napkin for Hannah to take with her when she left for her own ship, before returning the tea service to the recycler.

"You have a very gentle soul." Hannah complemented. "Make sure you don't lose it in the company of marines and Spectres."

MEMEMEMEMEME

Hannah Shepard once more entered the med-bay. Her child was indeed sleeping though not soundly. Her dreams seemed to disturb her rest. Samantha's eyes darted back and forth under her lids. Her breathing was rapid as if she were running. A nightmare took the Spectre's sleep and warped it into torment.

In that moment Samantha Shepard first human Spectre became as a child in the eyes of her mother. Tenderly the senior Shepard placed a hand upon her daughter's brow, before kissing her softly near the same spot. "Dreams are dreams and cannot physically harm you." She said softly. It was a mother's hand stroked down the gaunt cheek, her thumb tracing over the scar under Samantha's right eye. A testament of Elysium and of courage: how many more 'testaments' would her child bear, how many 'testaments' would they all bear in the future to come? Samantha calmed under the secret hand of her mother and fell into a deeper dreamless sleep.

As quietly as she had entered Hannah Shepard left the med-bay. She wanted to meet the Williams kid, the marine that offered not only to donate blood, but her vital organs to save her daughter - the woman who Sam called her closest friend. Captain Shepard knew it hadn't been friendship that made the Spectre chose Williams over a superior officer. There had to be something more, some potential Williams would fulfill in the battles to come that Lt. Alenko was incapable of. As the senior Shepard had said before, her daughter had a keen talent for forward thinking.

Hannah found Gunnery Chief Williams to be the same young woman she had passed in the mess hall a few hours ago. The young woman was heading in from the hatch of the _Normandy_ command deck towards the CIC when the senior Shepard spotted her. Lt. Pressly had been good enough to point her out and offer the comm-room if necessary for a private briefing.

The senior Shepard blocked Williams' way at the stairwell. Her blue eyes watching carefully as the young woman snapped off a perfect salute.

"You're Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams are you not?"

"Yes ma'am." Williams stood at rigid attention looking just past the Captain's right shoulder.

"Captain Shepard SSV _Kilimanjaro_-XO. Escort me to the comm-room; I want a SitRep."

"Ma'am?" Ashley was clearly confused. It was the senior officer on duty that delivered situation reports to a higher ranking officer not lower officers like herself.

"You were there during the confrontation within the Citadel Tower. I want details."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ashley led the superior officer, who she knew to be very well the skipper's mother, to the conference room behind the bulkhead that separated the area from CIC. She didn't know which was more intimidating, that she was having a confab with a senior officer or her commander's mother.

Once the doors swooshed closed, Hannah smiled, "Relax soldier before you strain something."

"Yes ma'am" Williams went into parade rest.

"First let me say thank you for what you did for my daughter. I'm not just talking about the fact you carried her to safety. But you gave her a fighting chance to live with the donation of your blood. I also wanted to know what type of person my daughter press-ganged into standing up for her during her wedding."

Ashley smiled slightly. "I'm honored she asked me, she didn't have to press-gang me ma'am."

"Then you approve of this union between human and asari?"

"Yes ma'am."

"I know of your family's lineage, Williams, doesn't this bother you that an alien is going to marry a decorated _human_ officer?"

Ashley wasn't quick enough to school the frown that found her face. "Dr. T'Soni has bled with us, fought with us and sacrificed much for us ma'am. She had to confront her own mother and help kill her all in the line of duty. No other sentient being is worthy of Commander Shepard! With all due respect ma'am if you had spoken with Liara then you would know that."

Inwardly Hannah was smiling. Outwardly she revealed no emotion. "Indeed." Her voice was cold though no conviction was behind the façade. "This is a rather strange viewpoint from the granddaughter of the General Williams who had to surrender Shanxi."

Ashley bit her inner cheek as not to blurt out the heated retort just itching to get out. Instead she quoted her commander. "To ask for help isn't a weakness. Thinking we can go it alone is just stupid, and stubborn ma'am. Allies can only make us stronger. Some non-humans may not always stay our allies; if push comes to shove they may send us like a dog on a bear to get away ma'am. But Dr. T'Soni isn't the whole of her people. She will never abandon the Skipper. She can cover my six anytime. She's great in a stand up fight, and even if I don't agree with asari mumbo-jumbo she's always, always been there for the Skipper. I got her six anytime as well. She's the best representative of the asari I've ever come across. I say all the more power to the Skipper for trying to make a life with someone like Liara."

"You said non-humans not aliens." Hannah tested Williams once more.

"Yes ma'am."

"Why?"

"Aren't we aliens to the other races?"

"I suppose we are."

"Your daughter gave me the opportunity to see things differently. I have. It's made me a better marine."

"I see." Hannah commented. "Tell me, do you agree with the choices your _Skipper_ has made? What about what happened on Virmire? You're a non-commissioned officer; Sam didn't follow regs in that choice. You have permission to speak off the records, Chief."

Williams flinched as if struck. Sighing heavily she spoke her mind. "To tell you the truth ma'am I was angry with her for choosing to save me. I've got no problem giving my life for the Alliance. Lt. Alenko was a superior officer. If she went by the books he would be here not me. And he was a good friend."

"You were angry because she couldn't save him too, is that not so?"

Williams didn't say anything.

"I know my daughter and now having served with her, you know she makes decisions that have ramifications for the future that cannot be seen in the present. Often times those decisions do not make sense in the present view but in the long term they have often proven to be the best course of action and the most viable. It is almost as if her forward thinking is accentuated by temporal hind-sight."

To this Williams nodded. "I will confess that after we talked and she accepted my apology for the insubordinate burst of anger, I needed to know why she chose me."

"She was blunt when she told you the point to the question you wished you hadn't asked."

"Very."

"And what did she say?"

Williams's arms went behind her back once more at parade rest. "She said she had listened to our chatter when we were on the Citadel the first time. LT commented on all the stairs being symbolic to the importance of the Council and he liked the fountain as he found it soothing. I said the stairs made for good defensive positions. I also noted that the cherry trees were in blossom.

"The skipper said I had a keen eye for strategy and details. I noticed a scientist scanning the Keepers as we were leaving the Council chambers that first day on Citadel. Something the LT hadn't seen even after I pointed it out. She listened to his commands when he had ordered to join the salarian teams on Virmire. The Skipper said Alenko was a marine but not a true soldier. He had an officer's commission but he wasn't command material, never would be. He wasn't a leader, I was. She said would need someone worthy of command to take charge of a unit or squad if we needed to divide our forces. Alenko was a philosopher and I a human tank. She needs a tank. I asked if Dr. T'Soni wasn't in the picture would the choice have been the same. You see, LT was an L-Two biotic and a powerful one."

"Sam said her choice would not have altered, didn't she?"

"Yes ma'am." Ashley nodded her head affirmatively. "She needs a tank to cover her six or any other biotic in the squad when casting biotic powers least they get mowed down by more conventional attacks. It's like when we were up against Matriarch Benezia's commando unit. They were formidable, trained combatants. Going head to head with them in biotics was hell for Skipper and Liara. The commandos used their abilities to hamper and weaken us. But while Skipper and Liara distracted them, I flanked them and took them out from behind, mowing them down as quickly as possible with sniper shots. It was the only way we won."

"Rounding out a team with biotics, tech-abilities and firearms is a wise move. Relying too heavily on one or the other will weaken your defensive and offensive fronts. Take a highly skilled infantryman and turn her into an officer you got one hell warrior at your six. I can see why Sam made the choice she did back on Virmire. It's that same wisdom that allowed her to make the split second decision to save the Council at the expense of many human lives. There are many more dimensions she sees that perhaps others do not. When she spells them out you will see her choice was in truth the only viable one."

"Ma'am... was she always like that?"

The senior Shepard nodded. "I think because she had few friends growing up. Even on the generational ships and stations we lived on she was more comfortable in the company of adults. Always listening, learning, asking questions. Sometimes very difficult questions, she would keep asking until she gained a satisfactory answer. She challenged viewpoints of others, perhaps testing the resolve of their convictions. Often times she converted them to her view point. I've seen her work her magic on adults. Some of them had long-held stubborn beliefs yet they were challenged by a ten year old and suddenly adopted her viewpoint was if it had been theirs all long. She has always been self-reliant, a talent forged from one of us being always on duty. She learned that duty and honor are exceedingly important and sometimes the spirit of duty is more important to the word of it.

"Take for instance the choice made on the Citadel. Her duty is to the Alliance before the Council even if she is a Spectre. If she had chosen to use all fire power on Sovereign, thus sacrificing the Council, humanity would have suffered in the greater scope of things. Yes, no doubt humanity would be the more dominant in numbers to the other races in the immediate area and future, but we have only been a part of the galactic community for the past twenty-six years post Shanxi. We are too separate, too insular to guide the greater numbers of other species with forethought and wisdom. Sam was not going to condemn the whole of humanity for the sake of immediate power and or the lives of legions of Alliance soldiers. It took her only a moment to reveal this to me and I understood and agreed. Her choice was the only choice, in the Citadel Tower and back on Virmire."

"Yes ma'am." Williams nodded again. "I hope she can make the Brass agree to her point of view."

"I doubt they will prosecute on a military level, Chief. Fleet Admiral Hackett happens to be a very big fan of Commander Samantha Shepard. He was there leading the Fifth Fleet that liberated Elysium and knew how she operated and that the only reason that colony still stands is because of her actions. He was also instrumental, along with Captain Anderson, in recommending your Skipper to be inducted as a Spectre. He could have - but didn't - countermand Sam's orders to save the Council.

"No, he will not seek to court martial Sam or her gallant crew, nor will he allow the Alliance brass to do so." Hannah made for the door. "On a personal note, I approve of my daughter's choice in Liara and the woman she tells me will stand up for her. It tends to be a Shepard family trait when you ask someone to stand as your second; you trust them with more than your life. You trust them with the life of your beloved, your family. Sam is twice-over a Shepard." Hannah smiled softly and winked, "My maiden name happens to be Shepard. No relation of course. Sam's father actually spells his with two P's; though most forget that little detail save for official records and his tags of course. I chose to give her my name's spelling rather than her father's and he never contested. Might have had she been born a male, and he would have instead on a junior as well. Another John Shepard or rather John Sheppard." the white-haired woman shook her head. "Thank the Spirits I had a girl. That's all this galaxy need is another shaven-headed-thick-necked male jarhead to play hero. We have plenty of males in uniform; I say it's about damn time women get the role."

Ash grinned.

"You know my daughter must consider you a very good friend indeed and I can see why. My daughter is very discerning in those she calls friend." With that said Hannah Shepard left a very stunned gunnery chief alone in the conference room.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Time apparently decided to drag its temporal feet over the long week that she was confined to bed. Shepard had always been prompt with her paperwork and mission reports, being the XO of the _Normandy_ before taking command demanded it. The executive officer was in charge of crew, paperwork, roisters and requisition manifests and so on. Pressly would be handling the general restocking needs of the _Normandy_ such as survey gear, munitions, firearms, hardsuits, survival gear and tac - all of which she would have to sign off for. She didn't begrudge Pressly his role. Still, the commanding officer was required to perform her fair share of file shuffling. Being laid up in bed had given her ample time to properly address such things, such as damage reports, the butcher's bill and the requisitions request for a new Mako, not to mention seating accommodations for a krogan. She was also busied with reading and signing off all of Pressly's reports and those of Chief Engineer Adams.

Miraculously there were no casualties on the _Normandy_, though Chakwas had reported several injuries. She had her own medical requisitions and had ordered three times the amount of medi-gel that was typical of a frigate on the front lines. Patching up a Spectre was apparently very expensive in the medi-gel department.

As she worked the Spectre couldn't help but think of the second day of her convalescence, Liara had come to her looking almost quite smug.

"_So you ate a canary and cream alike ehe?"_

_Liara blinked a few times, "You know I haven't taken my meal yet…"_

"_Err it's a human saying__.__A__ cat who ate the canary or got __into__ the cream refers to someone very pleased with themselves."_

"_I see, so a feline who ate both canary and cream is immensely pleased with itself, thus a sentient with a very pleased smile is said to have consumed both. Yes in that case I had a cream dipped canary." Purple lips formed a soft but almost arrogant smile. "I have updated and reorganized your filing system Samantha__,__ to be more efficient and suit your style of book-keeping."_

"_But you're an archeologist not an administrative assistant."_

"_Some of it was quite old."_

"_Oh haha." Despite her stern facade Shepard could not long hold the expression and burst out laughing. "Good one. You're getting better at jokes there lover. First it was 'Who votes we use the vehicle to go into the creepy underground tunnel?' and now you're punning. Joker's been a bad influence on you."_

"_Love, I am quite serious."_

"_Oh come on it isn't that bad__.__ The Council, Captain Anderson and Admiral Hackett always got their mission reports on time." _

"_I'm not speaking of the military mission reports, but all the other administrative work that needs your attention that you have neglected due to more aggressive distractions. Some include mineralogical and resources survey reports, as well as the finding of many relics. The asari, turrian and salarian antiquities boards will wish__ for__ a full documentation on our discoveries in the other systems for further recording, study, analyses and perhaps extensions in excavations. We will need to surrender our artifact discoveries to each respective government. I know a bit about the academia centering on non-__P__rothean archeological finds. Many times in my own excavations I would come across relics from other races. As they were not true to my desired field of study I passed on these sites to the appropriate peoples. There are also our zoological reports on the indigenous life forms we found that will need to be translated from Alliance Military lingo into academia again for further study. As well as the many previously undiscovered asteroids and planetoids we found that will need to be reported so they can be appropriately charted, surveyed and explored." _

"_Oh." Shepard became very sheepish. "Thanks."_

Liara's filing system was indeed efficient and very Spectre-user-friendly. In little time at all the Spectre had seen, read and signed off on week (a few dated back a month or two) old documents. Shepard had seen log after log concerning mineralogical surveys, the surveying of gas giants, locations of thresher maw nests, geth traps and the finding of relics. Of course she was then inundated with queries from heads of academia, resource commission boards and zoological preservation committees after each report was documented, filed and sent to those that needed to see them. The xeno-zoological departments of various universities were very interested in the metallic monkeys or rather pyjacks on Eletania. Though some could be delegated to Liara or Pressly for the most part these enquiries ended up on Shepard's plate.

After a week with dealing with all of the mountains of administrative not to mention dull paper work, Shepard longed for a Mako drop on some hazard one planet to fight off a platoon of geth.

Her week however wasn't all paper-shuffling; it included physical therapy from Dr. Chakwas and meditation training from Liara. The Spectre had been 'upgraded' from an Armali Council's Prodigy to one of their Savant X bio-amps which was augmented with an empathic interface. The asari do not require implants to use their natural biotics though they use them to augment their natural talents. Even still they were the finest artisans to create bio-amps and omni-tools. Indeed the Armali Council is the best in the field.

Shepard was not exactly relearning how to use her biotics but rather to control them to a higher efficiency. She wasn't completely independent of the implant but she was close. So much so in fact that, Liara was confident that her beloved would not suffer as other biotics did with implant flare ups, or have any of the horrific side effects that seemed to take [plague] biotics.

All biotics were capable of manipulating dark energy, the imperceptible quantum force that pervaded all the so-called empty space in the universe. Normally too weak to have any noticeable effects on the physical world, dark energy could be concentrated into extremely dense fields by biotics through mental conditioning. With their natural talents augmented by thousands of microscopic amplifiers surgically implanted throughout their nervous system, biotic individuals could use biofeedback to release the accumulated power in a single directed burst. Because of the asari's unique nervous system they didn't need or use these amplifiers. The asari evolved as a process of using biotics in their procreation. It was how they could meld with another soul, delve into their genetic memories and combine it with the second set of DNA codes.

Shepard's biotics were answering her call faster, easier and more naturally under Liara's tutelage. Dr. Chakwas was correct, Liara had told her one day in that Shepard's control did indeed resemble that of an asari youngling. The bio-amp was used to gauge control and guide but it didn't actually amplify the Spectre's biotics as they once had. That came from a joint gestalt between her Union with Liara and the Prothean marker. Shepard would not be able to utilize the fullness of her biotics without her implants but she didn't rely on them as heavily as she once had.

During the week of ordered rack-time, Shepard had received dozens of transmissions. Some she had Joker deny, others she accepted. Both Captain Anderson and Hackett called in for a sitrep as well as to enquire on her health. They both wanted to see her ASAP once she was cleared for light duty. The Council had also asked for her presence as quickly as possible. Emily Wong had asked when it was possible to get that exclusive Shepard had promised her. Miss Wong was the only media personality that Shepard had accepted a call from, all others had been blocked and denied with extreme prejudice. Then there were the family members of the fallen, Alenko, Jenkins and Admiral Kahoku that Shepard had made a point to contact and offer her condolence, relate the bravery and commitment to duty as well as their sacrifice and remembrance. They were heroes.

Shepard had also contacted Matriarch Lei'cree the asari Councilor, Consort Sha'ira as well as diplomat Nassana and the matron Shiala. There was something of very great importance that needed to be addressed and they were the only ones capable of ensuring that this concern was seen to. The asari Councilor had further put Shepard in contact with Matriarch **Lidanya** who was in fact the Commander of the _Destiny Ascension_.

The request would be deliberated but they all promised the Spectre an answer within a week's time. There was much to consider, however there seemed to be a popular consensus amongst the asari women as to believe in a positive outcome.

MEMEMEMEMEME

The time had come to face the Council and answer the many questions they no doubt had. After them would come the Alliance top brass.

"I don't like the fact you are going in full battle gear, Samantha. Is it truly necessary?" Liara admonished while assisting her betrothed with the weapons rack and settling it upon her back.

"I have to face them not as Commander Shepard, but as a Spectre. That means armor. Everyone else must see the Spectre when I arrive at the embassy section of the Presidium. When I go to face the Alliance Brass it will be in full dress blues and those same people who saw me as Spectre will see I am also Commander Samantha Shepard. I have a dual role, the person is one and the same, and the missions are twinned. Preserve and protect the galaxy, preserve and protect the Alliance. Two uniforms one face: one goal - stop the Reapers. The only way I can present this is by wearing the armor of a Spectre and then the dress uniform of an Alliance officer."

Liara shook her head; she understood this need, this logic and wisdom even if she didn't like it. "But the full weapons? Is that necessary? Your body is still healing; it will tax your reserves."

"Since when have you seen a Spectre not go around heavily armed?" Shepard challenged. She turned and placed a soft kiss on her lover's lips. "Don't worry so. I'm not going to engage in battle or run the length of the Wards. Hell I'll even use the rapid transport systems. But it is something I must do."

"Then you will not do it alone." The asari stated with conviction. "If you go before the Council even if their words are for you alone, you will be escorted by those who fought with you. And we will be armored and heavily armed all the same. I believe it will make for quite the impressive show to have the entire groundside squad garbed in the colossus armor you acquired for all of us."

"You've become quite the thespian, Babe. Such theatrics will get a lot of attention. Hopefully it will show we are all in this together. Alright make it so."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"I see you brought large enforcements, Commander Shepard." Ambassador Udina said with a sneer. In fact he was very nearly terrified to see so many battle hardened faces of warriors, wearing the red and black hardsuits.

"Only those who bled with me on our mission to stop Saren. A mission I believe you deep-sixed because I was more trouble then I was worth to you and your politics. You go out of your way to save a man who drinks on duty, abuses suspects, steals evidence because he was one of the first humans in C-Sec. You used every back door political scam you could to protect a dirty cop but trash the first Spectre humanity has because you can't get your political mitts on her.

"Interesting tactics Udina, one that nearly cost the galaxy's existence." Shepard got face to face with the man, her electric blue eyes simmering as if she had called up her biotics. Her voice a hiss of barely restrained fury. "Remember this _Ambassador_ the next time you overstep your station and become so problematic as to try to ground a military ship or stab me in the back; no one fucks with my galaxy, not Saren, not Sovereign, not Reapers, and certainly not political bastards."

She pushed past the man nearly knocking him over as she did so. Behind her were the five remaining members of the groundside squad as well as Lt. Pressly, Joker, Chief Adams and Dr. Chakwas. To Shepard each and everyone one of her crew had made the mission successful. However it was only the department heads that had accompanied their commander to meet with the Council. Once more the power-monger Ambassador was taken aback by the black and red colossus hardsuits [they all wore]. It made, as T'Soni had said, a very demonic and powerful show of force and unity.

All eyes were upon them. Everyone who saw the human Spectre and her 'army' stood back with awe-struck murmurs. Near the Embassy stairwells stood the three councilors, Captain Anderson and a glowering ambassador. Shepard stood before them in parade rest. Her voice could not be heard but her stance was unyielding and more than confident.

Below the stairs half the _Normandy'_s ground unit and half the senior staff waited proudly, though not patiently. All of them were watching and waiting to see what the outcome of the Spectre's conference with the Council would yield. Of those waiting, Williams seemed the most nervous. She bit the nail of her thumb as she paced back and forth along the lake's walkway just past the first Avina interface station.

"I wish I had your serenity about now." Ash said to Liara. "You always seem so calm, so collected. Like nothing ticks you off."

"Years of meditation. I assure you Ashley, I am quite agitated."

"If that is agitated, I'd hate to see you blow a fuse."

Liara tilted her head almost serpent like as she whispered in a dark tone that was both serious yet playful. "You have met my mother."

"Damn... right." Ashley gasped thinking that a very pissed off asari was not something she'd relish facing again. Lady Benezia wasn't just powerful; she was the scary sort of powerful. To think that Liara could become just as 'scary powerful' was an image Williams wasn't sure she wanted stuck in her head. She'd rather see the calm shy and word-awkward archeologist. _Note to self don't piss off Miss Prothean Expert._

Liara expression changed suddenly from darkly-playful to shock and wonder and pride and a bit of worry.

"What is it?" Williams demanded. "Do you know something? What's going on?"

"That is a repetition of your first question, Chief." T'Soni chided. "It is not for me to say. The Commander will be with us shortly. This is for her to explain."

"You're doing nothing for my nerves, Dr. T'Soni."

"I apologize but I will not answer that which our Commander must. When she does you will know it was meant for her to say."

"How... how do you know that something's up anyway?"

Liara gave Ashley a pleading look that asked her not to press the issue. The Chief knew how to read unspoken words from the eyes of another female. Given she has three sisters there were times when whole conversations were simply spoken by the slightest of glances, the merest hints of expression between the Williams sisters.

"No problem," Ash whispered.

Moments later Shepard came down the steps heading directly for her team. She was immediately mobbed by her crew all with questions asked on top of one another. The crowding actually made her list to the side yet quick asari arms caught hold of her.

Through their bond Liara felt her lover's exhaustion. Her face flashed concern, an expression that Ashley quickly interpreted as 'get them back.'

"Stand fast crew, button those flaps give the Commander room to move and speak." The Chief ordered.

As one the unit took a step back allowing Shepard to move freely. Those who had battled with her groundside now saw the pain the Spectre was trying to ignore. Sweat beaded on her forehead and they all knew their leader well enough to know that Shepard would not voice her complaints over the pain she was no doubt feeling. Her ribs were still healing and the wound on her chest was still tender to the touch. All but Liara and Ash had been convinced that their commander was truly on the mend by her show of bravado; now they knew it for the show it was.

"Commander, I think it best if we reconvene on the _Normandy_ where we can discuss things at length seated in the comm-room." Liara sagely advised.

"That is if we have the _Normandy_ to go back too." Joker commented without mirth for once.

"For now we do. Liara's right, there are better places to have a confab other than the decks of the Presidium." Shepard gestured with her chin at the growing number of gawkers they had attracted with their deliberate show of unified force. As many of them were the media, Shepard was more than willing to debrief her crew back on the _Normandy_.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

As per SOP, the crew stood at the threshold of the docking bay and the airlock door of the _Normandy_ waiting for decontamination to run its tri-sweep course before entering the ship.

Shepard could feel their eyes on her as she craned her neck from one side to the other. Two sets studied her with very careful scrutiny. Williams and Chakwas, for Liara already knew what it was they were trying to discreetly to find out. 'How bad is the Commander?'

"Staring at your CO is considered a breach in military etiquette," Shepard said as she entered the _Normandy._ Apparently they hadn't been discreet enough. She continued walking down the length of _Normandy's_ command deck, past the CIC for the doors that would lead her to the crew quarters below deck.

'_They are concerned for you my love, as am I'._

'_I know and I appreciate it. But I can't have my crew constantly worried if I'm going to break just because my muscles are a little stiff. They need to see me strong. It's bad for morale if they think I'm not physically fit for duty._'

As if telepathic herself, it was Williams that spoke for herself and the CMO. "Yes ma'am."

"Your concern is noted. We will reconvene in five, dismissed." Shepard said before disappearing into her quarters.

The shore party had dispersed to quarters so that they could shed themselves of armor and weapons and dress in BDUs or other more 'casual' wear they typically wore whilst on the _Normandy_. Most of them wouldn't need the five minutes for a uniform swap and weapons storage, as most of them were military in one aspect or another. A trained soldier could get dressed in under a minute. A merc had to be just was swift for they were more reliant upon their own skills to get them out of danger than trusting others to do it for them.

Alone in their shared quarters, Liara wrapped her arms around Samantha's nude form. It had taken her a little over a full minute to shed her armor and weapons. She might be cleared from bed-rest but she was far from perfect form.

Her torso was a mass of dark yellow-green bruises that had long passed the blue-purple splotches. The jagged scar that ran from her right shoulder down to her left hip was a deep angry red trail. There was no indication of infection but the redness remained. Every time she saw it Liara wanted to weep.

The asari circled around Samantha slowly, deliberately. Blue fingertips delicately, cautiously, traced the terrible scar that marred the once perfect torso.

"Maybe I should have it removed." Samantha said following Liara's tearful gaze. "It brings you so much distress when you look at me now. I know it's ugly and my body isn't the same as it was when we first made love. But I'm the same person you loved then even if my body isn't."

"No _Melethril_ you do not distress me, I see how close I was to losing you. You told me your reasons for keeping it, and I respect it. But you carry that scar so deep within you beloved. It is soul deep. Samantha your body is as perfect as it was on our first Joining - our first night of passion. You are so beautiful." This time it was pale lilac lips that gingerly touched the scar causing Samantha to hiss not in pain but in desire a week denied. "I look and I see what I almost lost." The asari uttered softly. "I should look upon that mark as reminder of what I have to hold and treasure. Never think for a moment Commander Samantha Shepard, not for one moment that I find your body undesirable."

Liara took Samantha's face between her palms, her fingers lacing into the dark locks. Her kiss was forceful, filled with her own denied passions. Her blue eyes going solid black, the Spectre's own dilated heavily.

Shepard's arms instinctively wrapped around Liara's lithe body and she... yelped. "Son of a bitch!" Samantha's breath came in heavy gulps that had nothing to do with lust.

"Oh, _Melethril_." Liara's voice was apologetic and laced with both concern and humor. "I allowed myself to get carried away as well. Dr. Chakwas would be vexed if she found out we had not curbed our enthusiasm. She has not cleared you for more libidinous activities."

"We'll just make sure she doesn't find out." The Spectre said her humor returning. "Actually that worked as well as a cold shower, we need to get to the briefing."

"Might I suggest proper attire first my love?" Liara mischievously touched Samantha's bare left breast. "I do not think they will be very attentive if you delivered information while in this state of undress. Many of the males who already have an unhealthy obsession with your body will only be encouraged."

The Spectre snickered. "Too right. Two ticks and I'll be set to go."

By they arrived in the conference room time the senior crew members and groundside squad had assembled themselves, leaving two seats close to each other open. Liara had been given Alenko's old chair so that Pressly would have the one the Prothean expert normally took.

"Okay here's the situation. We aren't going to be charged with treason or any other criminal charges. The Council had informed the Brass that we were acting under my jurisdiction as a Spectre. Ambassador Udina's actions of grounding the _Normandy_ have been viewed as interference with Spectre duties and thus suspect to criminal charges. He won't be facing charges either however as he was working on the assumption that the Council's unwillingness to send a fleet into the Traverse was a silent cue to impound the _Normandy_. The Council has acknowledged the great sacrifice the Alliance had made to save the Citadel, Council and the _Ascension_. They decreed that humanity will now be one of the Council races."

Voices clamored, and filled the room with whoops of joy, disbelief and a dozen questions. Most of them had the same question so Shepard held up her hand to forestall the bombardment.

"They said they needed a list of candidates. Udina of course tried to worm his way in, but the triad of Councilors asked me who I was going to endorse as my voice would carry the most weight of any other including the Alliance Prime Minister and all of our diplomats." Shepard smiled. "I told them they needed a man who had the courage to stand up for what he believed in. They needed a military man because there were already too many politicians serving and we didn't need another. And I certainly wasn't going to name Udina. Counselor Tevos said my choice was inspired." The grin grew larger. "I named Captain Anderson. And he accepted."

There was no way to forestall the cheers of elations. Even Wrex, Garrus and Tali joined in despite their short affiliation with the man. They all knew what he risked to free the _Normandy_. And the non-humans knew that it was Anderson who had always supported their Commander. That was enough for them.


	4. O For a Voice of Thunder

Chapter 4: O For A Voice Like Thunder

"Commander, message coming through," Joker said over the ship's intercom. "Um, ma'am, it's from the asari homeworld, the signature is from the Temple of Athame." Clearly the pilot was stymied as to why a church would be calling the commander.

Liara gave Samantha a startled look. They had been sharing a quiet meal in their quarters when Joker called.

Shepard tapped the communicator at her ear, "Joker, send it to the comm-room, I have a feeling this is going to be more than a vocal communiqué."

"Yes ma'am."

"Samantha, please explain why the Temple of Athame on Thessia is contacting you." Liara said, a hint of concern coloring her tone.

"When your mother was discovered to have joined Saran she was classified as a traitor. We didn't know her motives at the time or that she had been indoctrinated. We now know why she did what she did. Without her sacrifice we would not have been given the coordinates of the Mu relay. Without her, Shiala would not have followed her and gained the cipher from the Thorian and we would not have the information on the Reapers. I would never have understood what those images were. Even with your melding of our minds you couldn't have translated all those images. We would have been lost and Sovereign would have won.

"I sent a private communication to Councilor Tevos telling her that the bodies of the matriarch and her disciples should be removed, for propriety's sake if nothing else. ExoGeni shouldn't get their mitts on her just to 'repurpose' her body to some Frankensteinian experiments. The Councilor agreed. During my grounded rack-time I asked if there was going to be a funeral for the Matriarch now that she was acquitted of any crime, and if one had not been planned then there should be. They told me they needed to deliberate on the issue. I believe we are getting our answer now."

Liara was flabbergasted. "You… you would offer funeral rites to my mother? After... what happened?"

"She needs to be remembered for who she was before her indoctrination. Everyone needs to remember who she was as you do: beautiful, intelligent, kind and strong. This is the only way it will happen. It needs to happen." Samantha fidgeted with the salad on her plate. "Are you upset I didn't speak of this with you? I know I should have included you but I didn't want to bring you more pain."

Liara's hand covered the Spectre's, stilling her nervous movements. "No, I am not upset. Surprised, but not upset. Your intention was to bring healing to me, and restoration to my mother. How can I bring fault to that?" She rose gracefully from her chair, still holding onto Samantha's hand.

"Come then, let us see what the Matriarchs of the Temple of Athame have to say."

"Alright." Sam nodded to her love." Joker, open the channel."

"Aye-aye ma'am."

A beat later the real-time holo-communicator opened up to reveal three asari Matriarchs, all of them garbed in what looked to be the same style of robes Benezia had been wearing back on Noveria. The one in the center had an identical headdress, while the two on her flanks wore no such covering.

"Commander Shepard," the center priestess said with a very slight bow to her head. "My name is Matriarch Mardon, high Priestess of our Goddess Athame. To my left Priestess Daath Heziel. At my right is Priestess Kerubiel Resh."

Shepard had learned enough asari etiquette to touch her fingertips to her forehead before showing the women in front of her an open palm as she bowed her own head. "A pleasure, Lady Mardon. I stand with Dr. Liara T'Soni whom you can understand has a very real interest in what your answer is to be."

Liara gave the formal greeting to her senior asari. Yet she said nothing. She waited to hear what the High Priestess had to say.

"Your request to honor Matriarch Benezia has been granted. She was once our most powerful and highly respected matriarch, a highly revered High Priestess. It is good to know she had not truly fallen and her betrayal was not of her making. She is redeemed. High Priestess Matriarch Lidanya has requested the privilege of overseeing the rites. As the only daughter of Matriarch Benezia you have the right to accept or decline this request Dr. T'Soni, what shall it be?"

"I accept." Liara said softly. "Who else serves?"

"Disciple Shiala has also requested the right to stand," Kerubiel said. "As has disciple Racen Abstergo, though she did not follow Lady Benezia in the attempt to stop Saren for she had other duties aboard the '_Destiny Ascension'_."

"There are also two others that desired to stand; Councilor Tevos and Consort Sha'ira," said Daath. "They were long known to your mother."

Liara seemed to weigh her words before speaking. She knew the Councilor far better than the Consort. Of the consort she knew very little, only her reputation and the one brief encounter they had with her when they had restored her missing grandchild. Still, the Consort had given Samantha the knowledge and courage to propose marriage, for that alone Liara felt indebted to the older asari.

"I consent to all requests, with one of my own." She turned away from the high priestess and Matrons to look at her beloved. "Samantha, will you stand with me?"

"Of course," the Spectre said without hesitation. "Just tell me what to do."

"We will explain once you arrive on Thessia in two weeks time. There are matters on the Citadel that have taken precedence. It will also give us the time necessary to ensure all preparations have been seen to and met. Dr. T'Soni, you do of course realize that your mother had many, many followers. They will all wish to offer their respects to her memory." Lady Mardon said.

"I know. I take no issue for their need to do so. Nor do I begrudge anyone else that feels obliged, or needs to offer their own condolences for my mother's passing from this existence into the next. Let it be so." Liara gave a loving look to the woman at her side before addressing the priestesses once more. "Thank you for your many kindnesses."

"The gratitude should be delivered to the Spectre, it is at her insistence we investigated further into the demise of Lady Benezia's and drew our own conclusions. We found her guiltless of treason and but a victim of her own well-intentioned actions. She will be remembered with honor, Liara T'Soni. May the Goddess guide your way." The communication ended leaving archeologist and Spectre alone.

Liara turned from her spot saying nothing, but she sent wave after wave of gratitude, love and affection into the heart of her lover. Samantha gladly bathed in the warm flood as she sent her own affections back to Liara. For now it was the only way they could make love, and they reveled in it.

MEMEMEMEMEME

A galactic week later a memo appeared in the Spectre's incoming e-mails. And she groaned at the orders she had been given. Why couldn't she be sent off to fight bandits… geth… anything but what she was expected to do? In one weeks time it was going to be a very, very, long, uncomfortable day.

That day had now arrived.

Shepard opened the ship-wide intercom, "To all Officers and NCOs. I got orders from the top Brass; the function today is mess dress. Get out the polish, the starch and the pride. Check the bitching at the door, it's only pain. Shepard out."

The Spectre turned to Joker with a chiding smile. "Guess what has to go?"

"Aw man, I just got this to look decent." The pilot rubbed his neatly trimmed beard.

"It's an order mister. Your facial hair follows regs on a ship and I don't have a problem with it, but for formal dress... it's scruffy so get rid of it, Joker." Her tone was apologetic yet firm.

"Yes ma'am."

Mess dress was worn only on the most formal occasions that included banquets and ball-room dancing rather than the more familiar dress uniform, or 'dress blues', that senior officers wore on a daily basis. Uniforms based on gender had long since gone out of style and both sexes now wore the style previously only issued to males.

Shepard's own mess dress uniform had a long sleeve choker-collar midnight blue outer blouse, and a white halo-frame cover with all her medals and ribbons. She also wore a white bowtie and cummerbund and bore the long traditional Mameluke sword of the Marines.

XO Pressly was similarly dressed. Williams, Adams and Joker's mess dress uniforms showed their ribbons and marksmanship badges and the NCO sword hung at their sides. Their cummerbunds were scarlet and their bowties black. Each officer had their rank embroidered in gold and silver wire on the shoulder epaulets, the collar and cuffs of the jacket piped in scarlet and gold with the quatrefoil – the coiled rope-like decoration on the cover.

Along with the fitted double breasted jacket, each of them wore black trousers with gold piped blood-red 'honour' stripes down the outer seam, the width of the stripe another indication of rank. The uniform was completed with a 'boat cloak', a black knee-length cape lined in scarlet silk and whilst the overall effect was impressive, Shepard had always found it overstated and more than a little preposterous, though she did admire the look on others. As a child she had always thought her parents looked heroic when they were dressed in their mess dress. Personally, however, it was very different. She felt weighed down and encumbered when she wore it herself but, as she had ordered the others, she checked the bitching at the door for it was only pain.

"What is that, my love…'it's only pain'?" Liara asked taking the bowtie from the Spectre's fumbling fingers and started to adjust it around her beloved's throat.

"It's an old marine saying during Basic." Shepard raised her chin to better accommodate Liara's hands. "Used as a jocular encouragement for recruits who are suffering while undergoing the rigors of commando training. It's also painted on signboards in 'Heartbreak Lane' to announce the five hundred meters left until the finish of the Endurance course."

"And in this case the uncomfortable wearing of your more formal uniforms."

"Yep."

"They do look quite fetching, but why wear them if they bring such discomfort?"

"I can sum that up in two words, Babe. Orders and tradition."

Liara gave a bemused smile. "I see." She tilted her head and smirked playfully. "Perhaps an older statement is also fitting for this occasion, and I fully understand its use now."

"Oh? Do enlighten me, Gorgeous."

"I love a woman in uniform."

Shepard threw her head back and laughed. Liara's own lyrical giggle joined hers. The asari planted a kiss on her lover's cheek before meeting her lips. "Although, I must say I enjoy seeing you out of uniform just as well." She bit softly at Samantha's lower lip causing the Spectre to whimper in need.

"That is so unfair. Getting me all hot and bothered when I have to face the multitudes."

"It is only pain." Liara coyly smiled.

The Spectre swooped Liara up into her arms, making the regal asari squeal. "Alright Miss Prothean Expert no more spending time with Joker!" Samantha kissed her beloved hard, fast, pouring all of her desires into Liara.

The bond flared between them, calling them to answer more primal urges. She unceremoniously dropped Liara on the bed to where she almost bounced right back off. Both giving in to a fit of unchecked and spirit-freeing giggles, the kind you could only ever share with the love of your life in a very private space.

"Time to inspect the troops before I let them out amongst the public. See you in a bit." Samantha leaned down and placed a swift kiss on Liara's lips as she lounged on the bed.

"I too must change into my own formal wear. It should not take me long."

Shepard left her quarters and headed for the comm-room where she had ordered her officers and crew to gather.

Joker had shaved his beard making him look almost ten years younger. It was almost disconcerting to see the hollowness of his cheeks, though it was a common feature of those with Vrolik syndrome. He had even given his leg braces the old spit and shine. Standing beside him were Williams, Pressly, Adams and Chakwas. All of whom looked perfect in their more formal uniforms.

Garrus was wearing the C-sec version of a dress uniform that was just as ostentatious as that of the marines. Blue and black ceremonial armor that looked much like their day to day armor but with Garrus's own family crest painted on the front, which was mirrored on the back. The patterns also seemed far more intense, with a lighter shade of blue and a deeper black.

Wrex wore his family's ancestral armor. It had been due to Chief Williams that the relic had been repaired, refitted and buffed to a high shine, something Wrex now wore with pride.

Tali had opted to wear her Colossus armor since it was the finest thing she owned outside her father's ship. Besides, it had been a gift from the Spectre. That made it all the more special and treasured. It had been polished to a high gloss that refracted the lights that shone upon it.

Liara had stolen the breath of all who had seen her when she stepped out of the commander's quarters moments before. The gown she wore was sheer and translucent. The cloth was of deep midnight purple. One single two inch wide strap descended from a choker style collar that covered her nipples, yet left her cleavage in full view. The single strap crossed in the back to make an X pattern in the front to go directly under her breasts—crossed again over her abdomen but left her belly button exposed. The single strap wound around the long back one more time, then came to the front, separating off into smaller straps to form smaller V's to cover Liara's hips. From there a sheer skirt floated against her skin. The sides of the skirt were slit on either side leaving the thighs completely exposed while discreetly covering her backside and groin. Her biceps were fitted with long arm bands that ended just below the elbow and stopped just short of the armpit. On her head she wore a light headdress that draped along her spine almost like a veil. About her neck, Liara wore the engagement necklace her beloved had given to her mere moments before their planetfall on Ilos. Liara oozed sensuality, which was accentuated by the calf-length 'roman-style' open toed sandals, silken laces crisscrossing to her knee.

"Um, Skipper, put your tongue back in your mouth, you're drooling." Ash whispered to the Commander who was standing next to her.

"Huh?" Someone spoke to her? "Oh... yes of course... She's stunning... what did you say?"

Ash snickered. She knew her Skipper hadn't heard a word she said. Not that she blamed her - Liara was ravishing. She had even stared opened mouthed at the asari and gave a low whistle.

The men in the room had suddenly found themselves extremely envious of their Commander. All save Pressly. Some found it a little uncomfortable to stand and attempted to shift their stance behind another for discretion's sake.

"Wow, you clean up well." Joker blurted out.

"Shut it Moreau." Shepard growled possessively without meaning to. She walked up to Liara, her eyes blue irises almost completely dilated by her desires. "You look radiant." Her voice was a smoky whisper.

Liara could feel Shepard's increased heart rate as if it was her own heart thundering behind her chest.

"You're incredible." Her voice got even huskier, causing Liara to feel her own passions rise and beg to be given attention.

"You approve then, Commander?" Liara deliberately used her lover's rank as a cold-shower effect for both their sakes. It worked.

"Very." Shaking her head, Shepard forced herself to focus on the task at hand. "Alright people, move out.

MEMEMEMEMEME

Four weeks had passed since the Battle of the Citadel. Repairs were still being attended to, ships were either dry docked or in synchronous orbits about the station if they were undamaged. Crews of ships and station alike had put in hour after hour of work in the repairs. But there were other repairs that needed to be seen to, there was more to healing than just the stitches.

Three weeks since the announcement from the Council that they were accepting humanity to be amongst their numbers into their ranks and the revealing of Captain Anderson to be the very first human councilor.

Two weeks since Shepard had received word from the asari homeworld that all was in place and ready for the Matriarch's funeral.

One week since she had received orders from Fleet Admiral Hackett that she was required to speak to the masses, and to do so in dress mess. She had also received word that a special request she had given to the Admiral was going to be granted.

Today marked a keystone in the building of bridges and the healing of wounds. A galactic month ago today, Sovereign had crashed through the citadel tower and had forever changed life as organic sentients knew it.

Leaving _Normandy_ in the hands of a skeleton crew, the senior officers and groundside squad once more left their private dock for the turbolift that opened inside C-Sec's customs offices within the Academy. From here the nine would board a rapid transport monorail to be zipped quickly from the Ward arms to the Presidium, more specifically to the Citadel Tower. Though not heavily armed or garbed in matching Colossus armor, the crew of the _Normandy_ caught everyone's attention just as they had before.

Alliance Privates and C-Sec officers escorted the crew and squad past the fountains to the stairs that once led to the catwalk outside the Council audience chamber. It was still in some disarray but the hull of the ship[But Sovereign's hull] had been removed from ground zero. The Council Chambers proper were still under repair, as were the gardens. The structure however, was still sound and capable of housing people in the balconies.

The remaining wreckage had not been covered up for the ceremony, but left as a testament to the Spectre and her brave teammates as a reminder of what they had faced alone. While the fleets overhead had battled Sovereign, only three lone warriors had faced Saren and the husk incarnation of the Reaper.

A make shift stage had been crafted and upon it were several rows of chairs on a tier system. Those closest to the front were reserved for the Council, directly behind them came the world leaders of Citadel Space as well as the ambassadors. A special space had been accommodated for the elcor ambassador's great girth.

Behind them were the dignitaries from all the major races of Citadel space that did not have their own ambassadors; hanar, krogan, quarian, as well as a few species Shepard was wracking her brain to recall all the names of. Tali gasped as she saw who the quarian representative was; it was none other than her father, seated and watching her every move. She couldn't tell if he was proud of her or not, but wanted to believe he was. She might have been an accomplice in stealing an Alliance ship, but she had been part of the crew that stopped the galaxy from being destroyed.

Behind the diplomats were the admirals, generals, captains and commanders of all the ships in the fleet that had faced Sovereign. Seated amongst them was General Septimus. He gave a nod of his head to Shepard, his hawk eyes gleaming in pride and praise for the other soldier's noble accomplishment. Alongside him was Captain Kirrahe, who also gave the Spectre a warrior's nod of acknowledgment.

Behind this row were seated several Spectres, many of them turian, while others were asari and salarian. All of them dressed in the finest Spectre issued armor and they were all fully and heavily armed. And finally, behind them were a row of empty chairs that were no doubt left open for the crew of the _Normandy_.

Shepard's keen eyes zeroed in on the battle worn Colossus hardsuit that was on display just before the podium like a memorial wreath before a coffin. She snapped her head around to Williams who stood a little straighter. Beside the gunnery chief a krogan smirked, as much as a krogan mouth can smirk.

Shepard noticed that Fleet Admiral Hackett was seated, along with Matriarch Lidanya, in the front row a just flanking the Councilors, not a part of their row but not a part of the world leaders or ambassadors. He stood and saluted Shepard as soon as she was on the stage as did the Matriarch. These actions caused the whole of the audience to salute as directed by their own customs or simply stand in acknowledgment of the Spectre.

One of Shepard's stray thoughts had drifted to the fact that, if someone like [the] batarians, or some other race of the Skillian Verge, wanted to overtake the galaxy, all they had to do was bomb the weakened Citadel station at that very moment, what with all the political and military top heads congregated in one place. Of course, others had thought of this, which would account for number of Spectres in the audience, the dozens of asari commando units and salarian STG units, and whole platoons of marines patrolling the station. There was also three times the number of C-Sec officers on patrol. The number of patrolling military vessels on active duty would also prove a threatening deterrent.

The Council were all garbed in robes of the latest cutting-edge fashions; asari deigned silken ensembles made with the finest materials imported from Thessia itself. They were opulent and extravagant - flowing black robes highlighted with splashes of red and yellow. To the crew of the _Normandy_, seeing their former Captain in such robes was a shock, as they were so accustomed to seeing him in his dress blues, anything else seemed… well, odd bordering on the surreal.

Though all four stood, it was Councilor Tevos who took the lectern. The words would be familiar to Shepard and Anderson. Where once all three Councilors had spoken them, only the asari did at this moment. Still they were the words that needed to be heard by others.

"As we once told Commander Shepard - Council Spectre, we recognize the enormous contributions the Alliance has given during the war against Sovereign and the geth. Many humans lost their lives in the battle to save the Citadel. Brave and courageous soldiers who willing gave their lives so that we the Council might live. There is no greater sacrifice as we share your grief over the tragic loss of so many men and women. Commander Shepard insisted on pursing Saren the Fallen into enemy territory, and doing so despite the odds, she saved not only our lives, but the lives of billions from Saren and the geth. Her noble and selfless act is the symbol of everything that humanity and the Alliance stand for. And though we cannot bring back those valiant soldiers who gave their lives to save ours, we can honor the memory of their actions. We welcome with open arms the newest addition to our ranks as councilor, retired Captain David Anderson, as humanity's Councilor."

The room erupted in cheers and applause. In every section of the titanic space station humans cheered for their success of finally being acknowledged. Some were a little more vocal in how overdue it was, but at least they now had a seat on the greatest governmental body of Citadel Space.

For two hours the world leaders, diplomats and ambassadors made speeches. Joker thought back to what the commander once told him; when getting a medal, he'd have to listen to hours of admirals giving speeches. By the Maker, his legs were killing him. The pilot cut a glance to the others and noticed a lot of people had tired asses if all the shifting in seats was any indictor. The Commander looked like she was about to bolt at any moment. She continuously scanned the crowd, looking perhaps for treachery, or just out of sheer boredom.

Even T'Soni was scanning the crowded balcony. Joker wasn't sure, but he could have sworn that the Spectre and archeologist were deep in conversation as they continued to look at the audience, but they never spoke a word he or anyone else could hear.

He saw the asari tilt her head and gesture at the balcony closest to the podium. Shepard followed her lead and looked at the balcony. Her lips pulled back into a full smug smile. Joker himself tried to find out who the two were looking for and was about to give up when he thought he saw the chief up there in the balcony. But he knew Williams was sitting right next to him. He dismissed the notion of a doppelganger when he heard the familiar deep voice of Admiral Steven Hackett take center stage.

"'Just doing my job, sir.' Those were the words Commander Samantha Shepard once told me after a near impossible mission. Just doing my job, sir. Only, doing her job included infiltrating an enemy biotic base that was using innocent civilian researchers as body shields. Not one civilian died as she and her valiant team, who I know to be Dr. Liara T'Soni and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, neutralized the enemy.

"'Just doing my job, sir,' included infiltrating a space station and rescuing a hostage, her actions made sure the civilian was freed and reparations for the biotic L-2's were issued. It included infiltrating and pacifying a dangerous cult without it descending into a bloodbath; not a shot was fired, all had surrendered peacefully. The definition of 'just doing my job, sir,' was to bring justice to those who had misused their stations in major corporations to abuse, murder and torture soldiers and civilians alike. 'Just doing my job, sir,' included bringing to light the gravity of the extreme danger the Reapers represented, even when she was stonewalled and betrayed by backdoor politics. 'Just doing my job, sir,' included bringing evidence that cleared the names of those taken in by Sovereign's indoctrinations.

"'Just doing my job, sir,' included hunting Sovereign, and making it possible for the fleets to destroy the Reaper while she faced off the rogue Spectre who had become the embodiment of Sovereign. She did so with only two others at her side: Dr. Liara T'Soni and Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams. I happen to know the only reason they were the only two with her is because the Mako is designed to carry only three personnel."

The crowd laughed slightly.

"I also happen to know that the efforts of her crew, both human and non-human, made it possible for her to report the words, 'I was only doing my job, sir'. As the Council acknowledged humanity's sacrifice, it is my pleasure and honor to recognize the contributions of our fellow citizens of Citadel space. Stand and be recognized. Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams, Dr. Liara T'Soni, Miss Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Battlemaster Urdnot Wrex, and C-Sec Special Officer Garrus Vakarian.

"Your recognition will be earmarked by the greatest honor the Council Space can give. And though it has never been given to civilians, it is the belief of the Council that you all should be awarded the Palladium Star."

The crowd thundered their approval. Tali glanced at her father, for the first time in her life she had seen him smile! Tali stood ram-rod straight in the like of her hero. Her father smiled! He smiled at her! He did so because of the Spectre that had made Tali a part of her crew and allowed the young woman the opportunity to prove herself. No medal or honor given this day could be greater than her father's smile.

Hackett reclaimed the attention of the crowd once more. "It is also my honor to recognize the contributions of the _Normandy_'s regular crew. Stand and also be recognized. XO Staff Lieutenant Scott Pressly, First Lieutenant Jeff 'Joker' Moreau, Operations Chief Greg Adams and Dr. Karin Chakwas. It is my honor to award you the Navy Cross."

Once more the applause was deafening.

"We also acknowledge the loss of Second Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko who gave his life on Virmire. In recognition of his actions, Lieutenant Alenko is posthumously awarded the Star of Terra."

Hackett let the slightly more subdued, but no less heartfelt, round of applause fall to silence. "Commander Samantha Shepard, front and center."

"Yes sir." Shepard, like the rest of her crew, were astounded. Oh they had expected some medal, you don't get dolled up in mess dress for nothing, but none of them had expected the most esteemed metal of the Alliance Military, certainly not the non-humans. In fact, it seemed to shock the dignitaries, Council and ambassadors as well.

"I realize that the first time you were awarded this medal was for your unrelenting courage and heroics on Elysium during the Skillian Blitz and it was given to you by the President. Your actions then are the only reason the colony still stands. It is by your actions recently that galaxy still stands. I have been given the honor to award you not only the Palladium Star, but a second Star of Terra today." Hackett's long gaunt face beamed with a rare smile.

Shepard rose from her chair and walked determinedly to the podium. She stood at rigid attention staring just off of the Admiral's right shoulder. "It is with great pride I present you with this prestigious acknowledgment." From a velvet case he took out the very recognizable seven pointed golden Star of Terra medallion. The medal bore the look of a proper heraldry shield in miniaturized form. The star itself was encircled by an emerald torse, what some might see as a wreath of ornate olive branches. The sports on either side of the wreath were rampant lions, which meant courage and nobility. The star itself had a circle design in the center featuring the iconic Lady Liberty and Lady Justice, standing before the Alliance Military chevron complete with the six stars that represented each continent on Earth. The crest was a full-spread falcon which represented that there would be no rest until the task was completed. The whole thing was suspended by a sky blue, two inch wide silk ribbon so that it could be hung around the neck.

Shepard was already wearing her previous Star of Terra, causing the newer addition to lay slightly askew.

"Congratulations, Commander Shepard." Hackett saluted her. The Spectre snapped her own crisp salute until the admiral dropped his.

She moved aside to allow the others of the groundside squad to receive their medals. They were all returning to their seats but Hackett placed a hand on Shepard's shoulder, "Not so fast marine." He smiled. "Commander Samantha Shepard in recognition of your command, patriotism and leadership, your undaunting dedication of duty to the Alliance you are hereby promoted to the grade of Captain, Alliance Fleet."

Shepard was beaming. She was scarcely aware that Hackett had removed her commander insignia and replaced it with the full-spread eagle of a captain. She could feel Liara's pride soaking into her warmly. She felt the eyes of her parents watching her with similar pride. She smirked as she realized she actually outranked her mother now. The Spectre knew she must have restated the vow of service to the President, but she didn't truly recall doing it. Shepard knew now was her time to speak.

She was not a woman for speeches. She knew how to inspire her soldiers, but when talking to civilians she had always played it by ear, making it up as she went along. However this needed to have a little more diplomacy[formality]. The Spectre knew many eyes were watching her, waiting for her to comment on the new human role on the council, about Sovereign, and Saren. There were some who believed she would rise to bring glory to the human achievement and their power, proclaiming they should never have been denied. There were some factions of humanity who waited for her to justify the death of so many humans. When she stood before the masses she held up her hand.

"Before I speak in earnest, I would ask this of all of you. It is a custom of humanity to stand for two minutes and remain silent as a show of respect to the fallen. Many warriors of many races died, sacrificed their lives to destroy Sovereign and save the Council. Out of respect to the fallen, I ask for these two minutes."

She said nothing more, but bowed her head and waited in silence. Behind her the Council, collected Alliance Military brass and the _Normandy'_s groundside squad did the same. Even Joker stood on creaking leg-braces; he was [quickly] supported by Liara's very gentle biotic lift so no weight was placed on his already stressed legs. He flashed her a grateful smile before closing his eyes in reverence.

The whole of Citadel Station seemed to draw into a dead silence. No soul spoke, not on the Presidium Ward arms, the bars or Markets. They all waited for the two minutes to pass.

The Spectre raised her dark head, "Thank you." She drew in a deep breath, held it for a few beats before letting it out slowly. "I have been asked to speak today in hopes of quenching the fires of fear, unrest and to inspire. I struggled for days to find the right words. And there are so many words that needed to be said. Before I do that however, there is something else that needs attention. Given my new rank I get to do really cool things like this."

She looked to Hackett who had reclaimed chair moments ago, thinking of the request she had asked of him. When she had been informed that her request was approved, she was very happy. But now that she got to fulfill the orders herself, the newly minted captain felt sheer joy for what was about to transpire.

"It is with great pride that my first order of business as Captain is to announce the promotion of Gunnery Chief Ashley Madeline Williams to First Lieutenant."

Ashley was almost as surprised to be given the promotion as she was to receive the Palladium Star. The _Normandy_ crew applauded, as did many members of the audience; cheers and whoops heralded from the balcony to the right. Williams looked dumbstruck and had yet to move forward. Shepard lifted an eyebrow and smirked.

Numbly, Ash once more stood before the seated dignitaries. She prayed her trembling body would not be noticeable. She thought of her father, believing how very proud he would be of his first-born on this day.

Commander... no make that Captain - Shepard stood before her, her wide grin cocky as she approached Williams. "Look over my right shoulder, eleven o'clock balcony."

"Ma'am?" Ash whispered.

"Just do it Ash."

Williams obeyed, and the smile on her face paled in comparison to the joy that then covered it when she saw who was up there. She had longed for her mother and sisters to be able to see the ceremony. But Sarah's graduation had been on the same day and Ash had told them they should go to that instead. Besides, it cost a great deal of credits to buy passage from home back on Amaterasu to the Citadel. Together they could only afford passage for one, how had all four of them been able to make it?

Shepard.

Ash knew it was her Skipper who had footed the bill for all three of her sisters and her mother to be present on this wonderful day. They stood at the balcony waving their hands, calling out her name and cheering the loudest. Her mom was wiping tears from her eyes, mouthing the words 'I'm proud of you babe.'

If it wasn't inappropriate Ashley would have given the Skipper a bear hug. As Hackett had done for her, now Captain Shepard did for Williams; she saluted her. Ash stood so tall and straight the Spectre thought starch had been suddenly infused in the younger woman's blood stream. The salute was drill perfect. Pride busted out of Lt. Williams as it never had before.

"Dismissed Lieutenant." Shepard tilted her head to the side.

"Ma'am."

Taking a great gulp of air, Shepard returned to the podium. Oh if her day could just end on that note. But no, she had been ordered, and expected, to give her speech. For a second she paused, hoping for a sudden geth attack. When none came Shepard knew now was the time for her to speak to the masses. (hahaha hoping for a geth attack :P)

"Thank you one and all for your indulgences. Today has been a monumental one for so many reasons; the recognition and reward of my fellow soldiers and myself, and the great opportunity I get to speak to you all. I am a soldier: this is not a natural state for me addressing people from a stage is not a natural state for me. And I found myself stumbling for the right words as I prepared for this. A trusted fellow soldier once told me that other people say what she means far better than she ever could. Today I find I need another's words. There was a poet of Earth named William Blake who spoke very well about the wages of battle, fear and what drives nations, in this case worlds, together. Though they might be viewed as the words of an anarchist, I think they are words of a man seeking answers after seeing so much blood and death. We have seen this death, this blood, and our souls weep for the lost, for the destruction, and we thirst for answers. That poet's words are as fitting today as they were in his day.

"O for a voice like thunder, and a tongue

To drown the throat of war! When the senses

Are shaken, and the soul is driven to madness,

Who can stand? When the souls of the oppressed

Fight in the troubled air that rages, who can stand?

When the whirlwind of fury comes from the

Throne of God, when the frowns of his countenance

Drive the nations together, who can stand?

When Sin claps his broad wings over the battle,

And sails rejoicing in the flood of Death;

When souls are torn to everlasting fire,

And fiends of Hell rejoice upon the slain,

O who can stand? O who hath caused this?

O who can answer at the throne of God?

The Kings and Nobles of the Land have done it!

Hear it not, Heaven, thy Ministers have done it!"

The whole of the Presidium drew silent, collative chills ran along the spines of the listeners. In the Ward arms it was the same, the poem had shaken them to the core. In the bars the patrons had held their drinks, tongues silent, and watched the vid-screens, all wanting to hear what the Spectre had to say. Her words now held more weight than any other known Spectre.

"Who can stand? Not one soul. Not one! But many can. Not one nation…not one world… not one race. But many can. We need to be united so that the fiends of Hell… the fiends of Dark Space will not rejoice upon the slain. No Reaper will be able to clap its broad wings over the battlefield and rejoice in the slaughter, if we stand united! We must stand together, we must hold the line, all of us: asari, human, turian, volus, hanar, salarian, krogan, elcor, quarian and those we have yet to call ally. It is not simply the species of Council Space that face this great annihilation, but ALL sentient life.

"There are murmurs of malcontent and distrust. Whispers of blame and hatemongering. Cold eyes and cold hearts make for defensive walls that cannot be breeched by the enemy but they cannot open to a friend. Now is the time when we must unite. As Captain Kirrahe once said, "WE WILL HOLD THE LINE!"

The Spectre's voice was overcome by the thunderous voice of applause, stomps of feet and cheers of exultation. In the bars drinks were spilled as the cheers turned to magnificent levels of jubilation, empowerment and heightened morale. The Presidium was awash in these same great cheers of affirmation. In the Ward arms there didn't seem to be a soul that hadn't been swayed by the Spectre's words.

"I vow this day: I will not stop my pursuit to push back the Reapers. I will find a way to stop them. But I cannot do it alone. It is not weakness to call for help, allies make us all stronger. We, the sentients of this galaxy, need this strength more than ever. Those who believe they can go it alone are fools, stubborn and stupid. Those who seek to go alone are already dead, though they do not know it. Upon the _Normandy_, I have had the fortune to call asari, krogan, turian, and quarian my allies, and we held the line. On Virmire I had the fortune of calling salarians my allies, and we held the line. Allies give us power, give us strength, and together as allies we will hold the line!"

Once more thunderous applause over took the station. The Spectre turned from the lectern surrendering it to the Council. Her stance was confident, her face radiating with the essence of power her words had over the audience. She knew now the seeds of unification had been planted. They just might have a chance.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Your father would be so proud, Ash," Kathryn Williams said hugging her first born tightly. "Officer's commission and the Palladium Star. Oh Ash I am so proud of you."

"It's great sis." Abby took her turn hugging her big sister. "I thought you were some kind of thick-head going to the military after they blacklisted our family and what they did to Dad. But you made 'em see you for you and not for Granddad. That's one hell of a thing to do."

Ash smiled. Taking each of her sisters' hugs and turning them into bear hugs. Each of them wanting to touch the Medal of Honor to make sure it was real. Ashley was fidgeting with the medallion herself as if ensuring herself this wasn't a fantasy but reality. A Williams had been presented with the most honored medal of the military. It was still so unreal. She was running on emotional overload. Pride, awe, happiness- it all coursed through her at FTL speed.

"I wouldn't[couldn't] have done what I did without the Skipper. The Command… er… Captain did it. She took me under her wing. Taught me more about command than I thought possible, like the layers and nuances that are often more effective than showing rank. She knows when to let things slide and when to crack the whip. When she found out who I was related to she didn't hold the Williams name against me. Hell, she thought Granddad was a brave man and did what he had to do to save the colony, and the garrison. It wasn't fair what the media and military did to him. She said she would have done the same. She gave me every opportunity. She made me feel like I am worth something. I always felt I wasn't good enough for the Alliance. Skipper made me feel proud about myself."

"Ash don't you know you are worth so much?" her mother hugged her tightly. "So this is why you followed her into hell." Kathryn's green eyes found the distinctive profile of the Spectre who was standing very close to a young asari, both of whom were talking to Councilor Anderson.

"Yeah, and if she asked me I'd do it again." Ashley said proudly. "I'll always have her six."

After the ceremony the attendees were escorted into a great hall for a gala reception. Food, champagne, wines, were all being served. An asari orchestra played on one of the raised balconies directly over the dance floor. The acoustics were designed to augment the music but not overwhelm the guests.

"What's it like serving with her?" Lynn asked, watching Shepard meet and greet a dozen different people with congenial politeness and patience.

Ash laughed, "Never a dull moment, I can tell you that. Hell, the woman is always on duty even when she's not. I actually got her to relax enough to share a drink with me on Armistice Day. She said 'hell yeah' after all the rough days we'd been having. She's got a wicked sense of humor- oh, and never ever play poker with her. She can get really spooky when she wants to. She got an ExoGeni executive to back down on his orders to neutralize an entire colony and then convinced him to back it financially instead."

"Wait - that was Feros wasn't it?" Sarah asked. "That was her?"

Williams nodded. "Yeah, it was spooky watching her bend that guy to her will and get him to see things from her point of view. By the time she was done talking to him, he thought making ExoGeni rollout the bank accounts for Feros was _his_ idea," Ash laughed. "I commented that I didn't know she knew how to speak corporate. She said she didn't either; she was making it up as she went along. She's the best I've ever served with. And personally, she's tops, she is always open to my concerns and that of the crew. I kinda got the feeling she had a pretty lonely childhood. I babbled about some of the things we did growing up and she enjoyed listening. "

"That is often the case with only children who have career minded parents." Kathryn sagely commented.

"How'd ya know she's an only kid, Mom?" Lynn uttered, watching the Spectre with a mixture of compassion and desire.

"Ever hear of another Shepard kid? Another offspring might have been overshadowed by their sister and grown resentful, or rebellious, just to get noticed. We would have heard of another Shepard kid from the media even if they were as close as the four of you. If nothing else, by that hack Al-Jilahni would have exploited any sibling rift between them just for a juicy story. Plus, I bet she listened to someone else's family stories like she was trying to soak in that closeness." Kathryn smiled at her daughters staring at her. "Come now, I might not practice my science but I am trained to notice little nuances. Granted, it's in geology. Still, that training never goes away. Besides, I have four daughters who taught me how to read people just as well as geological formations."

Lynn was watching the dark haired hero with a mixture of awe and barely veiled desire.

"Forget it," Ash said, following her sister's lustful gaze. "She's sweet on someone else."

"I wasn't..."

"There's practically a drool puddle at your pointy little feet. How long are those heels anyway? You're wearing what, three inch stilettos? " Williams nudged her younger sister. "And that top you're wearing – did you have Abby tie you in it or pour you in it? You look like one of those chicks from those trashy books Sarah reads."

"Hey they're not trashy… some of them have really good plots!" [She defended feebly.]

All the other Williams girls, as well as their mother, rolled their eyes.

"She's spoken for? Who? You? But you're not sly."

"I never said it was me."

"I know it's not a guy. Think about it this way, if she's seen a Williams hell-cat on the battlefield, maybe she'd like to see one somewhere else." Lynn waggled her eyebrows up and down. "And hey, just because I like the more feminine stuff doesn't mean I can't fight. I'm one hell of a swordswoman - champion fencer six years running. Shit, I have an Olympic Gold for crying out loud."

"Lynn, give it up." Sarah said. "You're not in her league, Sis. Sorry. Take a look at who she's standing next to. Even if they aren't touching, look at her whole stance; it screams protectiveness, love and even a little possessiveness for her girl."

"The asari babe? I thought she was an escort. She looks like she works for the Consort… that gown she's wearing… totally hot. But it isn't something you'd see the Councilor in is it?"

"That's 'Dr. T'Soni' little Sis, and don't you forget it. And if you're thinking she's some kind of floozy then you're out of line. She's my friend. And she's very special to the Skipper." Ash proclaimed firmly.

When a Williams woman declared someone was their friend, despite what her sister may think, it was a no-go zone as far as insults went.

"Gottcha."

"How could you think Dr. T'Soni was an escort anyway? You saw her on the stage receiving her Palladium Star from Admiral Hackett." Ashley asked.

"She didn't stop watching the Spectre." Kathryn snickered at her daughter's expense. "Kept staring at her the whole time."

"MMOOMM!" Lynn stamped her foot.

By this time Shepard had navigated her way through the crowd after she spotted Williams and her family.

"Captain Shepard, it is an honor to met you." Kathryn Williams said softly. Her voice warm and pleasant, had the undertone that had MOTHER all over it. This was a woman who definitely knew how to control four decisive young ladies. She lacked the harder edge of Ashley, but the spunk was all there, it could be seen in the glint of her green eyes. She had the high cheekbones and definitive chin that spoke of her Latino-Grecian heritage. Her skin color was a darker shade of caramel than Ash's. The rich black hair hung in a thick plait down the center of her back.

"Believe me Mrs. Williams, the pleasure is mine. Meeting the mother of one of my finest officers is a true honor. She is a credit to the uniform, and more importantly, to her family's lineage of fine soldiers." Shepard said graciously. "There is no way I could have confronted Saren, the geth or Sovereign without her, nor would I want to."

"I haven't seen that color on Ash in like, forever," Lynn joked, paying her eldest sister back for all the early jibes.

"Shut up, Twerp." Ashley growled out of the side of her mouth.

Shepard smiled, but said nothing. "I'm pleased you were able to make it in time, I know it was extremely short notice."

"Yes, it seems an Alliance officer sponsored the trip; would you know anything about that, Captain Shepard?" Kathryn gave the Spectre a knowing look. A week ago the Williams' household had received clearance and passes for Citadel Station, as well as first class tickets on the next carrier out. The messenger said it was a matter of formality for the family so they would be present for Gunnery Chief's promotion, the only catch was they were not allowed to speak of the promotion prior to the event itself. They had also been granted first class accommodations in one of the finer hotels in the Wards for the duration. It had to have cost a small fortune. Kathryn wanted to know who to thank, but the salarian courier who delivered the package said he had signed a non-disclosure agreement and could not possibly say.

"Haven't a clue ma'am," Shepard said matter-of-factly. "Perhaps Alliance Brass wanted to ensure one of their decorated officers had family present to witness the event. After all, my own parents are here."

"Yes, but they serve in the military. They were here regardless." Kathryn smiled. She stepped up to the Spectre and placed a motherly kiss on her cheek. "It would be unseemly for me to do that to Admiral Hackett… perhaps you could pass my gratitude to 'Alliance Brass'."

Shepard snickered. "Ma'am, if I did that to Admiral Hackett I'd be busted down to Private!"

"Then keep it for yourself, my dear."

"Spectre?" Lynn allowed the single word to roll off her tongue. "Do you know how to dance?"

Ash wanted to take her sister out back and shoot her.

"I'm guessing you mean formal ball room? Oddly enough we have to learn it in Officers' training for events like this. But to tell you the truth, I'd rather go dancing at Flux. Though I'm told I don't... um... dance... well." She gave a seductive, wishful thought to her lover who was standing quietly by Ashley. Unfortunately, the expression she had on her face was misinterpreted by Lynn.

"Perhaps we can go there sometime, Ash said she wanted to take us there on a girls' night out. As you fit into that category, you should come with us."

"Oh… ah… No I wouldn't want to intrude, that's sister time. Ash needs to let her hair down and be with family without worrying about ranks. But thank you."

'_Very smoothly done Beloved. I believe she is quite taken with you.'_

'_How do I make her untaken with me without looking like a grade-__A__ jerk?'_

"Oh, but I'm sure no one will mind." Lynn protested.

'_Allow her one dance here, and then let her see you dance with me. I believe that will aptly discourage her smash on you_.'

"I'll compromise, Miss Williams. How about a dance here?"

'_Crush. It's called a crush... because typically it sorta crushes the heart of the person infatuated when they discover the person they fancy is unavailable. Of course __an__ impossible infatuation say__,__ on a celebrity__,__ is more or less an innocent crush because you already know they are unattainable__.__B__ut doesn't stop you from __fantasizing_.'

"Oh! Okay yeah. I'd love to dance with you. And you don't have to be so formal. I'm Lynn. Ash should have introduced us all."

'_Did you ever have a crush on someone?'_

'_Oh yeah, on one actress or another when I was growing up. Or rather__,__ their characters they portrayed on some vid-series or another. There was also this asari __P__rothean expert I had __been__ quite attracted to. Oh wait__,__ that's you!'_

The asari's smile was thought to be for Lynn's scolding of her sister rather than the jovial remark of her lover's thoughts.

"Sorry Skipper." Shooting was too good for her, Ash now wanted nothing more than to take her sister out back and hit her with the Mako.

"Don't sweat it Chie... sorry, Lieutenant. You know I'll almost miss calling you that. Have to get used to LT"

"Yeah no kidding _Captain_." Williams flashed her amused smirk. "Okay introductions. You met Lynn. My mom is Kathryn and that's Abby and the quiet one is Sarah."

Sarah and Lynn both had red hair while Abby had the same black hair as her eldest sister, and they all shared the same heart shaped face and full lips. Their skin had the slight tanned look to it like those of Mediterranean and Latino blood, yet the ancestral traits of the English-Welsh of their father also came through. The Williams surname was definitively English and of course so was the red in the hair of two of the sisters.

"Ash has spoken quite highly of her sisters and parents. It's an honor to meet all of you in person. Speaking of neglecting introductions, I'd like to introduce Dr. Liara T'Soni, my fiancée, fellow warrior and archeologist."

"I am less the warrior and more the archeologist." Liara smiled gracefully.

For both of them it was growing increasingly difficult for the both of them to keep their deep affections for each other hidden. Anyone with eyes to see could instantly tell they were far more than close friends.

"Oh I don't know doc," Ash said. "The way you flung around those geth, rachni and thorian creepers with your biotics, I'd say you're one hell of a stand up fighter. And you dance around with your asari martial arts just as good as Sarah does with her Aikido."

"I've always wanted to learn the martial arts of the asari." Sarah piped up. "But the training is only for your commando units." She turned her full attention to Liara. "Are you a commando, as well?"

"No. I did devote the first twenty five years to the study of martial training as all young asari daughters do, but then I chose a different path."

"Twenty-five years? That's your whole life!"

"Actually, it is only a quarter of my life thus far."

'_Looks like you have your own Williams 'smash' to handle_,' the Spectre flashed a smile. "If you will all excuse us, I believe the next song is a waltz, Lynn if you're still interested?"

"Very!" Lynn snaked her arms around the Spectre's and practically dragged the older woman to the dance floor.

"God, I hope the Skipper doesn't make me clean out the sink-tanks for this," Ashley grumbled. She wanted to take her sister out back and have Liara sling her into a biotic singularity.

"I think it's sweet she's humoring Lynn." Abby said. "So Sis, if Captain Shepard was a guy you'd be the one dancing out there with her?"

"That's fraternization, Abster."

"Come on…"

Ash stood a little closer to her sister, whispering. "If she were male… she'd be the love of my life. I even thought of batting for the other team for her. But ah… even if I did, her heart belongs to another. I don't mind. Liara saved my Skipper's life. I don't get other asari. But Liara is the bomb. Besides, they are going to get hitched."

While Sarah and Liara spoke of the difference between aikido and asari training, the Spectre was stuck on the dance floor with a fawning younger sister of her junior officer. She gave Lynn three dances before she took Liara out. As they danced they left no lingering doubt in anyone's mind just how much they meant to each other.

Lynn was heartbroken.

MEMEMEMEMEME

Of the other members of the groundside squad, only Garrus and Tali remained. Wrex had taken off as soon as it was announced there was a reception. His idea of food, and entertainment, was found at Chora's Den.

As for the turian, he spent a great deal of the time speaking with his father, informing his sire of his decision to return to C-Sec and to reapply to the Spectres, but not until after the Reapers were pushed back. He told the elder Vakarian that it was the influence of Shepard that made him see the need to follow regulations, and rules. He paraphrased her wisdom that, if he didn't care about those he was sworn to protect, then he was only a terrorist with a badge. Just because you can break the rules doesn't mean you should. You can't control other people's actions but you can control how you will respond.

Garrus was positive that his father wouldn't like Shepard; it seemed, however, that his sire in fact had a great deal of respect for her. She wasn't fast and loose with the rules like the other Spectres. She held strong to a strict rule of conduct, perhaps because of her dual role as an Alliance military officer as well as Council Spectre.

For her part Tali had a similar encounter with her own father. She had been dreading meeting him again - she had, after all, been instrumental in stealing a ship. There had been no doubt in her mind when she told Shepard that her father would likely shoot them down himself if he found out.

According to her father however, the rumors of the _Normandy_ being grounded (and thus stolen) had been a ruse for Saren's followers still on the Citadel. If they believed the _Normandy__,_ and thus Shepard, was grounded, they would no longer view her as a threat to their master. This was done to allow the _Normandy_ to slip away undetected from the rogue Spectre's spy network and strike Ilos.

Privately Tali wondered how much of this was truth and how much was spin doctoring by the Council and Alliance Brass. Perhaps is should be brought up back in the _Normandy's _comm. room.

Tali saw the Spectre making her social rounds in the reception hall as was required of her. The young woman waved Shepard over in hopes to have her meet her father.

"He-ey Tali, I hope you're enjoying your time."

"It is different from the events on the Flotilla. I think it is fascinating, but I think I like the Wards better, definitely Flux much better."

"You and I both, Tali. I can vouch for both Ash and Liara. But sometimes you have to play the game."

"That is true." Shepard could hear the smirk behind the words even if she couldn't see the young lady's mouth.

"Father, I would like to introduce you to Captain Shepard vas _Normandy_."

"Captain, my father Rael'Zorah vas _Rayya_ of the Admiralty."

"It is my honor to meet you Admiral Rael'Zorah vas _Rayya_." Shepard bowed her head as she had seen Tali do to Captain Anderson when they first met. She didn't know quarian etiquette and hoped she hadn't just insulted one the most powerful men in the quarian Flotilla.

"Tali tells me you were instrumental in her discovery of the data on the geth. Is this true?"

"She gave me the gift of evidence to reveal that Saren was a traitor. I owed her, Sir. She was there every step of the way when we hit the Armstrong cluster. If it wasn't for her techniques in fighting the geth, we would have had a far more difficult time in the cluster and with the geth that followed Saren. It was only fitting she receive the data that was collected. I truly don't believe it matters who uploaded the OSD on the geth first, only that it was.

"Sir, she is also the reason the _Normandy_ is now in fighting form. Your daughter is one hell of an engineer. My chief engineer even stated that he wished all of his crew were half as intelligent as she is. She knows FTL drives forwards and backwards. If it were up to me, I'd sign her up in a heartbeat. But I know her heart belongs to the Flotilla."

The admiral looked to his daughter with an appraising glance. He raised his helmeted chin a little in the pride he felt for her. For so long he had distanced himself from his only child because she brought to mind her mother. His beloved wife, she was such a tender woman, so intelligent. Like Tali'Zorah she had been an excellent engineer. They were so similar in appearance that it hurt to look as his child knowing her mother was no more.

"She has asked to stay with your crew for the duration of the upcoming war with the geth remnants. As a father I would say no. This I do not like, she is my only child and my wife is dead. As member of the Admiralty…" the man sighed. "I think she is the best representative of quarian engineers who is willing to work with non- quarians. Know this Captain Shepard, if my child dies in your service, despite the fact I know she will fight with fire, I will hunt you down for the rest of my days."

Shepard solemnly bowed her head. "Then you take my life now, Admiral Zorah vas _Rayya__,_ for I cannot guarantee life on my ship. I can promise only that I will do all I can to protect her, along with every other member of my crew. But if she sails with me she sails into danger."

"Now that is an answer I respect and accept Captain Shepard. Had you promised anything else I would have denied her request and demanded she return to the Flotilla. You have my respect, human Spectre. I see now why my child has the greatest fondness and respect for you. It is earned."

"Thank you, Sir. I can promise you this, that respect and fondness is returned. I can also promise that Chief Adams will be ecstatic to have her back on his crew."

Rael'Zorah vas _Rayya _turned his head to face his child. "Daughter, you will return to me after you fulfill your obligations to Captain Shepard vas _Normandy_. I will not abide losing you to the arms of oblivion."

Tali swallowed hard. "Yes, Father."

Neither quarian said they loved the other. They didn't have to, it had already been said. After all, the man who never once smiled in his child's life had smiled at his daughter.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

The night had been long, eventful, and over-stimulating for everyone. By the time the crew returned to the _Normandy_ they moved as if they were synthetics themselves, by rote and pattern. Uniforms stored, showers taken, medals secured and numbly crawling into sleeper pods, sleep-pads on the Mako floor or in the case of Shepard and Liara, into bed.

By the time the groundside squad woke, the scuttlebutt about the Palladium Star being awarded to the flagship ground team had reached every ear on the _Normandy_. In fact it had reached every ear in the Citadel. The news of the promotions of both Shepard and Williams also found its way into the circle of the rumor mill.

Spreading just was quickly was the rumor that Ambassador Udina had resigned his post at Citadel. The truth was, the President of the Alliance had decided to replace him. His decision to ground the _Normandy_ had very nearly cost the galaxy's existence as sentients knew it. She was more than pissed about the dignitary overstepping his station and interfering in a military operation.

"Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy," Williams said coldly. "He was a back-stabbing bastard."

"He is still an ambassador, show a little respect Second Lieutenant." Pressly ordered. "He was doing his duty as he saw fit. The Council used him as a patsy."

"Williams is right, Pressly." Shepard interrupted the rebuke. "He is a bastard. Hell, you even said it yourself, you loved the fact we 'stole' the _Normandy_. Show a little loyalty First Lieutenant."

"Yes Ma'am. I only meant that he was still a man of station."

"Not anymore." Wrex's deep voice vibrated off of the floor of the Comm-room. "If it were up to me I'd put a bullet between his eyes for his crap."

Pressly ignored the krogan, as he had most of the aliens.

"They wouldn't have been able to use him if he were a man of integrity instead of selfish and politically motivated to further his own needs. Why do you think the turian councilor phrased his comment the way he had? 'Ambassador, I get the feeling _**Commander **_Shepard isn't going to back down?' He knew Udina would impound _Normandy_ and lock me out. The Council made me a Spectre; they knew I didn't need permission to go in to the Traverse to hunt down Saren. But Saren had a garrison of spies still on the Citadel, with news that the _Normandy_ was grounded, Saren relaxed his guard. He went into the Traverse with Sovereign and a geth armada. No doubt he faced opposition. I doubt they went in stealth mode as we did. We were a full day behind him and yet we caught up to him in time.

"Yes, the Council used Udina's underhanded, backstabbing motives to their advantage. It is something I might have done if I had the foreknowledge they held. But Udina needs to go away if humanity is to strive and continue to show is worth. Men like him, and those of Terra Firma, show the worst humanity has to offer. It takes ten good actions to make up for one bad. With Udina in power we'd forever be in moral debt. This is the end of discussion about political swine. I didn't call you here to chew the fat over that slug.

"In three days we are going to Thessia on a diplomatic mission. You have three days shore leave so take advantage of it, who knows how long we will have before we can enjoy that kind of free-for-all. Make the most of it." The Spectre smiled. "That's an order. Dismissed."

The crew rose as one and started to fill out of the comm.-room. "Hang back Pressly. I want a word. Williams, wait outside."

"Aye aye Skipper." A nod and the younger woman departed.

"Yes Ma'am?" Pressly stood a little straighter.

"I have transfer papers for you."

"Ma'am?" The older officer looked positively stymied.

"Your feelings about Udina's dismissal ran pretty deep. Speak freely."

"Yes Ma'am. I don't like it that he was used by the aliens. News about the _Normandy_ being grounded could have been slipped out as misinformation, they didn't have to use the ambassador that way."

"You will address the Council as 'the Council', not 'aliens', Lieutenant," Shepard admonished. "And no they couldn't. Don't you think Saren's network of spies would have double checked the authenticity of _Normandy_ being grounded? Some of his spies might have been present in the Council Chambers and heard everything. If it were a simple matter of theatrics they wouldn't have bought it. Udina couldn't act his way through an elementary school production of Snow White. Even I had to believe it was the truth, and I can bluff the best of them. How else do you think I got that Jeong guy at ExoGeni to do what I wanted?

"Actually, it's about Udina I wanted to speak to you. He's requested a new navigator for his cruiser. I strongly suggested you for the post; I think you are better suited for his crew. Do you not?"

Pressly thought about it for a moment before he spoke "With all due respect Captain, but who will be XO of the _Normandy?_"

"Lieutenant Williams of course." Shepard's eyes grew hard and cold, daring the man, whom she knew to be a party member of Terra Firma, to challenge her. He didn't. "The paperwork is a matter of course and learning. She is a quick study and will no doubt be able to fulfill her new role. I've come to trust her the way a Captain trusts their XO. You served Captain Anderson well as a navigator; you were also instrumental in finding the most efficient and daring drop point on Ilos, which was why I put you down for the commendation you received yesterday.

"As I am now a Captain I have full privilege to hand pick my crew, whereas as Commander I had to accept those assigned to me. You understand I need a collective of personnel that will work in harmony with other species. I know your political views will at one point or another rise up, that will not be cohesive to the crew I plan on having. When the postings of Udina's diplomatic roster came up, I gave your name. You've been accepted on the _SSV San Diego_, pack up your gear and head out. Oh, and congratulations."

Pressly knew a dismissal when he heard one. He saluted crisply, made a 180, and headed out of the door. A moment later Williams appeared.

"Skipper, you wanted to see me?"

"Pass this news on to your family, Ash. I've got papers here that inform me that a Williams has just been appointed to the position of XO." Shepard waited a beat for the news to sink in.

Ash dropped her jaw staring. "Ma'am?"

"I need someone I can trust without a doubt. I told you, if I put my ship under your command I never have to worry about it or the crew. I thought you understood that."

"XO? But… what happened to Pressly?"

"Gave him his walking papers," Shepard said calmly. "He had way too many issues with non-humans. I know you did too but you changed, he never will. I won't have discontent on my ship and I won't tolerate prejudice. I needed a lieutenant in that spot and I wanted you. Ash, I told you before, you are command material so start acting like it." The Spectre's mouth turned up in a smile that took any sting out of the words.

"I won't let you down, Skipper." Ashley proudly saluted.

"Now go be with your family. By the way, if your sister ever hits on me again," a smirk "or tries to touch my ass, you become a Private and I'll make you scrub the sink tanks the entire time we face the Reapers."

_I'm going to kill her!_ "Yes Ma'am. I'll smack her upside the head for you, Skipper. I'm sorry about that she's… sorta sweet on you. I am really sorry."

Shepard chuckled softly. "I think a sisterly reprimand will be good enough. Dismissed LT."

"Ma'am."

As she left, Shepard overheard the familiar growls of her friend and junior officer. "I'm going to kill her! Of all the stupid ass things to do!"

Ash spent the whole three days with her family and did indeed take her sisters to Flux. Lynn was cuffed over the head by a pissed off Ashley, but by the next day it was if the incident had never happened. She didn't know the next time she would see her sisters or mother and wanted to, needed to, soak in their love and closeness. She spent the last day doing mother-daughter stuff with her mother, just her and her mom. Despite all the toughness and strength in the sister Williams', there were tears when Ash had to report back to duty.

Tali delivered the geth information to the Flotilla which opened the doors to nearly any ship she wanted to join. The individual captains however, were informed that she would not be joining any crew yet until the Reapers had been pushed back. Unlike her father however, they did not understand why a quarian would do such a thing, but they accepted nonetheless because after all, Tali'Zorah vas _Normandy_ was an exceptional engineer and her gift beyond compare.

Garrus had been accepted back into the ranks of C-Sec by Executor Pallin and given extended leave to serve Captain Shepard. Pallin, who, like the majority of C-Sec officers, had no love for the Spectres, but the turian had a grudging respect for Shepard. She might bend the rules but she never broke them. To the Commander of Citadel Security that was something at least. And the Spectre had managed to reign in Garrus' slip-shod regard to regulations and his overheated blood that made him want to get the job done despite the cost. The human had been a good influence on the young male.

Wrex and Joker either gambled at Flux, or drank themselves into blinding stupors at Chora's Den. They were happy.

Liara and Samantha spent the time exploring each other, their bond, and the richness of just being in each other's company. After a month of being rather chaste in their passions, relying on the bond to express their more primal desires, the lovers splurged within each other's love, desires and delights. Samantha was still not a hundred percent, but she didn't allow that to slow her down. Three days of 'Embracing Eternity' had invigorated the Spectre and sated her libidinous hunger for her betrothed. Liara had reveled in the Unions with her beloved, feeling her heart swell with delight, wonder and awe. Their bodies, minds and souls so interconnected, so interwoven, it was almost too much- and yet not enough. In a word; it had been three days of perfection.

The reassembled crew made ready for departure. The _Normandy_ had been cleared for takeoff, their destination Thessia: homeworld of the asari. It was time to put many things to rest.


	5. A World of Great Oceans

Chapter 5: World of Oceans

Thessia, homeworld of the asari, was a vast orb of oceans dotted with countless islands: some no larger than England others as small as Hawaii. There were no vast continents or great landmasses to be seen. It was as if the planet was one massive archipelago.

The whole of the world, as a matter of fact, was composed of an interconnected system of city-states, similar to those of medieval Italy. The main island was a land of endless fantastical sights and sounds. A realm of legend and lore of dream and wonder, here the regal beings, dwelled in a haven of wind, wave, and stone. There were no mega metropolises here as there were on Earth. The air was not clouded with pollution, decayed ozone or toxic wastes. Its pristine nature gave no hint of a race of intergalactic space travelers. It was here that Liara T'Soni brought her mother to.

Home.

Home happened to be one of the tallest buildings on the planet, located on the floating city-state of Armali. It was no mere skyscraper but a great cathedral. It could have easily housed Notre Dame a dozen times over with enough room left over for the Taj Mahal, the Great Mosque in Jerusalem, the Louvre and Westminster Abbey to be placed in the forecourt.

In the central hall was a great fountain depicting two asari ascending out of the ocean waves in a sensual dance of love, binding and Joining - Embracing Eternity. The whole of the fountain was sculpted not of stone, but crystal. Water spouted from the sculpted waves into giant half shells of oysters which themselves were supported by fearsome firaxon sharks. Light from a dozen different sources danced on crystal and water alike, giving it a surreal and ethereal quality. The fountain was centralized in the basilica as if it was a holy relic. No doubt lingered in the non-asari minds that this was of great religious significance.

Two broad steps lead down into a cavernous room with attenuated pillars like stalagmites and stalactites. Archways could be seen in the northern, western and southern walls. Each of these exit archways had three descending steps leading into long snaking corridors beyond.

Twin guards stood watch, foreboding and domineering, at each of these wings. The warriors were dressed in a like fashion, wearing the colors of the royal honor guard from the ancient days of the asari: silver and blue firaxon shark-scale armor. Their shoulder plates of overlaid semicircles of silver gave the warriors protection from fierce blows without hiding the alluring lines of shoulder and collarbones. Each wore arm bands of sliver and dark azure leather, the silver work depicting serpentine firaxon sharks, with eyes of blazing garnets adding not only to their overall fieriness but protective aesthetic qualities. About their throats the warriors wore silver torcs each with the heads of 'roaring' sharks, into which were set sapphire eyes. The overall effect was both enticing and frightening.

The eight templars turned to the squadron that had passed the gates. They took note of only one. They bowed their heads to the daughter of Matriarch Benezia T'Soni out of respect, yet said nothing to her.

Liara lead the party past the gates, through an archway to the left and they found themselves ascending a narrow arabesque spiral staircase. The steps seemed without end as they delved deeper and higher into the darkness. The edifices, though clearly crafted by mortal architects, had the otherworldly feel of being touched by immortal hands. As the figures below the raised balconies silently testified, they were aeries of ethereal yet aquatic beings. Undoubtedly Shepard, Williams and Tali stood before the home of the great temples of the asari. The whole of the place had the distinct feeling they were under water.

As they walked, a beautiful, angelic-like choir echoed perfectly through the marble halls. No human could produce such vocal harmony. No human could generate the perfect a cappella melody as heard here in these halls. And for a moment Liara felt her soul rising as it had many years ago, for it was here, in these halls, that she had been raised by her mother.

Finally the staircase stopped, and they stepped through an opening into a passageway so broad that it was not so much a corridor as an avenue. A line of basalt columns ran down the center of the hall, supporting the arched ceiling high above. The columns were skillfully carved into the shapes of foaming billowing water, conjuring the illusion of walking down a strip of dry land with forever frozen waves towering above them at either side, seemingly just at the point of crashing down.

Shepard let out a low sigh, turning her head to try to take in the grandeur of the inner-tower road. She was almost overwhelmed by the glorious surroundings. _'This place is remarkable._' She sent silently. It seemed too sacrilegious to speak out loud about such a grand domain. '_It is so beautiful, Liara._'

"It's the hall of Athame, it has been here always." Liara took in a deep breath. The weight of years hung heavily on this place. She could almost hear the ghostly ringing of the semantron shaping chants, drifting in the air like echoes from the past. "Just wait... there is more to come." Liara spoke aloud for the benefit of the others who were just as awe-struck as the Spectre.

The gate was on the far side of the compound, yet the drawbridge was drawn up to the portcullis; there were no watchtowers, but then there wouldn't have been. It was not conceit that there were no watchtowers, but confidence. Anyone who had gotten this far would be worthy of an audience with the High Priestess. The asari had not thought that guard towers were necessary, for any soul who came this far must be, by the grace of the Heavens, deemed worthy.

They traversed a long catwalk, leading to yet another antechamber and winding hallway. Below them was a series of low buildings constructed out of the same red, coral-colored stone as the walls. The buildings were arranged symmetrically around the central tower in the middle they had glimpsed earlier, supported by fluted crystal columns, there was no doubt that the tower was the main temple. Shepard could see between the columns into the dusky interior of the basilica, within she could see figures standing.

Instinct drove Ashley to duck and take point, but as she watched, the figures had not moved in the last few minutes. Five– ten – then fifteen heartbeats passed and the figures had not moved. "Statues," she said sheepishly.

Liara snickered softly for both had known it to be so. She had frolicked with the daughters of the disciples amongst their stately forms as a child a century ago. Few sounds were as holy or as pure as the sound of a children giggling in their enjoyment of life.

They climbed the rest of the way up over the wall, then up again. The chill, damp air caused both of the humans to shiver. On the other side of the wall they stood once more in awe. This was the last leg of their journey.

They stood beneath a high stone archway, a great arcade that would lead them to the doors of the great temple of the Celestial Waves. Behind them, a corridor stretched into endless shadow. Before them lay their goal. It was glorious and they had yet to even enter the temple proper. Walls of pale blue marble flecked with gold soared upward, vault after dizzying vault. An intricate mosaic adorned the lofty ceiling, depicting a fantastic sky: radiant day shown brilliantly upon one side, while night glittered with jewel-like stars upon the other. Light streamed down from the mosaic above–part of it was sun-gold, part moon-pearl– refracting off the polished walls. It filled the chamber with shimmering luminescence.

In keeping with the ceiling, the gallery's expansive floor was a patchwork of marble flags, depicting the floor plan of a labyrinth, the tunnels picked out in gold-flecked white against a background of obsidian and silver. On the far side of the hall, set into a shallow nave, was a door of sapphire.

Shaking the vertigo from her head, Shepard gazed around, her acute vision piercing the dimness of the canopy. They were in the center of a large circular chamber. Soon they would find themselves amid a maze of dark passageways and shadow-filled halls, the labyrinth depicted on the chamber floor. High archways opened to the right and left. Corridors doubled back on themselves or ended abruptly in blank walls. Some stairwells led to nowhere, while others delved higher into the heart of the towers… until at last they came to a majestic door.

The heavy intricate door seemed to open, as if some unknown hands touched them and drew them slowly apart. Shepard couldn't catch her breath. Awe inspiring exhilaration filled her to her very soul. It seemed like her own body was filled with brilliant light from the Celestial Waves. She couldn't move, couldn't talk, so overwhelming was this experience. Tears slowly came down her face. The beauty so surreal struck Ashley and Tali as well; even Liara was moved as she always was whenever she entered the temple.

The Spectre slowly followed her lover up the uneven steps to the door. The young Captain could feel her breath catch in her throat as she entered the temple of Athame. The troop stopped dead in their tracks. Before them lay crystal. The whole chamber was made of crystal. Not only that, but the crystal formations hung from the ceiling and fountained[seemed to fountain] up from the floor; their prisms transforming the chamber with soft pastels of multicolored lights, slowing relaxing, ebbing and flowing with each step Liara, Shepard, Ashley and Tali took. The air seemed crisp and clear, yet not cold. Being immersed in all the cool crystal radiated a warmth that was utterly inviting and wholly wonderful; it filled the soul with easy and complete love. This was the 'embrace' of the Goddess.

As always, it took Liara's breath away. Even in the midst of such beauty, Shepard's eyes were drawn to Liara who [who's essences] seemed to sparkle around the crystals, almost placing their light to shame. As lithe archeologist looked to her lover, her sapphire eyes started in wonder; not for the chamber, but for her beloved, whose light she had seen was brighter still. The doctor sworn she glimpsed a whisper of wings, not unlike those of the phoenix, glowing in radiant flames behind her. Of course it was a trick of the light. As soon as Samantha shifted her position a fraction of an inch the effect vanished.

The crystals reflected all the colors of the universe. Like rainbows caught in droplets of dew on a spider's web. Each step was like stepping into a wonderland of grace and majesty. They became as children who stared wonderment at the world where everything was new and magical.

The staircase was slender, elegant in its simplicity, unlike the last they had traveled. Like the chamber itself it was made out of crystal, except this crystal looked fragile [, almost] handspun; so delicate that one small touch would bring it down shattering it into a million pieces at their feet. Shepard hesitated as Liara placed her hand on the delicate beauty of the staircase handrail. It felt cool to the touch, a degree or two from the warmth of the chamber. She slowly stepped onto the first tread, gradually increasing the amount of weight she placed on it, but quickly discovered that, despite appearances, it was as strong as any metal. Its fragile facade was just that; a facade. Much like the asari themselves. Together, they approached the innermost sanctuary of the Temple where the diocese sat, the High Wisdom of the asari.

It was difficult to believe they were still inside the massive towers, but it was so, for even here the waves of the ocean sang to them. Nothing the Spectre had seen in all her travels of the mass relays were so awe-inspiring. Her eyes feasted upon the sight. It was stunning. The central room was an enormous chamber flooded by the warm glow of willow-the-wisps. Its walls were constructed of triangular and trapezoidal panels of marble, exquisitely striated and glistening with moisture, resembling the ocean herself.

The floor of the chamber was an elaborate mosaic of concentric circles – some parts translucent and illuminated from beneath by the same magic glow of the rolling-waves – decorated with mysterious, yet somehow familiar, symbols. At the center of this was a circular table made of primeval ebony-violet crystal, glowing with the same spectral light as the pellucid sections of the walls.

The home of the priestesses was, in a word, breathtakingly beautiful. It was a perfect marriage between the Hall of Wisdom and the home of the asari. Crystal and sculpted stone, carved in eloquent lines of curves and zoomorphic creatures: those that Shepard recognized as firaxon sharks, dolphins, she-lions, varren, stags, harvesters, thresher maws, and still others appeared to be sculpted asari of renowned beauty that only bards had ever dreamed of.

Marble blended, no merged into crystal so seamlessly there was no way to tell were one left off and the other began, white stone made arabesque love to dark crystal, both polished to such smoothness that the edifice became a child of wonderful creation.

The walls, ceiling, lintels and frames of the doors were carved into glorious depictions of asari life. Here, in the priestess's home, the story seemed to be the matriarchal history of each past high priestess into the beginning of the first asari; the Lady herself who gave birth to a nation.

The domicile was both practical and beautiful, was there any home in the asari domain that was not so? Shepard thought to herself: would she ever grow accustomed to seeing such splendor? The serene beings seemed to surround themselves with beauty, and yet it was not garish or boastful. Here there was no proclamation of wealth and blatant stature; simply put, the asari surrounded themselves with the beauty of nature itself. Delicately shaped wood carvings, crystal formations, woven leaves of the massive redwoods and a dozen unnamable nuances caused the overall affect of wonder. The asari revealed in the glory of nature.

What drew the Spectre's attention the most was a crystalline statue of a beatified priestess clad in leather and metal. Not only was the subject enticing, as it was a warrior-queen astride a fanged firaxon shark riding it as one might a dragon, but whatever material the carving was fashioned from, it appeared to mimic the exact texture of skin, leather, and metal rather than stone. The leather and metal cuirass that covered the asari's breast, stomach and back was truly an astounding marvel of artistic craftsmanship. Arm-guards, greaves, bracers; they all carried that same definite appearance of spiraled metal designs upon leather. The tabard, knee length boots, scabbard of the sword across her back and the five sheaths of the daggers she was armed with all looked as leather should. The effect was so authentic Shepard had to reach out to touch the stone to ensure that it was crystal, not leather and metal, she was touching. The skin of the carving bore the appearance of true flesh, and again the Spectre stretched out her hand to touch it.

"That is Athame," Liara whispered to Samantha. "Is she not beautiful?"

For the first time, Samantha looked at the face of the woman depicted in the crystal statue. She had almond shaped eyes, as did many of the asari, however like Liara, her eyes were larger and her eyelashes longer, giving her a very distinctive feline gaze. Her cheekbones were so high they looked almost hollow. Her heart-shaped face gave a very deceptive air of innocence, but there was unmistakable strength in that gaze, in that set mouth. This was a being that one did not anger, not if one wanted to live. Yet in that same gaze was undeniable love and wisdom. The sculpture was so exacting Samantha thought that even the delicate windswept crest would have the same soft velvet feel that her lover's had.

"She is beautiful," The Spectre responded. "Did she really ride a firaxon shark?"

Liara nodded her head. "So tradition would have it. In the first days of creation asari were born of the vast oceans. We came from the waters and there we go back. The firaxon shark has always been in these waters. They are regarded with reverence, I think much like the infant sheep on Earth. The sharks are pure in form; their greatness knows no enemies save the ocean herself. They have hunted ancient prehistoric asari as we have hunted them. It is said that Athame herself made peace with the oldest mother of the firaxon sharks, the Progenitor, and a harmony was born between the two tribes. Tentative, but it is there. Because Athame calmed the rage in the great mother shark, they have become a synonymous symbol of the Goddess.

"Firaxon sharks are important to asari not only as a food source, but sacramentally as well. A roasted shark is important to every holy feast. Hunting the shark is also a holy activity. I had my first hunt when I turned sixty to mark the end of one tri-cycle of maidenhood and my entry into the next stage. Each stage of an asari life has three cycles in and of itself. Infant, youngling and Maiden are the first.

"When an asari daughter leaves the age of youngling to enter full Maidenhood, she is given the right to take part of the most holy of hunts. Armed with only blades, we stalk, hunt, and bring to the surface a firaxon shark. When we first become matrons it is our duty to lead maidens in that same first hunt. It has always been this way, even for those who worship the ways of Siari, our much younger doctrine; they also take part in the Great Hunt."

"So you go scuba diving to hunt sharks?" Ashley asked astounded.

"Prehistoric asari had gills to breathe underwater with as well as nostrils to breath in air upon the surface; our ancestors were aquatic sentient mammals. The gills atrophied eons ago." Liara pointed to the gentle folds on her neck. "Just as humans are no longer covered in fur, nor have great thick brow ridges."

Shepard was a little amazed by this. She knew those soft curves quite well, there was no sign they had once been the gills of Neolithic cave-dwelling asari. Of course, she knew modern age asari were more akin to maritime mammals, capable of holding their breaths form nearly an hour before they were forced to come to the surface to take a breath of air. In this regard, they were more akin to porpoises or whales rather than fish or, what some might have given as less than generous references to, cephalopods.

"We only have a trace where they once were however, that is the only true resemblance we hold to our aquatic prehistoric ancestors. Well, that and the fact that our bodies can withstand the high pressures of the deep seas. We are not prone to what humans call 'the bends'. We can swim several fathoms below the waves where a human or any other sapient race could not. Because of our transparent third eyelid we are able to see underwater as well as above," Liara continued to explain. "As I said, when we perform the hunt we are armed with only our biotics, a blade, and a compact rebreather. We go into the oceans as we are brought into the world to hunt the shark."

"Wait a minute, you go hunting those big freaking firaxon sharks... naked?! They can get as big as a blue whale!" Williams stated in open mouthed awe. "You… you hunted a firaxon shark in the buff. Somehow I can't see you doing that, Doc."

"Some would think the cannibalistic consumption of the human's god to be unbelievable and quite astonishing: it is to many asari. Why should you hold my beliefs under scrutiny, Ashley, when you yourself have partaken of this sacred human 'feast' yearly?" Liara pointed out.

"Well, yeah, but that's symbolic. We don't actually eat God's body or drink his blood."

"Reality and symbolism are often one and the same in religion, are they not?"

"That is a very valid point, Li," Shepard added her viewpoint. "Great Hunts have had their part in religious ceremonies on Earth. Makes sense other races would have their own versions of it."

"I think I still prefer the Lamb of God rather than the Shark of the Goddess," Ashley said, but without insult in her tone. She wasn't about to tell T'Soni sharks scared the hell out of her. They had since her surfing accident in the Great Coral Reef nature preserve on Earth when a great white decided she might make a nice snack. She had been fourteen at the time and visiting her grandparents who lived in New Zealand. Fortunately, she was rescued by a patrolling coast guard without incident. Still though, Williams had no love for _Jaws_.

"I don't relish the idea of hunting a shark any more than you do Lieutenant. I prefer the Pilgrimage to mark my coming of age," Tali said. She didn't repress the shudder of fear the sculpture of the great shark had given her.

"A maiden's first Great Hunt is only one stage of reaching adulthood. I have yet to take part in the Second Hunt. That will not be for another two centuries. At that time I will have become a matron. I am still quite young by my peoples' standards."

"Yeah, don't remind me I'm basically robbing the cradle." Shepard muttered. "On Earth you might be old enough to be my grandmother, but you're still barely of consenting age. There's a special kind of hell for people like me."

"Your God would condemn you to damnation for taking Dr. T'Soni as a mate?" Tali was intrigued by this prospect.

"Because of her youth it might seen as taboo." Ashley said. "But Skipper, it's not like Liara is a kid or a teenager or anything."

'_You never told me, my youth troubles you so.'_ Liara thought for a moment before touching Samantha's face. "Would not your age in my culture also be considered scandalous?

You have only just turned thirty. That is still a youngling, and certainly not at the age of consent. You must be at least forty to begin sexual exploration. And then it is only with someone of equal age, and certainly not fullness of Union. Kissing, perhaps a bit of touching; you humans might refer to it as heavy petting, like that between teenage sweethearts."

"It comes down to equivalent ages, Lover. You're what in human age - somewhere in your early twenties?"

"I would say that is accurate yes. A decade separates us if you wish to go by that measurement, rather than me being eighty-seven years your senior. Chronological ages are moot in this case. Besides, I believe our Union to be blessed by the Goddess. Your occasional adaptation of her usage in your language tells me that you have, at some level, accepted her presence in your life. If only because of me. I believe she now watches over you as if you were an asari daughter."

Samantha smiled. "Okay answer me this: If I was a hundred and six year old asari would you have a relationship with me, would it acceptable?"

"It would be yes. Our fourth decade often marks the time of exploring our sexuality. If we were only in our thirties it would be greatly discouraged as we would be just under the age of consent. I think it would be seen how most humans view pre-teenage sex. After the First Hunt we are seen as mature enough to explore sexuality and the act of Joining. It is also the time when daughters undergo training to become huntresses. The average daughter will devote her first twenty to thirty years studying martial arts. I did. After that, however, I chose to purse an academic life rather than become a huntress, "She smirked devilishly." It was quite rebellious actually, as I pursued archeology rather than any other of the traditional sciences or accepted field of academia."

"That's rebellious?" scoffed Ashley. "My parents would have loved your idea of being a rebel. My mother went ape-shit when I got a tattoo. My dad just laughed, then told me I better not get any more if I wanted to continue to live rent free under his roof. I was sixteen."

Shepard smiled. "I thought I was being rebellious getting ink myself around that age too. But then of course, my mom has a rose on her ankle and my dad has a Chinese dragon on his back, so I simply ended up following another family tradition."

"The phoenix on your right bicep." Liara touched Shepard's arm. "I think it is quite beautiful. Of course you have the N7 mark on your right arm. Rather fitting. In asari culture, facial markings are very common; a mother would not be displeased about her daughter getting 'ink'. So then, how did you rebel?"

"Went into Special Ops and became an N7, rather than regular Navy."

"That just made them proud of you," Liara pointed out.

"Yeah pretty much." She nuzzled Liara. "Guess I make a terrible rebel. Though stealing an alliance warship had its moments."

"Not so rebellious there either, Skipper. We were all acquitted in lieu of our saving the collective asses of the galaxy."

"What of being engaged to an asari?" Liara offered.

"You kidding? My Ma loves you! Making both of them understand the age difference was a little wiggy at first. I think they were a little reserved because of our ages. It's hard for them to reconcile you're exactly the same age as my dad's mom, and yet still very young. Dad is a little off, but he might come around."

"Yes, your mother was a little astonished when I admitted my age to her. This is why you felt so guilty," Liara reasoned. "I rather assumed she knew our age difference was irrelevant. We are both mature enough to enter into a long lasting relationship."

Samantha grinned widely, feeling reprieved. She didn't want to admit just how much Liara's youth troubled her. She sometimes felt lecherous with Liara, and not the good sort that lovers share between each other.

"As I said before we met, I never considered it, never was interested in such acts of Joining. You intrigued me then as you do now, Samantha." Liara sent a wave of desire into the Specter, making her gasp slightly in reflection of that desire.

"Liara, please. Not in front of the squad-mates."

Ashley and Tali giggled conspiratorially. Shepard gave them a fierce glare, which would have made a krogan battlemaster piss his hardsuit, but unfortunately it only served to make the other women laugh all the harder.

"Laugh it up you two. You'll be scrubbing the sink-tanks with your toothbrushes when we get back to the _Normandy_."

"Sorry Skipper, but that was such a parent thing to say." Ashley was still snickering.

Liara herself was rather amused; she could feel Samantha had felt no shame in their words or touches. She felt guilt perhaps, for having such desires in a holy place and in front of someone as young as Tali, but not for the act itself.

"Asari are very open and expressive of our sexuality, as I have told you. There can be no sin where there is none in the eyes of the Goddess or the philosophy of Siari. In fact, we honor her graciousness with our affections," Liara said, as much for Samantha's benefit as to that of Ashley and Tali. "Such deep and true affections honor her greatly."

"What of the day?" Samantha asked, with a dignitary's voice as she referred to their true purpose for being on the asari homeworld.

"In a day of grief, the show of love is often the best reprieve from despair."

Samantha regarded Liara for a moment before taking hold of her tightly and soundly kissing her with all the passion in her soul. Liara let out a moan of pure, wanton desire. She hungrily returned the kiss that elicited the Spectre's own murmurs of need.

Ashley and Tali both quietly vacated the area, deciding perhaps that discretion was indeed the better part of valor.

"I didn't think affection like that was possible," Tali whispered to the Lieutenant as they parted.

"Me either," Williams commented, albeit a bit jealously. "To love like that, to be loved like that, I can only dream of it."

"Perhaps is it because you have yet to find the right person, Lieutenant." The young quarian pointed out. "When I find someone I hope to be cared for and loved like Dr. T'Soni and the Captain love each other. I would like to give those kinds of affections and receive them."

"Yeah, me too," Ashley said more softly. "They've got a good thing going. So it's up to us to make sure nobody quashes it."

"People like those ruffians of Terra Firma?"

"Amongst others."

"Then we will watch out for them," Tali vowed.

Liara pulled back from the kiss breathlessly. Her eyes slowly shifted back from complete black to their usual azure hue. The Spectre's own eyes had completely dilated, a clear indictor as to how incredibility aroused she had become. Her breath came in great gulps in her struggle to control her passions.

"Kissing one's beloved in Athame's cathedral might be acceptable, but I don't think I could 'Embrace Eternity' without feeling I've committed a sin," Shepard said nipping Liara's throat. The asari's hands, by their own measure, started to undo the collar of the Spectre's mess dress uniform. She had no desire to stop, or nullify her desires for Samantha.

"The others are waiting." Samantha moaned, wanting this feeling of longing to last.

"Perhaps you are right. Later you are mine."

"No arguments there, Babe. Come, we should catch up. I think they went to inspect the statue of Athame a little closer."

Ashley and Tali were indeed at the statue. At first they had retreated there to give Shepard and Liara privacy, but had become fascinated by the flawless lines, curves and sheer perfection of the work of art. There was absolutely no sign of tool marks on the crystal, no indication that it had been made by mortal hands.

For herself, Shepard was drawn to the image of the Goddess. The air of power swirled around her as a cloak, both heavy, and of wondrous shining light. She was power. She was the mother of a nation, and once more she knew it and was comfortable with her power. Athame of the asari held the very seat of strength, heart, power and essence of what it was to be alive.

Athame was everything a woman could wish to be; intelligent and strong of heart, spirit and body. She was more champion than Lancelot, or even the first human Spectre, could ever have achieved. Looking at the statue it seemed to change as if by some glamour; instead of a proud warrior there was now a child. Her eyes were large and innocent; the expression was one of wanderlust, curiosity and awe.

"What the…" Ashley stopped her profanity in time. This may not be _her_ sacred place of reverence, but it was still _a_ sacred place of reverence. One simply did not swear in a church. "Why did her face change?"

"Athame is the threefold Goddess; Maiden, Matron and Matriarch. Our lives are manifest of this as there are three stages of life for asari." Liara explained.

"Like the ancient belief of Danu in the old Celtic days. My father's ancestors way back in the Iron Age came from the druids. Danu had three faces - Maid, Mother and Crone. She was also called Mother Earth, some called her Gaia. " Shepard said.

"What of your mother's people? Liara asked, clearly intrigued.

"Actually, they had a reverence for Earth Mother too. My mother's people have great reverence for the oceans as well. The killer whales, or rather the orcas you can only see in zoos now, were held in high regard, as were several other animals. They became totems. My mother's people were of the Salish who lived in Canada and the North West of America, way, way back [many, many years ago]. Like I said, some of Earth's ancient people had their own great hunts. Hunting the orca was one such hunt. Of course they don't do it anymore. "

'_Is it not ironic, Samantha__,__ that the ancestors of your parents revered the three faced Goddess and the oceans and that you are now Joined with an asari?_' Liara's tender thoughts were laced with bemusement.

'_Irony or destiny?_' Shepard smiled back.

Ashley saw a smile slip upon the asari's lilac lips. It was unnerving to see a conversation, but not hear it. The connection between the skipper and T'Soni had only grown stronger since Liara had joined her mind to Shepard's in order to save her. Now it appeared they had a telepathic connection.

'_Perhaps a little of both, my love.'_

The statue changed faces and bodies once more, this time it was that of a Matriarch, the same eyes remained, and the expression was not unlike Benezia's when she had been herself in those final few moments on Novaria. The gaze actually reminded both Ashley and Shepard not only of the asari Councilor, but of the Consort was well. The same confidence of the Matron was there but stronger somehow, there was the wisdom of age behind the crystal gaze.

"So how did the asari come to be?" Shepard asked. "Did Athame create your people after her own image?"

Liara grinned as she wrapped her arms around her lover's. It clearly pleased the young woman that her lover[bond-mate] had taken a keen interest in her people from an academic and religious standpoint. She leaned her head on the other's shoulder as they watched the statue of the Goddess morph once more back to the Matron aspect they had first encountered.

"Before asari came to this world of oceans, other dreamers lived here. Legends are unclear, for this period of pre-asari residence is not spoken of much in asari myth. It is believed that the spirits lived on the islands within the submarine caverns but that they had been long gone by the time asari were born of wave, tide and breath. Who where the people of the islands? Were they asari or spirit? No one can say.

"They vanished perhaps, because in order to live, spirits must be dreamt about. Had their dreams run out? Perhaps they could only live for so long on the remnant memories of those who dreamt them into existence. For when the dreamer dies or awakens, her dreams must slowly fade into the Mists. They disappeared without a trace. The daughters of their dreams stayed on the islands a while longer, but eventually faded away themselves, leaving hints and traces - and their names - to the new asari.

"The asari of today claim their heritage from the oceans, but they recognize and hold holy some secrets left from those who came before them, from a much older, more primal dream. The greatest of these dreams gave form to void, from that void came Athame. Her voice was the sound of waves breaking upon the rocks. Her touch soft as the still waters of a tide pool, her wrath like the raging floods. Her love is as encompassing as the depths of the oceans themselves. But in her greatness she was lonely. So, the void gave birth to fire, stone and crystal. From these elements Athame whispered her dreams. Those dreams gave form to the asari. Athame had children to tend to.

"Most asari today prescribe to the Siari philosophy of All is One, but Athame is our Goddess. This isn't the only temple of Athame, there is another one much older than this one. But one must be a Matriarch to gain entrance. When I was still a child, not even a decade old, my mother bought me there once. I saw the great relics of Athame; her sword and shield and the ancient writings of the Guides. It filled me with awe.

"The Justicar Order follows the Goddess as her holy warriors. And many of us still worship her faithfully. My mother did, and I suppose by proxy so do I. Athame protected our homeworld Thessia from attacks by other, jealous gods. Along with her guides Janiri and Lucen, Athame brought enlightenment to the ancient asari, with Janiri teaching them agricultural practices, including the knowledge of the seasons, Lucen teaching them about the stars, and Athame teaching them mathematics."

Liara smiled, "Three of the planets in our system are named Athame, Janiri, and Lucen has a very special place in our faith."

"Why?" This came from Shepard.

"As I said, Lucen was a servant of the goddess, and beseeched Athame for the gifts of pottery, forging, and biotics. Lucen then sailed the sea and sky teaching these gifts to mortals. It is said that the aging, powerful matriarch then begged Athame for the gift of prophecy so she would see whether the asari would prosper in the future. Athame refused, prophecy being hers alone, and when Lucen tried to steal it from Athames's silver jars, Athame struck her down."

"So is she revered or seen as an upstart?" Ash asked. "She sounds a bit like Lucifer. Good at first, then waiting more power, so instead of free will she gets killed for the insolence."

"I do not know if it was insolence or benevolence, but either way, still Lucen is heralded for those gifts she gave to my people. Your Lucifer, as I understand it, tired to destroy your people via temptation and corruption. That role was not Lucen's! She only wished to expand knowledge. "

"Athame was not cruel, but watchful. Always protecting, even from the things we should not know. She pointed my people to the ocean and commanded we learn from it," Liara said rebuking-ly. "The vast Ocean Matriarch already teaming with life, made room for the new children of dreams, water and fire. From the oceans the first asari learned the ways of the firaxon shark; to be brave and wise in the hunt, to be patient and stealthy in the ambush. They learned the frolicing dance of the white dolphins and how to play and leave worry behind as all young must do. They learned also to love and embrace their sexuality. They learned the secret ways of the great stingrays; to disguise themselves, to have patience and strike when it is most advantageous. From this they became great huntresses. They looked into night and saw the vastness of the stars and learned to think forward and leave behind the now, of time that the beasts of the waters could only think. They learned to embrace eternity.

"Kindness and hospitality were an important part of life; they were a part of the Breath of Athame which gave Athame and her doctrines. A spirit of love that is still deeply ingrained in our culture. The first asari learned the importance of maintaining the ecological balance on an island. The first priestesses, the first Matriarchs' wisdom was deferred to. We have always been a culture that values consensus and accommodations. There has never been impetus to form larger principalities. Our world has always been dotted with loose confederacies of great republican city-states. Rather than hoard resources, the asari of the past, as today, barter freely. Rather than attack one another over differing philosophies, we strive to understand one another. Just as we seek to understand other species today. There has never been a war fought amongst ourselves as there have been with the other races.

"We have no politicians, no elections, in our own inner government. Despite the fact that we were instrumental in founding the Council, we ourselves have no world government, but a free-wheeling, all-inclusive legislature that citizens can participate in at will. It has always been thus. All aspects of policy are open to the plebiscite at any time. In any given debate, we tend to lend the most credence to the opinions of any Matriarchs present, nearly always deferring to the experience of these millennia-old women. In the far ancient days it was they who declared what time of year a certain fish could be caught and for how long; in this way, the fish were allowed ample time to restore their numbers. The same was true of many aspects of early asari interaction with the plant and animal life on the islands. Even today, it is the Matriarchs who declare when and what fish to hunt.

"Our homeworld's islands have a unique ecosystem where the plants and animals have few defenses against predators, having developed so long without them. There are no native poisonous plants, and few plants have thorns or other painful physical defenses. The guidance of the Matriarchs-High Priestesses allowed the first asari to live in harmony with beings that were never hostile to them. Most asari still hold the ancient system sacred. We hearken back to traditional culture even as conventional thought and wisdom have us always looking to the future. To break such taboos is to bring grave harm not only to the taboo-breaker, her companions and oath-mates, but to the whole of creation. Some say Benezia became a taboo-breaker for joining Saren. That she brought her fate onto herself." Liara looked down at her feet, uncertain if she felt shame for this accusation or anger that it had been murmured.

"Matriarch Benezia sought to tame Saren as the Goddess Athame sought to tame the mother firaxon shark from her madness and wrath. The results were catastrophically different. Benezia broke no taboo, but strove to heal that which could not be healed, could not be redeemed or saved." Samantha whispered sagely. "There can be no blame for actions taken that the Goddess herself had done. The Goddess brought reason to a shark. Your mother attempted to face off Sovereign's indoctrination in that same verve. The odds favored Athame."

Liara lifted her head and stared at her soul mate in awe, respect and great affection. Their close touch allowed these emotions to be transmitted from one to the other. "You always know the words to make me feel at ease. You have always shown me kindness, and understanding Samantha, even before we were Joined. Your heart is asari."

"Flatterer," Shepard smiled playfully before kissing her beloved's lips tenderly. "We should hurry though; no doubt the ceremony is ready for us. The guests should have arrived by now."

With her usual prescience, the Spectre took Liara's delicate hand into her own and gave it a gentle squeeze. "However you need me, Liara, I'll be there for you. Always."

A smile that never quite reached blue eyes found Liara's lips. "I know, thank you." She brought the Captain's hand up to her mouth and placed a butterfly's kiss upon the back of the knuckles. "Samantha, your willingness to take part of the funeral rites means more to me than I can describe. You have been a source of great strength and support to me. You have given me the freedom to grieve, to feel the loss of my mother but remember her as she was before the fall. Thank you for everything."

Samantha brought Liara into her arms, holding her tight. "I wouldn't be anywhere else, Liara, but at your side. You needed to grieve so that you can heal. Take as long as you need. I'll be here forever."

The four women left the long gallery for the doors which would take them to the grand balcony of the bastion.

The top-most tower of the floating city's cathedral opened into avenues grand in nature and façade. So astonished were the humans and quarian, they could hardly process what they were seeing. Pillars of spun glass became an arcade of hanging gardens. Flowers of a hundred different colors dotted the architecture like fireworks in a night sky. Waterfalls cascaded from roofs and spires as brilliant, glorious daylight streamed though the water and refracted into rainbows that sparkled across the gardens. Even in this day of mourning the grandeur placed a smile on all who had taken view of it.

Parishioners and guests of the bereaved had already been seated upon marble benches that surrounded the open air sanctuary like a Grecian amphitheatre, waiting for Liara to arrive. They all rose as she entered the 'stage' and took her place at an empty altar. Coming out of the wings of the garden were the high-priestesses of Athame. All of them were wearing similar robes that Lady Benezia had been wearing during her final confrontation on Novaria. The color and cut were exacting, yet these garments had the air of holiness about them that was lacking in those worn by the indoctrinated Matriarch.

At the head of the honored Matriarchs was none other than the captain of the _Destiny Ascension_ - Matriarch Lidanya. On her left was Councilor Lei'cree, and to the left was Consort Sha'ira. Behind them came Shiala and lastly Racen Abstergo, both of whom had been disciples of Benezia: one who followed her in the belief they would stop Saren, while the other remained behind on Thessia - yet both were devoted to their departed Matriarch.

Matriarch Lidanya held out her hand over the altar, causing a minor shift of biotics to gently lift the enshrouded body of Matriarch Benezia up from a hidden container within the altar itself. The body's nude form was covered discretely by a sheer black translucent veil. Her once blue skin had turned to an ashen gray just, visible under the cloth. The asari held to the belief that, as you came into creation nude, you should depart creation the same way.

Liara gasped softly in the presence of her mother's body. Samantha was there immediately, holding her lover, sending her love, support and strength.

'_I am here.'_

'_I need you.'_

'_I'm here baby. I'm here. Lean on me, I'll hold you. I will always hold you. You can do this, baby. I will be strong for you. Grieve, just grieve.'_

And Liara did.

Matriarch Lidanya's hand still hovered above the veiled corpse. Her voice strong and clear became as a lark's song in the ears of those who heard it. "All is One. The universe is a consciousness, every life within it is an aspect of the greater whole, and death is a merging of one's spiritual energy back into greater universal consciousness. Matriarch Benezia T'Soni's spiritual energy has returned to the universal consciousness, and one day will be used to fill new mortal vessels. There is unity between disparate shards of the universe's awareness. As her spirit has returned to the universe, her body shall be returned to the oceans. We take from the mother waters the great firaxon shark. Their life given to nourish us so we may live and so we return to them the offering of life so they may prosper."

That was the cue for Liara to step forward. "All is One," she said while pouring water from the hand blown blue glass vase she held over her mother's body. The vase was of the thinnest of glass, which had been formed into the shape of the sacred firaxon shark, its open mouth formed the spout.

Next came Samantha, who, like her betrothed, poured water from her vessel over the body. "All is one." she said reverently, and then took a step back to stand beside her lover. She had been included in the ceremony not only because she was to take Liara as a bride, but for her last interaction with the Matriarch. Benezia had entrusted her the charge of stopping Saren and she had. No one begrudged the Spectre's role in the funeral rites, in fact the gathered asari thought it quite fitting.

Shiala, Sha'ira, Councilor Lei'cree and Racen approached one by one, pouring water from their glass shark vessels while speaking the ritual words. Each of them had had a connection to the Matriarch. Two of them had been disciples, one a former lover, the other a trusted friend.

Once each urn had been emptied they were collected by six more former disciples of Benezia's. They knelt with heads bowed, waiting for the ceremony to continue. Once more Matriarch Lidanya stood at the crown of Benezia's body. She had a second smaller vase. This contained not water, but the sacramental winter wine. The wine itself was unusual in that it had a purplish-blue hue, not unlike asari blood.

It was often joked by the members of the other races that the grapes that went into making it 'caught a chill'. This was quite true [, in fact], as the grapes were allowed to freeze on the vine. They were harvested and crushed while still frozen. Winter wine is very strong and sweet. The Chessentan berries that give it the blue tinge also lend it a unique spicy tone. Because of its hue, the asari religious sects often used it for ritual and ceremonies, as it was now used to anoint the brow of the deceased.

Again Liara took her place at her mother's body. She stretched out her hand and her body glowed in the brilliant light of element zero. The others followed suit, simultaneously the other biotics used their powers to change the temperature around the body to sub-zero, freezing the body in a shell of ice. In the next instant they willed the body to hover above the altar. Suspended by gentle biotic lifts from each 'pallbearer', the body was guided to the edge of the great wall of the upper balcony that overlooked the vast ocean. As if in a carefully choreographed dance, each biotic lowered the body into the frigid waters. The ice would melt soon enough, allowing the body to sink below the waves where it would feed the Progenitor, the great mother of the firaxon sharks.

As one, the parishioners and guests rose from their crystal pews and filtered out of the open air sanctuary back into the cathedral. Only those of the _Normandy_ crew that had grown a close friendship with the Prothean expert remained behind. Wrex and Garrus had been in the back rows feeling very much out of place in the regal seating of Athame's temple. They were joined by Joker and Dr. Chakwas, as well as the elder Shepards, and lastly the rest of the Council, including Councilor Anderson. One by one they offered their condolences to Liara before taking their leave that is to say all but the Shepards who, like Consort Sha'ira, Councilor Lei'cree and Shiala, opted to remain behind. Ashley and Tali remained steadfast as well. They knew the asari had very philosophical approach to death, but they had only their own experiences to fall back on.

Both Ashley and Tali had lost a beloved parent, and so both of the other women knew the wealth of emotion that comes with such a loss. They both knew words after a fashion meant little, though you accepted them nonetheless. And so they did what good friends do, they stuck around if Liara needed a shoulder to cry on (despite that the shoulder no doubt would be Shepard's), a buddy to laugh with, or someone to sit quiet with. This they could do easily and willingly.

Liara had no strength to see them. She had seen death before, had even caused it. But this was so different. She thought herself ready to move on from her bereavement, but sometimes reality isn't what we make it out to be in the planning stages.

"Thank you everyone, but I think I'll take her back to the hotel, she needs some time," The Spectre said, the protection in her voice clearly evident.

"Of course," Hannah Shepard said for all of them. "You need anything, anything at all Liara, we're all here for you. We're your family now."

The asari nodded slowly. "Thank you for your kindness. I... I just want my Samantha." Her voice was scarcely more than a whisper.


	6. Oaths, Vows and Promises

Chapter 6: Oaths, Vows and Promises

"Don't you think you should tell her who you are?" Hannah Shepard said, stepping up to Sha'ira, who had been standing near the balcony's edge where Benezia's body had been cast off. The senior Shepard leaned her back against the balcony and folded her arms over her chest.

"Admiral Shepard? To whom are you referring?" Sha'ira hadn't turned her gaze from the ocean, or the massive triangular fin now circling a certain area off the great jutting rocks.

This section of the waters was patrolled by one great female shark named the Progenitor. It was from her all the other firaxon had spawned and only she swam this close to civilization. She was exempt from the Great Hunt since before any of the asari could remember. No doubt she had seen several matriarchs come and go since Matriarch Dilinaga (whose writings had been scattered across the galaxy and only now recently restored to the temple of Athame because of Samantha Shepard and her crew). The Progenitor might have even completed the cycle of life by feasting upon the body of Matriarch Dilinaga, as even now she was with Benezia's corpse. It was for this reason she was never hunted, never taken for she was the Death Eater.

"To a remarkable young woman who is in a hell of a lot of pain. You know if Liara were my daughter I'd take great pride in her rather than cast her aside."

"How…how did you know she was my daughter?" The Consort turned and faced the white haired Shepard. She was slightly taken aback, for she had seen those same electric-ice blue eyes before. The Spectre had gazed at her with those same eyes when she had been telling the young Commander of her problem with Septimus. It was how Sha'ira was able to see into the human's soul and see the woman who was truly there. Now she understood why Shepard had been '_born wearing a uniform_.'

"Takes one to know one. Besides, you look at Liara the way I look at my Samantha. You look to her with love, pride and a little sorrow. I look at Sam knowing she goes to battle the Reapers, and it may very well cost her, her life. But she is a dedicated marine, she will do her duty. You see Liara and you see what you've missed out on. I know you've been an absent parent. I know what that is like as well. I lost half of Samantha's life because my duty to the military always came first. So why are _you_ a dead-beat parent?"

"You would be wise not to speak of things of which you have little knowledge," the Consort's tone grew glacial.

"Oh I don't know. I had a long conversation with Liara before the medal ceremony and the funeral. I asked her where her other parent was. She told me she didn't know where, or in fact who she was. Only that she was another asari and that seemed to distress her. Here's the stupid part. I thought that was pretty much natural. After all, Sam has two human parents, why shouldn't Liara have two asari parents? Then she told me of '_the conventional wisdom_' regarding asari procreation. I told her it was a bunch of horse crap. She told me her other parent might have wanted to meet her, to claim her, but something might have happened to her. She so wanted to believe that but I don't think she does; she had doubts as well. She wondered if when her mother became pregnant with her, that her partner was embarrassed and too ashamed to claim a '_pureblood_' child as her offspring."

"Never say that word! Never say it to Liara!" Sha'ira snarled.

"Oh I know it's an insult, but what the hell, you certainly don't care enough to be the parent you're supposed to be. That's why I told my soon-to-be daughter-in-law that I can be a mother to her as well. I told her if she ever needed a Mom she could come me."

"You…you know nothing of what you speak. And I am not the only one…"

"Then why don't you explain it, Consort."

"As I once told your daughter, Admiral, I may hold a conventional occupation as Consort but I do not always hold to the doctrines of conventional wisdom. A hundred and seven years ago, Benezia and I left Thessia for the Citadel Station on a diplomatic mission. She was already great with child, very near her time to deliver; I was ever reluctant to leave her side even if she typically traveled with commandos. This time she didn't, it was only going to be a short mission and that on the Citadel. I often think if she had traveled with them instead of leaving them behind on my insistence how things would be now.

"Our shuttle was attacked by batarian raiders on the way to the linking relay. The attack caused Benezia to go into sudden shock-labor. I had so little time to react. I stunned her, placed her in an escape pod and launched it. I had to make a choice. I chose to ensure my mate and unborn daughter survived. I never expected to survive my efforts, only to distract the pirates away from them. Benezia must have believed the same thing, which was why she wouldn't leave without me. I had no choice but to make sure she and our daughter lived. When I launched the pod we were over an asari science colony. I knew they would be safe there. A turian general, who later became a good friend, intercepted the raiders and saved me. I asked him to scan the planet for an escape pod with our ship's signature. He didn't find anything.

"For a year I continued the search. I contacted Thessia but they had no news of Benezia. I believed her lost to me, dead, and our child too. I [tired to] moved on. I felt the loss of the daughter I would never know and decided to bear a child myself in the hope of filling the breach inside me of losing the precious one I created with Benezia. I had had a brief Union with another turian, and gave birth to Racen. Later that same year, I found out Benezia was alive and well, with a very healthy daughter living here on Thessia.

I was going to make contact with her, but then I later realized that was not an option. She knew I was alive and living on the Citadel station where I resumed my work as Consort, as I had once performed here at the Temple. She did not attempt to make contact with me nor with Aethyta, her true bondmate. I was the third in a Triad. It would take too long to explain what that is, nor do I care to.

"Benezia knew I was alive long before I knew she lived. It shattered my heart to know she no longer desired me nor wanted me to take part in Liara's life. Apparently, she didn't want anything to do with Aethyta either. She washed her hands of both of us. Do you know the night Liara was conceived Benezia, Aethyta and I were together? I cannot be positive if I am the true sire, for all I know Aethyta is. Or—or maybe Benezia's idea worked, and the three of us in Union created Liara. I shall never know. It is not as simple as a paternal DNA test; you can't test genetic memory. I wasn't her bondmate, Aethyta was. But I loved the idea of the three of us having a daughter together.

"Benezia's silence made one thing clear; whatever happened to her during that missing year, she wanted nothing more do with her bondmate nor her Third. I honored that silent request and never revealed myself to my first sired daughter. I tell you this because our daughters are planning their Hand-fasting and you, as Samantha's mother, deserve the truth."

"I'm not the one who deserves the truth. Answer me this: If asari take on the traits of their '_father_' parent or parents, why hasn't anyone said anything about Liara's resemblance to either of you before now? Do you see this Aethyta in her? Is that why?"

"Liara lived the first part of her life at her mother's bastion, and then by herself on remote archeological digs. There was very little opportunity for her to be seen by others when she became a huntress, let alone anyone who knew me to compare us. And after her falling out with the Matriarchy years ago, Aethyta moved to Illium. Now she lives as nothing more than a bartender.

"Both you and Liara are here now." Hannah pinned the other mother with a harsh gaze. "Aethyta isn't, so it's up to you to step up. Be the grown-up here and be the parent!"

"You make it sound so very simple," the Consort said sadly.

"Because it is."

"Oh? And how do I explain to Liara about the Triad? About her mother being bonded to Aethyta? She will expect me to be the bondmate."

"I'm guessing because of the context that a Triad is a three-way marriage. Yes?"

A nod. "It is more complicated than that, but yes, essentially."

"Okay, and it's a cultural thing with you asari, old practice maybe."

Another nod.

"So Liara knows about this sort of thing. Look, just tell her the plain truth. Tell her that you and her mother had a thing, that you were together, and step up and be the sire, father, dad-thing. Whatever. Be the other parent because I don't see this Aethyta anywhere do you?"

"I told her of the funeral and the upcoming nuptials, but when Benezia left, it broke something inside her." Sha'ira remembered the empty and hollow look Aethyta had when the news reached her. She said nothing and ate nothing for days. Despite the differences and the almost opposite temperaments between the two, Sha'ira knew Aethyta had loved Benezia with all that she was. Thinking of what the heartbreak had done to Aethyta, brought Sha'ira back to the present. "She watched Liara from afar, always. But you will not see her here. She lost herself, lost her soul when she thought Benezia and our child the three of us created gone. She crawled into a bottle wanting to disappear. She has become bitter and hard."

"Okay then, if she's not woman enough to claim Liara then you have to be," Hannah urged. "She's your god-dammed kid for crying out loud. It doesn't matter if she's a product of your meld or not, she's yours. You and Benezia and Aethyta all decided to create her one night. That. Makes. Her. Yours. Liara is as much yours as any daughter you pushed from your womb."

The Consort stared at the Alliance Captain. This woman was ever-much as forceful a presence as her daughter was.

"Racen."

"I beg your pardon?" blue eyes blinked, not understanding the reference.

"The child I 'pushed from my womb.' Her name is Racen."

"Wait a minute...Racen? Isn't she one of Benezia's disciples and the XO of the Citadel flagship?"

"Ironic is it not? My firstborn daughter became a follower of the mother of my first-sired daughter. Though she is exceptionally young to have a daughter of her own she shares one with her mate Matriarch Lidanya, captain of the _Destiny Ascension_. A mating I gave my blessing to. Their daughter is born of two asari. I have no shame in acknowledging Maysa as my granddaughter."

"When Racen decided to follow Benezia I was lost, I did not know what to think. But Benezia was a powerful biotic even for an asari, in fact the most powerful biotic in Citadel Space. She was greatly revered. I understand why Racen felt motivated to become one of her followers."

"Makes you wonder what went through Benezia's mind when she accepted the _'claimed'_ daughter of the woman she loved as her disciple. She must have seen your face in Racen's eyes all the time. It could have only added to her pain. She might have looked at Liara and saw you there as well. Lady Benezia truly must have been devastated. No wonder she believed she could turn the tide of Saren and the indoctrination, she must have felt she had little to lose.

"Her daughter was estranged, no doubt, because of the growing similarity between you this Aethyta and Liara. And all she could see was your perceived rejection of both her and her little girl. If I were Benezia, ready to give birth, shoved in an escape pod, and apparently abandoned only to later find my lover pregnant with a child according to 'conventional wisdom', it would have torn me apart. I would never allow a child of mine to face the shame and torment of being publicly rejected by her '_father_' parents. I would have never told her a thing about her other parent in the hopes to protect her little heart. I would pray that my love for her would have been enough." Hannah gave a lasting thought to her own child. Indeed John had rejected her, oh not publicly he never denounced he wasn't the biological father but he had little love to Sam growing up. He merely…tolerated her.

"I did not reject Liara! And Aethyta never got a chance to know her at all." With her own feeling of despair over not getting to claim Liara, she knew Aethyta must feel the same.

"Why tell me? Tell Liara, Lady Sha'ira. In a few days our kids are getting married. I don't know what Liara will do when you do tell her, but if she forgives you, don't you hope to be a part of the ceremony, to be there for her? If you cower out, fine. I can be mother for the both of them." With that, Hannah Shepard left the pondering Consort to her thoughts, but not before throwing over her shoulder, "You and Aethyta missed out on hundred and seven years of Liara's existence; are you willing to trash several more centuries of knowing a daughter because it's a hell of a lot easier to pretend she isn't yours? And our girls, if they have kids of their own, are the little ones only going to know one nana? Or will they be blessed with two, or even three, if we can get Aethyta in the game?"

The Consort was so used to being all things to all people that she had lost sight of what it meant to be herself. This Hannah had brought that into the light. Herself… just what was she? She had grieved for one hundred and six years for the daughter denied her. Is that what drove Racen so hard to prove herself worthy of her mother's love? Had she harmed Racen because she wasn't Liara, a daughter created out of the purest of love, rather than a desire to have a child to fill an empty place in her soul? Racen was purposely conceived to ease the ache Sha'ira had in her heart when she believed her first-sired was ripped from life before she had taken her first breath. Sha'ira had convinced herself that something had gone horribly wrong with the escape pod and it had burned up in the atmosphere when no trace of it or Benezia had been found. When she discovered her lover, her hand-fasted mate, was alive but made no attempted to reunite, Sha'ira had given up all hope she would ever come to know Liara or recognize her as her offspring.

When Liara had been there in her chambers with the Spectre and little Maysa, Sha'ira longed to take her lost daughter into her arms, hold her and proclaim 'This is my daughter of whom I am well pleased and love. I claim her as my offspring born to me in Trinity with Matriarch Aethyta by Matriarch Benezia.'

Liara's only knowledge of Sha'ira had been by reputation only and that as Consort. And she knew next to nothing at all about Aethyta. Benezia had never named who Liara's sires were. Sha'ira and Aethyta both still loved Benezia enough to honor that ignorance, and so she kept still her tongue. The only connection to them was within the name. For some reason, Benezia had chosen to honor Sha'ira by naming her child with a fraction of her own name - a common practice amongst asari to use syllables of the sire's name within the child's own name, if that parent was a bondmate or lover, rather than a genetic-memory donor. Was that a clue then as to who truly sired Liara? Did it matter? But why did Benezia honor her and then deny Aethyta? Sha'ira was uncertain. Could it be as Hannah Shepard had said? Benezia must have seen the conception and birth of Racen as a rejection of a _pureblood_ daughter. All Aethyta's daughters had come before Liara's conception. They had never been a factor.

Benezia wanted to shield and protect Liara. How could you tell a child: 'I am sorry my daughter, but your sires are ashamed of your conception, embarrassed by your existence and will not claim you as their offspring? Consort Sha'ira has a conventional daughter born to her, sired by a turian. And Aethyta had a few with some hanar and an elcor. They will never accept you as theirs. This is why Sha'ira abandoned us in the escape pod, so she could flee without obligating herself to a child of pureblood. And Aethyta was never there in the first place.

'If they both believed us dead they broke no oath, no taboo, and were free of the responsibility they had once promised during our hand-fasting.' Benezia had not done this; she had not spoken of Sha'ira to Liara. The only thing Liara knew was that her sire… her _father _parent, was another asari, but nothing more. Hell, she didn't even know about the Trinity.

Sha'ira fell back against the balcony's ledge and slid down weeping for the family she had lost. Benezia had deliberately allowed herself to be killed by Shepard and Liara because Saren's hold on the '_Matriarch' _had been too strong. Oh how strong Liara had to have been to end her own mother's life. How strong the love between Shepard and Liara was for the young asari not to spiral into despair.

Hannah Shepard was right; it was time to make amends. Time to honor a 107 year old vow.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

They had not gone to the hotel with the rest of the party. Instead, Liara had wanted to return to her childhood home. Yes, all the High Priestesses had chambers within the tower, but each also maintained their own ancestral bastion. The T'Soni estate was vast and luxurious, with many wonderful gardens, fountains, orchards and great ponds where tropical fish of various species and a myriad colors swam alongside koi and ghost carp through specially constructed coral reefs.

The T'Soni bastion, as were many of those belonging to the priestesses' order, was modeled after the Temple of Athame, where marble and crystal melded as one. Walls were crafted from polished stones of wondrous hues. They were chosen not for their preciousness however. In fact, many would not have been seen as precious at all. They had been selected for their beauty or geotactic splendor. It was almost like someone had found a titanic geode and decided to craft it into a home.

There were libraries, conservatories, training gyms and grounds for the commandos. Alongside the 'commando academy' were dormitories where the acolytes lived. There was a school for training asari in the art of becoming a consort and cloisters of scientific laboratories where several asari mods, implants and weaponry were created.

From the outside it appeared as if each bastion was a suburb or village of the city-state of Armali. It would not be completely inaccurate to say that they were. Several hundred asari called the bastion home; it was the same for each of the High Priestesses estates. The bastions weren't simply a home for the commandos and their family members but servants, and disciples along with their families as well. It was a proper community with all the facilities one might expect. There were little shops, and schools for the very young. Shrines and an infirmary even a private classical theater became a part of each privately owned estate.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

It was late in the evening when Shepard slipped from Liara's sleep-limp yet possessive arms. Her young lover had cried herself to sleep; all the while Samantha had held her, simply held her. The emotional overload had finally come crashing down on the brave archeologist, draining her until she had nothing left.

To tell the truth, the Spectre was grateful that Liara had finally allowed herself to properly grieve for Benezia. Despite the philosophical acceptance of death, a mother was still a mother. You simply don't lose your mom and not weep, especially when you had to be the one to kill her.

After Elysium, Shepard had to report to psych-evaluation for possible signs of PTSD and submit to counseling to deal with the loss of life on such a great scale. Granted, the life loss would have been far, far greater if Shepard hadn't stood against the platoon of enemy soldiers. The colony had been saved, but there were losses of life. Shepard had vowed to do better after that.

There were times when Shepard still sought out the grief support-groups offered by the military. You lost rank at the door; you were just your given name. The group worked exactly like the addicts anonymous support groups, but were designed to help with grief and, hopefully, avoid PTSD. Troubles were dealt with inside the group and what was said in the group stayed there, it never left. It never appeared on the records, and was never spoken about '_outside_.' Generals, Admirals, officers and enlisted alike were all on the same level. In fact, she had seen Admiral Hackett at a meeting or two, as well as Captain Anderson.

The groups had helped Shepard overcome the grief of her failure to save everyone on Elysium. During the weeks of down time between her enforced bed rest and the awards ceremony, Shepard had sought out one of the groups on the Citadel so that she could deal with Kaiden's loss on Virmire. The choice she had to make - to save one she had to sacrifice the other - had struck the Spectre harder than she had admitted to anyone, including Liara. Cold calculated reason lay behind her choice, but it wasn't a cold woman who had made it. Shepard hadn't resolved her grief by hitting the bottle but by seeking out a support group. There was no shame in having a problem; the shame was in denying it. The Spectre had never resorted to recreational drugs like red sand or becoming a drunk. She wouldn't deny she had a problem with the grief, of losing a life she was supposed to have protected. Everyone there had similar stories, similar experiences. All of them frontline Alliance Military, the Spectre wasn't alone, and that continued to give her courage to carry on the fight.

Liara had denied herself time to grieve, saying she would never allow it to interfere with their mission to stop Saren. Now the reality of what she had lost was hitting her hard. The asari people didn't seem to have set ups for grief counseling; Shepard only hoped she was enough to help Liara through this time. The only training she had was her experiences in the support groups: advice without judgment, support without overbearing suffocation. In Liara's, case she had been a pair of arms to hold her beloved as she wept, and cradle her as she slept.

Now that she was slumbering, Shepard decided to wander the upper floor of the manor house, not wanting to go too far from Liara. To tell the truth, she didn't want to get lost, but she also didn't want to take the wind out of Liara's sails and explore too much on her own before her beloved had a chance to show her. The young Prothean expert had definitely enjoyed herself when giving the Spectre, Ash and Tali the brief tour of the Temple. No doubt she would enjoy herself just as much by giving the tour of the T'Soni estate.

Shepard had decided to simply follow the gallery, or was it a cloister? The Spectre wasn't one for architectural history and 'hallway' seemed insulting and just didn't do the space justice. She opted for a _PC_ term. Then felt silly for thinking she might have insulted a building. It wasn't as if the walls would tell on her for thinking them in less grand terminology. The walls of the upper corridors were pearly white ceramic, ornamented with three side silver bands that had a faint hint of sea greens and ocean blues woven into their metal. The whole length of the hall shimmered with a faint opalescence from the sunlight falling through the colored glass panels in cathedral-like windows high in the vaulted roof. The floor also had faint white on white patterned in it, long lines that were abstract, and gave the impression of fossilized seaweed, sort of art nouveau/ art deco. It was a subtle and beautiful place, but for asari architecture, that was hardly unusual.

Shepard trailed by a long line of bay windows that separated her from a wide, great balcony beyond the panes of glass until, at long last, she found a window that wasn't a window but a door. Opening its more traditional latch, she pushed it open and stepped out onto the balcony. The cool breeze and tang of salt air hit her, instantly scrubbing away fatigue and easing her jumbled mind. Samantha had always loved the ocean. Perhaps because it was vastly different than anything she had grown up with. As a spacer, she had been born in space, lived most of her life on starships and space stations.

As a child she was rarely groundside, save for the very, very infrequent shore leave holidays she had taken with her parents. The Shepards tended to make do with what the space stations had to offer rather than going to some recreational planet or Earth to spend their down time. Yet another tradition the Spectre had indoctrinated in her adult life. The one time she had chosen to take a groundside shore leave rather than on a space station, she ended up in an intense battle to save a colony from raiders. Still, she had always loved it when she was able to visit a world with ocean (save Virmire) where she could soak in the atmosphere. The ocean air always made her feel more alive.

Given her current situation it was amusing, in an ironic sort of way. She was taking as a bride a woman whose homeworld seemed to be more ocean than land. Liara's eyes had always reminded the Spectre of the ancient photographs of the Mediterranean Sea before the European mega-metropolises dominated the area, almost choking the sea of its life-source. Shepard continued to walk in meditative contemplation to the railing surrounding the balcony and gazed out across the sparkling ocean, blue as the sky above, as blue as Liara's satin skin. From this vantage point there seemed to be no land in either direction, nothing but endless azure sea. Briefly, the Spectre wondered what would happen if a storm hit the bastion. No wonder Liara reacted as she had when Shepard had told her to allow herself to get caught up in the storm.

_You make it sound so dangerous_.

Perhaps storm wasn't exactly the right word to use as a metaphor for an asari, especially one who had so little contact with humans, their humor and use of metaphors. Liara wasn't exactly as literal minded as say, a VI, however for an asari, storms were not romantic, they were deadly.

Samantha closed her eyes, soaking herself in the ambiance of the fresh air, the sound of headwaters breaking over the jutting rocks far below. It almost sounded like thunder. She could hear the cries of gulls, even oddly enough the far distant song of whales. She snapped her eyes open hoping to see one breach. But she was too far up to see anything clearly. Oh, she could see the azure-teal of the closer shallower waters of the reef, and the dark ultramarine of the ocean depths, but no spray of water, fluke or slash of a whale playing in the ocean's currents. She had never seen a whale in the wild or, for that matter, a shark.

Blue eyes shifted from the distant deep waters to the teal-azure of the reef. She could make out the wide dark blotches that were no doubt schools of fish and wondered if a firaxon was lurking amongst the coral and rocks.

Pure of form, action and life, the firaxon knew only one thing: hunger. It gorged, swam and gorged again. It had no enemy, it knew nothing of evil, of good; it simply existed. It didn't fear the Reapers. It knew nothing of the dread of the possibility of losing a lover. It didn't have nightmares.

Screams, blood, death and destruction lurked on the edges of the dreaming world, waiting to take Samantha hostage as she slept. She closed her eyes and saw the end of the Protheans. She saw the possible prophetic end of all sentient life if a way to stop them couldn't be found. Floods of memory crashed down on her even as the hull slammed into the garden in the tower, like the jaws of a shark waiting to consume her and rip her body from life. Never before had the Spectre's mortality hung so heavily upon her. She had no problem laying down her life for the Alliance, for the sentients of Citadel Space. She had trained all her life to expect that her end would come from the wrong end of a bullet or a blast of biotic powers. Shepard believed that if she died, it would be by the energy of the mass effect. Something as mundane as gravity and several metric-tons of metal had never entered the equation. That equation changed her - challenged her perceptions of self. It was an equation she couldn't afford to ponder. Not now.

Blue eyes once more drifted to the dark band that separated two different depths of ocean. If the Great Hunt was designed to lift a maiden from one stage of life into the next and become a huntress, could it not do so for a marine? _Samantha_ had been challenged in the Tower garden. It was _Samantha_ who struggled now with mortality. Not the Spectre, not the Captain, but the woman.

Full of resolve, Shepard made her way back to her beloved. She had to tell Liara her plan, and hoped the young asari would understand. And if she didn't, Samantha hoped Liara could forgive because she needed to do this. That had been the plan. Reality was a little different.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Liara placed a tender hand upon her lower abdomen, and hoped that her beloved would understand. If she didn't, the young asari prayed that Samantha would at least forgive her. Samantha Shepard was so many things to so many people; beloved, once a commander now captain, hero, Spectre, icon, leader, warrior - would she be willing to be one more title for another?

Her beloved Samantha gave so much and asked for so very little in return. As much as the funeral had been for the asari people and the redemption of Lady Benezia, Samantha had personally made sure it happened because she wanted it for Liara's sake. Samantha hadn't even hesitated when Liara suggested they use the opportunity of being on Thessia for their Bonding ceremony.

_'__I think it's an inspired idea. We have already been given down time for your mother's funeral__, __and for once my parents have shore leave at the same time I do. They already said they would be there for you for the funeral, to be there for our wedding will be perfect.' _Samantha kissed Liara warmly upon sweet lips, holding her beloved close to her.

It had been on the second day of their official down time before they were headed to Thessia on a 'diplomatic mission', when Liara brought up the idea to hold the wedding soon after the funeral. The farewell of one life on the cusp of embracing a new one was somehow poetically fitting.

_'__Love__,__ are you sure though? It is already going to be a highly emotional time for you. I want this, I do, but are you sure you're ready for this?'_

_'__That is not the first time you have asked me that__,__ my heart." Liara smiled bemused. 'I will tell you now what I told you then: I have never been more certain of anything in my life. I do not wish to leave my homeworld in the shadow of the memory of grief; I want to leave the oceans with the bliss of wonder and joy.'_

Samantha pulled her beloved to her, holding her tightly as her hands began once more to entice and arouse her betrothed. The soft velvet folds of an asari crest could become highly sensitive to the right stimulation. Soft worshipful caresses could bring Liara to climax without even touching her inner warmth. It was something the Spectre enjoyed doing. 'Then let's do it, Babe.' Soft nips around the throat caused Liara to gasp suddenly, her body crying out in her need to be fulfilled. Her blue eyes already black, she opened her mind, her body, her heart to Samantha.

Again Liara touched her lower belly; almost all of her had been open to Samantha then and every other time they made love or melded. Like Benezia had done while on board Sovereign, the young Prothean expert had tucked a portion of her mind away, saving it, and the information it held, for when the time was right.

The Spectre was very blunt with her point of view, and how she presented herself. Liara had never been comfortable with such tactics for herself. She needed a careful and deft touch, as was the practice of an archeologist. What Liara held secret and apart from her lover needed a very deft and careful hand or it might go horribly wrong. That was something Liara wasn't prepared to face if it came down to it.

"You're miles away, lover. What's up?" Samantha handed Liara a cup of tea before joining her on her perch upon the railing around the upper balcony of the cloisters that overlooked the orchards in the garden below. A callused creamy-caramel hand touched soft blue flesh. Concern filled Samantha's voice when she spoke. "Are you alright, Babe?"

Liara took a sip of the tea before answering. "Many things are upon my mind my love, but you need not worry, I am fine." Another sip. "You are also distracted."

Samantha sighed as she too took a seat upon the railing so she might look at her beloved. "It's been one hell of a month. Guess I'm still trying to assimilate everything. I haven't been groundside this long for a long time. I'm used to two weeks a year, guess it's part of being a spacer. Born in space, living on ships and stations is the norm for navy brats like me, anything else makes me antsy."

"Antsy?"

"Yeah, um…you know if you ever had to bunker down on an ant hill and those little buggers crawl on your skin it makes your whole body feel like they're everywhere even if they're not. It's became a metaphor for feeling all twitchy."

"That is a very apt expression. Asari have a similar expression: we say 'sand in the crest.'"

"Yeah, I can see where that would be hell." Samantha smirked. "So that's what you were going to say on Virmire. You didn't know which was worse, all the geth or sand in your…." Samantha giggled freely, "then you said… 'umm…nevermind.' I kinda thought it was cute the way you just trailed off like that. It's bad enough when you get sand in rather intimate places while swimming or playing around on the beach. To get it in your beautiful crest would not be fun."

"It is not." Liara stoked her hand against the windswept curve, feeling the phantom granules of sand chafing the delicate folds. She did indeed feel _twitchy_. She almost gave a start when she felt her lover's hand move along her curves. More so because the Spectre had not moved, but had her eyes closed, her hands were holding her own cup of tea. Liara gasped when she felt as if Samantha's lips were now trailing little kisses along the sculpted flesh. They had been exploring their bond in one of the more natural ways lovers would.

"I don't feel any sand, Love." Shepard opened her blue eyes, and smiled as she saw the effect she had had on her lover. Liara's eyes had gone completely black. The cup and saucer of tea had tumbled from her hand and crashed upon the flagstones of the balcony floor. "Oops."

The sound woke Liara from her bliss; her expression became one of slight embarrassment for being so clumsy. "I do not think that is an activity we should share whilst having tea." There was a smile on her lips.

"Definitely not," Shepard said still smirking. She placed her own mug aside before jumping down to clean up the shards of china. Liara made a move to help, but Samantha patted her leg and shook her head. "Stay there, I got it. It's my fault it slipped in the first place."

Liara watched silently as Samantha picked up each small bit of ceramic, each little shard, and gingerly placed it on the service tray to be disposed of later. _She always seems to be picking up the broken pieces around her. She tries so hard to fix everything around her even when it is not her task to perform. Even when you are broken inside, you tend to others before yourself__**.**_Liara knew her lover was struggling with the past events of the war with Sovereign and the geth. A war almost single handily fought by the crew of the Normandy. That in itself had struck the Spectre hard. And the military she had pledged service to, had pledged loyalty to, had all but turned their backs on her. Only Admiral Hackett, Captain…Councilor Anderson and the crew of the _Normandy_ believed in her words, her warnings.

Liara had touched her beloved's mind whilst she was locked in nightmares. The images of the Prothean extinction playing over and over became super imposed with the possibility of all sentient life once more being wiped out. There were images of the hull cascading down on her in the garden though in the nightmares, the Spectre had been too late to save Liara and Williams.

Last night's dreams were dark, but not horrific, as if Samantha had learned to control her dreams and steer them in the direction of her choosing. Lucid dreaming wasn't uncommon in sleepers. One simply had to realize it was a dream and 'direct' the dream or 'script' it to ones liking. In Liara's experience whenever she dreamt lucidly, her dreams took on a stage-like performance, or something seen on the vids. The young asari knew that Samantha had come to a resolve, yet did not know what that resolve was.

"You there or are you still O.T.S-ing?"

"O.T.S-ing?

"Out-There-Somewhere. Daydreaming, or as my old gunny in basic said, goldbricking."

Liara offered one of her shy chuckles. "I was, yes…O.T.S-ing. I was watching you pick up the broken pieces of the cup and thought how often you do so. Picking up broken pieces of everything and everyone around you - the galaxy, people… me."

Samantha stood up and brushed the wetness of tea and patio dirt from her hands before touching Liara's thighs. "You do the exact same thing for me, Beautiful." A hand on the thigh moved to cup a soft blue cheek. "You're so lost in thought, Babe… reminiscing about your Mom or just reflecting?"

"A little of both." Liara answered truthfully. "So much has happened to us in so short a time. And soon we will be taking the vows of Bonding."

Dread filled the Spectre's eyes. "You're not getting cold feet are you?"

The term was lost on the asari. She struggled with human euphemisms almost all the time and felt stupid for being so lost. She blinked when she received a kiss on her nose. "You are far from stupid, Love." Samantha whispered having picked up the thought in her beloved's mind. "Cold feet means having second thoughts, hesitating about a decision, usually a very big one, like getting married. I don't know how the term came to be. You're not, are you?"

Liara rested her forehead against the Spectre's '_What do you think_?' There could only be truth in the sendings.

'_I can feel your nervousness __l__ike my own__,__ but you want this just as much as I do. You hesitate because it doesn't feel real. But it is__,__ my love. It has to be. If it isn't I don't want to wake from this dream. I want you in my life Liara. I want us.'_

There was something else, Shepard had felt, something hidden but untouchable. Perhaps it was her own feelings of guilt for keeping her idea about going on the Great Hunt secret from Liara, and not something from her beloved.

Liara picked up stray thoughts from her treasured Spectre. Something that Samantha longed to address with the High Priestesses but wasn't sure if she could gain an audience, much less an agreement on her request. What that request was Samantha kept secreted away, but it was gnawing at her consciousness.

"Samantha, about our ceremony, you have not spoken of what you want. Are you concerned that human customs will not be honored? I can assure you…"

Two slightly tanned fingers touched purple lips. "No, it's not that at all. I read the asari Hand Fasting customs and I like it. Its way better than the ceremony my folks had. I'm not as religiously faithful as Ashley but I do believe in a Higher Power. Besides, my father's faith is druidic, I was taught to believe in the goddess Danu. I know there's something out there. I don't see much of a difference between Danu and Athame. The Siari philosophy is a little different from the druidic ways, but not of the Salish ways. My mother more or less paid lip service to the ancestrally ways. I haven't abandoned anything. I've adapted." She traced the line of the scar running down her chest. "I've survived way too much not to believe. There's never an atheist in a fox hole, and I've been in a lot of fox holes. I want to make sure I've got everything right. I need to talk to the Priestess about maybe some sort of cleansing ritual…something. I want to come to our Union clean. I don't know how to explain it, Li." Shepard seemed lost in her need to express her feelings, her needs.

Liara took pity on her beloved and stroked her cheek. "I do understand your need. There are cleansing rituals that are often held as to individual needs. Go then and speak to them. In fact, it is a very good idea if we were both cleansed. I will go and speak with Matriarch Mardon. Perhaps Councilor Tevos whom you have a rapport with, or perhaps even Matriarch Lidanya can better assist you, as she understands the ways of a warrior." Liara kissed Samantha's forehead tenderly. "This has something to do with your nightmares, does it not?"

"Got it in one, Babe." Shepard moved so she was now behind Liara, who instinctively scooted forward on the banister to allow the Spectre to take position behind her. While Samantha leaned her back against the pillar of the balcony, Liara leaned against her chest. The human's arms came around, holding Liara around her belly. "You've joined my mind and saw what I saw with the Protheans. But there is so much there that you haven't touched." Soft pink lips lovingly caressed her lover's neck. "I know you think it's unfair that it all landed into my lap in six months what took you fifty years to uncover."

"I am angry with myself over such pettiness. I know you did not ask for it, nor did you want this connection with the Protheans. But it has given us a fighting chance, Samantha. I remind myself of that when I struggle to translate Prothean language which you now know."

"Can't you just take it from me?" She felt Liara stiffen in her arms. "I didn't mean '_take_' as in forcefully, Love. I know you would never do that, but you translated the images before, and Shiala transferred the cipher into my head, surely you can transfer it to yours. Hell, with our telepathic bond strengthened it should be easier now. Right? Before, when you melded our minds in the comm room, we weren't even Joined. Now that we are it has to be easier on you. It won't drain you like before… I hate it when it leaves you so vulnerable…"

Liara leaned back, enjoying the richness of the love flowing between them as well as the overprotective care in her beloved Spectre. It was a sensation she had forced herself to accept. Protection was simply a part of Samantha's demeanor. She would not know how not to protect those she loved. Telling Samantha her protection was not necessary was like asking a firaxon shark not to swim in the coral reefs. It was futile at best.

"I know. I think you are correct, now that we share a bond our mind melds will not be as taxing on me. Shiala placed the cipher into your mind; she possesses more experience in such things. She had the benefit of my mother's tutelage as she was her disciple."

"But as Benezia's kid don't you know that stuff too?"

"No. I am religious yes, but being the daughter of a High Priestess and following the Order are not one and the same." Liara smiled, and though she couldn't see it from her position behind the asari, Samantha could feel the grin all the same. "If you recall, my mother did not approve of my choice of careers."

"You rebel you." Shepard chuckled. "Actually, I need to talk to the resident Thorian expert anyway. Being a disciple, as you said, gives her more inside knowledge that someone outside the Order may not know all the logistics to. I want to ask her some questions before I talk to the Matriarchs, just so I don't sound like an idiot."

"I can relate. I have made myself sound more of the fool because of the way I have phrased my questions."

"Aw come on… you were adorable during our first conversation after Dr. Chakwas looked you over. To tell you the truth, I started falling in love with you right then." Shepard placed a kiss along the delicate curve of her neck that hid Liara's ear.

"You are a terrible tease." The young woman playfully slapped Shepard's thigh.

"Just noticing that now are you?" another kiss. "Well, we better get this day started proper. Weddings don't make themselves happen and we only have three days."

"Yes. There is much left to do. Oh! That reminds me. I was looking over my extranet messages and I received a note from Consort Sha'ira. She has asked us to join her in the gardens this evening after dinner. I do not know what it entails, only that she insists on you being there. I told her she should join us along with Ashley, Tali and your parents. Garrus, Wrex and Joker stated they prefer the hotel to anything 'fancier' "

"They are probably spending time in the casinos. So… uh… Sha'ira is coming here to have dinner with the folks…" Samantha said tonelessly. She was more concerned with the Consort's presence at the moment. Shepard bit her lower lip. She knew Liara had shared her memories with her during their first Union and thus knew of the joining the Spectre had had with the Consort. "You know she and I … well, had a moment."

"Samantha, I am not jealous you shared an intimate moment with the Consort. It was before we met. She initiated the contact." Liara grinned as she hopped down off the banister they had been perched on and faced the Spectre. "And apparently she was instrumental instructing you how to entice, arouse and stimulate an asari body. Perhaps I should thank her."

Shepard turned bright red. "How about not?"

"As you wish." Liara nicked a move from her beloved's book, and kissed Samantha on the nose. "As you said, we have much to do and many people to converse with."

MEMEMEMEMEME

Most of the wedding preparations had been overseen by the disciples of Benezia. They were transforming the main garden into a place of ritual. A cord of wood had been neatly stacked near several cherry trees to be used in the bonfire, a central feature of the Hand fasting ceremony. Other asari acolytes were busily constructing leis for both Liara and Samantha, along with those who would take a direct role in the ceremony. If they had private issues or concerns over the daughter of one of the most revered Matriarchs, even if she was deceased, marrying a human, they said nothing outwardly. Perhaps it was because of this particular human's status as Spectre or that Shepard had been instrumental in restoring their Lady's honor.

Assisting in these preparations was Matron Shiala. She had returned from Faros to attend the funeral of her mistress. When it was revealed that Liara was going to join in the Hand Fasting with Shepard, the violet skinned asari remained behind. She felt she owed it to Benezia to watch over her only daughter. After all, Shiala was Liara's first mentor in honing her biotic skills. She had even been aboard the Maiden yacht when Liara, along with eight other maidens, had undergone the rituals of the Great Hunt. Now she was here for yet another momentous occasion in the young T'Soni's life.

In her heart, the matron believed that her mistress would have approved greatly of Shepard as her hand-fasted daughter. She had done so much to bring Liara out of her introverted shell.

"Speak of the shark and she swims to you." Shiala said to herself when she saw the Spectre heading in her direction. "Commander…"

Shepard grinned, "It's Captain now actually."

"Of course. Captain, I get the feeling you wish to speak to me."

"Liara said the same thing when I went into her lab on the _Normandy_." The smile played on full lips. "Actually, I do need your help." The Spectre began to lead the older woman away into the grove of cherry trees. "You're pretty much the only person who can help. You understand a few things others can't. This whole thing…the visions from the beacons. It's touched you as much as me. Worse, I'd think."

"Indoctrination?"

"Not quite that, but yeah. Mostly the Protheans… you have the cipher locked inside your skull. Do… do they give you… do you have nightmares about them?"

"Often my sleep is disturbed by what I've seen in the cipher. More of what I have seen when I was in service to Saren aboard Sovereign and more with the Thorian. Those have and will forever haunt me."

"How do you deal?"

"Meditations. Matriarch Benezia's training, her words, her teachings prior indoctrination have given me strength. I can assist you in meditations."

Shepard shook her head. "Liara has shown me many ways to center myself. We do so together, our minds are linked."

"The Joining of course, it would have bonded you one to the other. Your mind intrigued me when we shared a meld, I can only imagine what you share with Liara. You are remarkably strong willed, Captain. Strong enough to keep some of the more graphic nightmares from her, is this not so?"

Shepard looked away guiltily. "I don't want them to taint her purity. I need to protect her, even if Liara won't let me."

"She can only make you stronger, Shepard. It will not harm her as much as keeping it from her will. It will cause a hairline fracture in your bond and it will grow to a great chasm and corrode that which you hold most precious, most dear." The asari touched the Spectre's cheek, her thumb softly stroking the warm caramel creaminess. "Do not let this come to pass. Embrace Eternity with the woman you love."

The asari were very tactile people, it was something Shepard was learning and trying to accept. Her bond with Liara was helping her adjust at a much faster rate to the ways of asari. She learned, through memories from her lover, that asari often touched one another with a near tenderness, and yet it was not simply love that invoked the touch all of the time but the simple fact of being asari. In her study of culture and histories of the other races, Shepard had learned much of the asari customs. They shared communal spaces on their ships even when space allowed for privacy. A superior officer of a commando unit might rest her forehead against the forehead of her junior officer to quell a dishearten moment, such as the loss of another officer's life. The asari were so open about their sexuality and comfortable with casual touches that non-asari might see friendly touches of affection as sexually invasive. The Spectre had learned that when she first spoke with the Consort, even before they had shared an intimate moment in the pleasure dome.

So Shepard didn't flinch away from the tender hand on her cheek, but accepted it as a platonic gesture.

"What troubles your mind, Captain?" Shiala asked.

Puffing out a breath, Samantha laid it all out on the line: the nightmares, the flashes of the battle in the garden and the need to cleanse herself. The need to embrace the way of asari. Not just for Liara but for herself. She needed to for herself. To do this she needed to perform the Great Hunt. She spoke of her mother's ancestors and how they hunted the orcas before the Europeans demolished the Salish way of life and replaced the native culture with their own.

Shiala was stunned that a human - never mind her status as being a Spectre - desired to embrace the ways of asari so deeply as to want to perform one of their most sacred rituals.

"This is not something lightly done, Captain."

"I know. I would never ask if I didn't believe in it or understand what it means. I understand the spirituality and sacredness of the Hunt."

"By taking part of the Great Hunt you are willing to convert to the fullness of the asari philosophies?"

"As I told Liara, I know something is out there, something greater than any of us. My mother's ancestors called it the Great Spirit. They worshiped Mother Earth, fiercely. They revered the spirit of the killer whales. My father's ancestors had the Triple-faced Goddess: Maiden, Mother, Crone. Who's to say I am forsaking my human god or gods? All is One, is it not?"

Shiala smiled. "So it is. I will help you in your quest, Samantha. But first you must convince the Matriarchs of your sincerity."

"They can meld with me if they need to. Then they can see for themselves how sincere I am. It's not going to be problematic." Shepard said with such an air of confidence, Shiala had no doubt this unique human would gain her will and be granted the right to perform the Great Hunt.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Whether it was Shiala's influence or Shepard's own reputation amongst the asari, a meeting with the matriarchs was quickly arranged. It wasn't an easy occasion by any means, the mind meld brought memories and fears to the fore that the Spectre would rather have remained buried. However she got the result she wanted.

"We will grant the request, Samantha." The Councilor deliberately used the Spectre's name. "But you cannot do this alone, and Liara is not yet a matron, she cannot lead you."

"I've asked Shiala and she agreed to guide me if the Matriarchs gave their consent," Shepard said.

"Very well." This came from Matriarch Mardon, who had made it possible for Benezia to come home. "Priestess Daath, Priestess Kerubiel, as well as several other acolytes, will join you, though they will not directly enter the Hunt. Their task will be - if you and matron Shiala are successful – to aid in the recovery of the shark's body."

It was now Lidanya who was speaking. "Considering the momentous occasion that an up-coming Hand Fasting between two prestigious souls is, it should have the blessings of the Goddess. A firaxon feast would not be unwarranted. I will inform Liara after you and Huntress Shiala have launched the primary yacht. She and your family will follow in a secondary yacht. I do believe however, Liara will desire to board the primary vessel once they are on the scene."

"You can count on Lieutenant Williams wanting to be a part of the party," Shepard commented. "They may not like being left behind but I have to do it this way. They would otherwise insist on joining me on the Hunt and I need to do this without them."

"I understand," Lidanya said kindly. She stepped forward pressed her forehead to the Spectre's. "May success be yours, Samantha, and may the Goddess guide your path. For my part, I will aid you in this as best as I can. If not for you my beloved daughter Mayas would have suffered more than she had. She speaks very highly of '_her_' Spectre…_her _Sam. If not for your actions on the Citadel, she would have been killed along with the rest of us on the _Destiny Ascension_. My debt can never be repaid; I will help you find your course, Samantha. However, at the moment, I do believe we are expected to share a meal in the T'Soni bastion." She pulled away still smiling.

"Do you have any idea what Sha'ira wants?"

"None whatsoever. My bond-mother offered no explanation. She said only that I and Racen need to be present. I do not think this has much to do with the upcoming ceremony, however. It could be she sensed in you a need for the Hunt, and may well wish to bring it to light. She has a great talent for seeing people for who they truly are."

"Yeah I know. She gave a gift of words…and um, advice." Shepard rubbed the back of her neck, feeling a little uncomfortable, not wanting to mention the other '_encounter_' she had shared with the Consort. "It was because of her I knew how to propose marriage, or rather Bonding, to Liara. Hell, even the Prothean _'trinket'_ had been a gift from Sha'ira after I helped her out of jam with an elcor diplomat." Samantha smirked. "She seemed really pleased that I was going to propose to Li. But with all due respect Matriarch Lidanya, I don't see why she would want you and your… wife present if she wants to talk about what you've suggested. Because of your role in Benezia's funeral rites and your part in the Hand-Fast I can see why your presence might be necessary, but why make it a family affair?"

"All good questions, no doubt we will discover the answers after we dine."

MEMEMEMEMEME

Dinner had been a rather modest affair: steamed vegetables native to Thessia, roasted varren, fried sea weed and something that had resembled fried won tons as well as a sweeter blend of elasa. While the typical pale green wine was sometimes called Sorrow's Companion, the sweeter verity was called Sorrow's End.

Present during the dinner were Hannah and John Shepard, Ashley, and Tali. Shiala, as well as Lidanya and Racen were also present. And of course their little girl Mayas, who spent almost the whole evening on _her _Spectre's lap. Much to the amusement of one 'Mamma' Shepard and Ashley and Tali.

Conversation orbited around the upcoming nuptials and the differences between asari and human marriages. Lidanya assured a skeptical John Shepard that asari promiscuity was nothing but rumor and misunderstanding. She, like Liara had done with Samantha so long ago, explained away asari mating rituals and other customs that were commonly misunderstood.

When the topic of Liara's other parent came up, the young asari shifted uncomfortably. Hannah noticed that the young archeologist wasn't the only one. Sha'ira was also made uneasy by the inquiry. The older Shepard woman deftly turned topics to the asari military. The humans found it quite enlightening to discover that the asari military was barely more than a collection of local warrior bands. Soldiers were well-armed and exceptionally skilled, but did not possess sufficient organization, or for that matter desire, for large-scale military campaigns. They were not a warrior race, though any who stood against a commando unit would be hard pressed to survive their guerrilla tactics. Their military was philosophically geared for protection, not conquest.

Hannah suspected that Sha'ira was drawing nearer her time to come clean and reveal herself to her estranged daughter. She took command of the dinner party, ushering everyone not asari, save for her own daughter, back to their quarters in the bastion given to them by Liara.

"Have courage." Hannah whispered to Sha'ira as the Shepards made their way out of the open air dining patio. Her voice so low, so hushed, only the Consort had been able to hear them. "It's going to be hard on all of you, but it's the right thing to do."

The small band wandered though the garden, allowing the serenity of nature to wash over them all.

"It has been sometime since I was last home." Sha'ira tilted her head back slightly inhaling the rich blending of blossoms and fresh sea air. How she missed this place, the gardens the ocean, bird song and waves crashing against the headlands. There was a peace in the gardens that she had not felt in a very long time.

"You call the T'Soni bastion home? I did not know you once followed the Matriarch," Racen said staring, at her mother in speculation. Not once in her 106 years had her mother ever spoken of her time here in the bastion.

"I did not say I was a follower." The Consort said. She turned her attention to Liara. "No, I called this place home in another capacity. Before you ask, yes, I was a Consort here, in fact I trained many who felt the calling. Again though, this is not why this domain was once my home."

"You knew my mother well then, this much is obvious. However, I do not recall her ever mentioning the affiliation," Liara said with careful politeness.

"She did not speak of this to me either, and she knew I was your daughter. I served her for fifty years, but your name was never spoken. She never asked of you. Just how well did you know her?" Racen was puzzled by this admittance of the past.

"Quite well." Sha'ira said her voice suddenly deeply saddened. Slowly she reached into the inner pocket of the outer robe she was wearing and pulled out a soft midnight blue velvet pouch. She said nothing, but handed it to Liara.

It was the same sort of pouch in which Shepard had once stored the promise amulet now around Liara's throat. Trembling hands loosened the ties and withdrew a magnificent piece of delicate jewelry of opulent craftsmanship. A bonding bracelet. A simple design really, with twin white-capped waves rising up like a three dimensional Japanese watercolor. In the cradle of the waves was a spherical sapphire stone. The center piece itself was much like the pendent Liara wore. Her promise necklace would become the bonding bracelet.

What astounded Liara most was the fact she recognized this bracelet, or rather its twin. Benezia had an identical one she had kept hidden in a keepsake box in her private study. On a few occasions, the young asari had witnessed her mother remove it and run her fingers gently over the waves and the sapphire before slamming it back into the box and flinging it back into the hidden drawer in her desk. Her face a mask of great pain, sorrow and rage. Liara always suspected the amulet was a promise necklace given to her mother by her lover - Liara's sire. Benezia never offered an explanation or hint of who her former lover had been.

"Mother…" Racen recognized the amulet for what it was and now understood its context. When she was a youngling she often viewed her mother touching the sculpted metallic waves with tender fingertips, her face filled with regret, confusion and pain. Then she would put the amulet back into the pouch and place it reverently back into her desk. "You…you were the bondmate to Matriarch Benezia? What happened? Was it dissolved?" Racen asked her voice a trembling whisper.

"She found out she sired a '_pureblood_.'" Liara snarled. "She abandoned my mother, forsook her bond oath so she could have a life on the Citadel with an _acceptable_ daughter!" Blue eyes glared from her sire to her half-sister. "That is what happened!"

Sha'ira looked horrified. "No! No Liara, it was not like that. Please…I do not know what Benezia said…"

"She never once spoke of you, never said your name, never said why she was left to raise me by herself. I knew only my other parent was asari. Of course the respected _Consort_ could never claim a pureblood as an offspring! Or even admit to being bonded. Consorts have to be available."

Sha'ira stepped up to Liara, made a move to touch her but the younger woman shied away. "No. Liara, it was not like that. Hear me out before you shut me out."

"You've done a pretty good job of shutting her out for hundred and seven years, Lady Sha'ira." The Spectre commented coldly.

"I need to hear this too, Mother," Racen said, understanding perhaps a bit of the pain, and certainly the betrayal, that her older sister was feeling.

"Liara. Racen. I know you both are feeling overwhelmed and lost, but there were events beyond my control that brought us to this point today."

"That story you told us when we found your granddaughter. That was Benezia in the escape pod wasn't it?" Shepard said for Liara. She held her lover around the waist sending her all of her strength and love through their bond. She could feel the turbulent rage Liara was struggling to control, the overwhelming heartache and despair of rejection.

"Yes, it was."

"What story? What escape pod?" Racen was now far more confused. "What are they talking about, Mother?"

"Tell her, _DAME__,_" Liara demanded in a hiss.

For the next half hour Sha'ira explained about the escape pod, the search and the pain she held, the decision to have another child to ease the pain left by the loss of a beloved and child she thought taken from her. She explained her motives to stay away when Benezia had not made contact with her after she returned to Thessia. She even spoke of Hannah's ideas of what Benezia might have thought. When she had finished Liara was trembling with barely suppressed anguish and anger.

Again, it was the Spectre who spoke on behalf of Liara. She had felt the words her beloved wanted to say but for the pain could not. "It took you hundred and seven years to out yourself as Liara's other parent…her sire. And then only when Benezia was dead. If she had not died would you have come forward? Why so long? Why not come back home and explain yourself when they were still babies? I mean, it sounds like a lot of assumptions and speculations were going around and accepted as truth without further exploration of what was really going on. Hardly the way one expects the famed wisdom of the asari to play out. Hell, if you didn't want to face your estranged wife…you could have come forward fifty years ago when Liara left Thessia for her Prothean research and explained to her then what you thought happened."

"I believed I was following Benezia's wishes. I did not wish to bring Benezia more pain by being interrogated by Liara when she discovered who I was. And there were other complications,"

"Or perhaps it was easier to tell yourself such things and make yourself believe that was your motive." Matriarch Lidanya spoke for the first time. Like Shepard, she stayed close to her own lover and sent her own strength into the much younger asari. "You are gifted with remarkable insight, empathic prowess; perhaps you were too close to this to see it clearly. Wisdom should have guided your course to weather the storm rather than retreating into the seclusions of the shallows. As it should have with Matriarch Benezia. As a result two lives were grievously wounded by the failure to come forward by either yourself or Lady Benezia."

"Well that's the rub isn't it?" Shepard said. "Hindsight is always twenty-twenty. That doesn't help the matters now. But I am curious. Saying you were respecting Benezia's wishes is way too easy and I don't buy it, from another asari maybe but not you…especially after...ah…well after our encounter that first time. To me it looks like you only outed yourself after Liara became a Hero of the Citadel, was given the Palladium Star and her mother dead. Only now do you come forward."

"It was your mother that sparked my actions now, Captain." Sha'ira's voice was calm and collected despite the pain reflecting in her eyes. "She was right, Liara deserves to know. And so does Racen. I stayed away far too long. It was time to honor the vow I took when I agreed to the Tri- to your creation.

"Liara, understand I have always been proud of you. I kept tabs on what you were doing, what you were studying and the paths you chose as closely as I did with Racen's. I was amused, and yes intrigued, when you chose to pursue a career in archeology rather than conventional occupations. I found it remarkable as well. When Samantha came to me for advice on how to propose to an asari daughter, I was thrilled and proud to know you would be loved so deeply and so fully."

"I have touched the Spectre's mind and spirit and I know who and what she is and what she will become. I silently gave my approval of the match just as I had given it vocally to Racen and Lidanya. I have more than a century to make up for my misjudgment, my absence. Please, I beg you, give me the chance to make amends."

"If…if …I do…will you publicly pronounce me your offspring?" Liara pinned the other woman with a harsh stare.

"Yes. Without hesitation."

"You could lose a great deal of standing. I am after all a _pureblood._" Liara crossed her arms over her chest, not in the defiant way of Shepard, but out of her own insecurity.

"You are my daughter, Liara, of whom I am well proud. I claim you my offspring, and I find no shame in my Union with Benezia, or your conception. I never have. Liara, you were deeply wanted. Benezia longed for a daughter; it was almost too late when she decided to answer the call to have a daughter. It is rare for a matriarch to become pregnant. She so desperately wanted to be the one to carry you. She took great measures to insure she conceived.

"When she disappeared for that year, I thought her and you dead. As I said there was no trace of the pod on the planet, it was believed it had burned up in the atmosphere. Yes, I was devastated and I grieved. And yes, I sought to have a child, but never again share a Union, a bond, as I shared with your mother. When she didn't contact me…" Sha'ira sighed, "Liara please… know that I have always loved Benezia, I never stopped. My own pain clouded my judgment for over a century. If you will gracious enough to give me the chance to make amends, I promise to do so with all that I am."

"I need time," Liara said softly. "This is a great deal to assimilate. To discover my other parent, coupled with the truth to your abandonment, and the fact I have a sister and niece is a lot to ask of me to take in. I cannot give you my decision now. I think it is best you leave the gardens for now. You…you…may stay in the bastion, all of you." She didn't say another word but disappeared along the path of lilac bushes and cherry trees back into the forecourt of her mother's home. Shepard was one pace behind her.

The three asari watched silently as the two departed. Racen turned to her mother. "Was I ever more than a replacement to you, Mother?"

Sha'ira stared down and the frolicking koi in the pond before she found her voice to answer. "When I first conceived you no, Racen, you were not. But the first time I felt you move within my womb, the first time I heard your heartbeat, I loved you as I love you now; I love for yourself. I must ask of you to forgive me as well. I do not seek absolution, my child, for that I can never have. I know my actions have harmed you as deeply as they have Liara. Even if she cannot accept me into her life, I pray to the Goddess she will accept you. Accept her, Racen, for she is your sister."

"She and Shepard rescued my daughter; for that alone I am forever in Liara's debt. Her parents' sins are not hers nor are they mine. But like my _sister _said, I need time."

Racen followed the same path as Liara had leaving Lidanya and Sha'ira alone.

"You didn't tell them about the Trinity. About Aethyta. Why?" The other Matriarch asked. "Did you forget I was there for their bonding?

"No, I did not forget. I said Benezia took great lengths to conceive. This was no falsehood. To insure it she and Aethyta entered into a Trinity with me. Is it not enough I claim Liara? I am as much as her sire as Aethyta is."

"And what is going to happen when Liara finds out there is another? What if Aethyta decides to step forward after your little proclamation and tell Liara the fullness of the truth," the asari commander demanded.

"'Thea is too deep in her anger to do so. I tried on several occasions to plea with her to take claim of Liara; she will not even accept my calls. It will take someone like Hannah Shepard to pull that one out of her fixated anguish and resentment."

"Oh? Someone like Hannah Shepard? Who do you think your daughter is marrying? If Samantha Shepard crosses paths with Aethyta and somehow puts it together that she's connected to Liara, you can wager that young woman will do something about it. She will force Aethyta to come clean and then, as the humans say, there will be hell to pay."

"What do you suggest, Lidanya? Liara always feared she had been rejected by her sire. To find out her mother had a Trinity, and therefore two siring donors, she will believe that not one, but both rejected her pure blood."

"Or worse, her mind will invent stories to fill in the gaps. Leaps of logic such as you and Aethyta both feared because of the way of her conception she was doomed to become an ardat-yakshi. This was why Aethyta was not on board the ship that fateful day, and why you tossed her mother into an escape pod. Because having a pureblood daughter as a consort is bad for your image, having an ardat-yakshi for a daughter is even worse. No consort could operate with such stigma attached to her name."

"That is not true!" Sha'ira snarled.

The other asari nodded. "This I know. I am, however, not an impressionable maiden who is barely a century old. And that bracelet is part of a set of three. Liara is an archeologist, trained to see minute details. She will notice three gems and know what it signifies; a Bonded pair accepting a third.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Shepard kept her tongue, simply following her beloved asari up several flights of stairs, turning corner after corner into wings of the mansion up further stairs along longer corridors to a door made of obsidian. Here Liara stopped, her blue hand pressed up against the polished wood reverently. The Spectre didn't need to ask where they were, or even tap into their bond to know where they stood. Beyond that door was Benezia's private study. Here, perhaps only the housekeeping staff and Liara herself had been otherwise permitted. All other affairs would have been seen to in Benezia's more public study. But here, the Matriarch was free to be herself. She wasn't a leader of hundreds of disciples, or High Priestess or a great leader of the masses; here she was simply the woman Benezia and mother to a very young Liara.

Liara stood motionless before the door, her eyes closed for a moment before she pushed it open. The scent of books assaulted their noses. Ink, ancient parchments, scrolls and the musk that comes with antique pages of tomes. Strangely, it was all very comforting in a way that could not be fully explained.

Liara smiled as a memory slipped into her mind. She had been very young, perhaps seven years of age:

_Rain fell that night, a fine, whispering rain, like tiny fingers tapping on the windowpane. The rain and thunder never bothered her; in fact it served to soothe her__,__ but this night it wasn't happening. She had crept into her mother's study and retrieved one of her favorite books (this one happened to be about the Protheans) and snuck on little bare feet back into her bedroom. She had thought to read herself to sleep but even as she felt her eyelids grow heavy and however often she tossed and turned, Liara couldn't get to sleep. _

_The book about the Protheans she had been reading was under her pillow, pressing its cover against her ear as if to lure her back into its printed pages. _

_"__I am sure it must be very comfortable sleeping with a hard, rectangular thing like that under your head," her mother teased. "The book whispers its story to you at night."_

_"__Sometimes, yes," Liara had said. "But it only works for children." Which made Benezia tweak her nose. _

_"__Is that what you believe?"_

_"__Books whisper to you, Naneth?" Liara asked incredulously._

_"__If I said yes, what would you say Little Wing?"_

_The child smiled. _

_"__Books whisper to Matriarchs as well as they do to children, my sweet daughter. Why do you think we sit for long meditative hours in rooms filled with old tomes, hum?" Benezia stroked her hand against the cheek still plump with baby-fat._

_Liara smirked. Her large doe-eyes twinkled as she felt her mother lay next to her in the bed__,__ cradling her little body so the daughter might hear her mother's beating heart. "Be at peace Little Wing, I will see you with the dawn."_

_It wasn't the whispers of printed pages that lulled the child to sleep__,__ but the steady staccato rhythm of her mother's beating heart. It was such a safe sound. _

A sound Liara hadn't realized she missed until it was no longer there. It would never be there again. _Your Little Wing misses you Mother. Oh Mother…why didn't you tell me? I saw the pain in your face, in your eyes, in your heart and I could soothe you as you did for me. Mother…why didn't you tell me?_

Logic told Liara that Sha'ira's story had been true, but she had to make sure for herself. To make certain - that drive lead her now to the study.

Shepard remained outside the threshold. Somehow she didn't feel right entering this peaceful sanctum, at least not right now. This was time for Liara and the phantom of her mother, and memory. The room brought to mind the image of a scholar. Four of the five walls were covered in floor to ceiling book cases that stretched twelve feet high. The Spectre doubted she had seen so many books, scrolls and parchments in one place. She knew in her gut this was but a trifle of what the true bastion library must be like.

There were no haphazard piles lying around. Every book obviously had it s place. Where other people have wallpaper or pictures, or just empty wall, Benezia had bookshelves. "These books have accumulated over many hundreds of years."

Samantha hadn't answered, not entirely sure if the remark was rhetorical or directed to her. With this knowledge at her disposal, was it any wonder that Benezia's daughter was precocious enough to seek a career in a lifelong quest to uncover Prothean secrets? Benezia had unknowingly created an archeologist. Liara had always felt as if she could hear the whispers of the books beckoning her. They were promising her a thousand unknown stories, a thousand doors into worlds she had never seen before.

Liara however, had no interest in the books this time. Her route deliberately lead her to a desk that, in the Spectre's mental recesses of ancient history, said it was Edwardian. Well, it would have been so had it been an Earth antique rather than asari craftsmanship. Liara opened up the bottom drawer of the desk, withdrew a small unremarkable cedar box and headed back out the door.

Samantha had not moved from her spot at the door. To her it seemed wrong to intrude. This was Benezia's private chambers of thought and peace. Until Liara invited her in she wasn't going to take another step.

Again the Spectre followed her lover wordlessly back into their suite. The room was cast in heavy shadows and somehow it seemed appropriate to leave it that way. Once inside, Liara sat upon the bed tailor style with the box before her. Shepard didn't even have to ask what was inside the box; she already knew it contained a twin amulet to the one inside the blue velvet pouch Liara still held.

Unceremoniously, she dumped the contents of the pouch onto the mattress before she opened with great care the plain wooden box, and carefully lifted out the bangle lying within. Laying both side by side as if to confirm what the young woman already knew. The bracelets were identical. Yes, there were slight difference that come with hand crafted items, but still they were identical. Twin cascading waves cupping a sapphire gem. In the crest of either wave was a diamond, representing each partner in the bonding. The Sapphire of course was the heart of love and commitment, but there was another component nestled where the two waves joined as a smaller setting, one that had been added later one. A pearl.

Liara frowned. _A pearl?_ The frown set deeper. _This makes no sense. Why a pearl? There should only be two diamonds. Pearls mean... lover__,__ not bondmate... a pearl in a bond-bracelet is for Trinities._ The young Prothean expert mulled over the words Sha'ira had spoken. _'She took great lengths to insure she conceived…__' __Mother was __a part__ of a Trinity? So who was the bondmate and who was the third?_ Liara's mind raced over the implications. There was only two names that came forward Shiala and Aethyta.

She tossed the idea of her mentor being in a committed Trinity with Mother as soon as her brain conceived of the notion. The other was Aethyta. She was the likely choice. But as lover or bondmate? _So who bonded to my mother__,__ Aethyta or Sha'ira?_

"They loved each other deeply enough to commit to each other." Liara said. Shepard was convinced that her lover would have spoken those words aloud regardless if she had another in the room with her or not.

Softly, the Spectre entered the bedroom and sat on the bed alongside Liara, but kept her voice.

"They loved." Liara said again.

"They created you deliberately, Li."

"Benezia could have joined with the Consort… and assimilated her genetic memory and blended it with the second copy of her own genes and altered it in the melding."

"Without her lover's knowledge? I doubt it. That would defile their love. Benezia would never do something like that"

In the shadows of the room, Shepard didn't see Liara flinch, but she did feel it. "I didn't mean…" Shepard signed, feeling like a heel. Of course Liara would think of Novaria. "What happened between the Rachni Queen and the Matriarch was Sovereign's doing, not Benezia's will. She said it herself; she beat upon the glass even as her hands murdered and tortured. She was trapped inside her own mind forced to do things because of the Reaper. On her own…your mother would never done anything so vile as to mentally violate another. I know this with all my heart and mind because you carry the best and brightest parts of Benezia within you."

Liara sighed deeply. "But…but if she did…if she wanted to have a child with my Dame…and she was reluctant…to have a child? Maybe that's why she had a Trinity? What if she thought she was going to lose her lover and melded to have a part of beloved with her…Maybe that is why Benezia thought Sha'ira abandoned her and me. Or she joined with Aethyta, I know they were lovers, she had to be a part of the Trinity. She was _Muinthel_ to me. Sometimes, I felt as if she were my sire. I even wished that she was. Maybe she truly is. This pearl means there was a Trinity.

"My mother had a bondmate and a lover commitment to both of them. That is what Sha'ira meant when she said Mother took great lengths to make sure she conceived. It must be. But why didn't the Consort say so?

"I don't know," the Spectre shook her head. "Maybe there were promises made. Maybe it's just fear. Liara, Benezia's want for you was so great maybe she did do this Trinity thingy to create you; does it matter? Sha'ira claimed you. Talk to her. The only way you will find out is if you start asking the hard questions. But make sure you really want to know the answers. Lover or bondmate, Sha'ira had a part in your creation. Li, your mom and sire had to have known each other's fears and joys just as we do. Maybe our link is a little more intense but a Joined mind…is one that bonded and thoughts are shared."

Samantha's hand came to rest on her lover's shoulder. "You were a deliberate creation. You heard Sha'ira say it herself, you were created out of love, not a stolen child. Heck that was me." Shepard smiled. "My folks were already married for ten years before the idea to have a little rug rat came up. Mom wanted a kid before it got too late for her. Dad didn't- he got comfortable with it just being them. But my mom is a stubborn and willful woman; saying no to her isn't an easy thing to do. She tampered with the birth control and well, nine months later I show up. My father loves me, sure, but I was only half deliberate."

"Stolen child, created out of deceit…you were not rejected by your father? Was he not angry when he discovered the truth of your conception?"

"I think he forgot to be. From the stories they told me he was all mushy and super protective when my mother was heavy with me. He might have been pissed off at first, but I think that was because the decision was taken from him. But my mother countered with the argument that he was taking the decision from her. Plus, the timing wasn't so great. After all, I was born in 54' around the same time the second element zero accident happened and there were more in utero exposures. I guess he figured I'd come out a mutant because my mother had been exposed to eezo because of an accident. He was right... in way; I'm a biotic. That was my folks Liara, not yours."

"Stolen child…that does not seem to be a kind phrase. It makes it sound as if one parent is forcing the life of a child upon another. Do you say this because asari have conceived after a single melding and the partners go their separate ways?"

"Whoa. On your side here, Liara." Shepard held up her hands in surrender. "I wasn't slamming asari methods of procreation or Benezia. You know better than to accuse me of that kind of bullshit."

"I…I..." Liara hung her head, ashamed of her words. "I am sorry Samantha."

Shepard lifted her chin and stared at her. Blue eyes meeting blue eyes. "It's alright, Sweetheart. You've had one hell of a month; you're going to be on edge. Just try to remember I'm on your side."

"I copy, Captain." Liara attempted to joke to lift the soaring[dark] mood that had overcome her. Samantha had been nothing but purely supportive. She didn't deserve to have Liara's frustrations taken out on her.

Running with the joke, Shepard said, "So we're five by five?"

"Aye aye, Captain."

"Good."

They both grinned. A beat later, Liara nuzzled her way into her beloved's arms. She closed her eyes, simply content to soak in the love from the remarkable woman she had given her heart to.

"I am so tired, Samantha. I keep analyzing the facts I have been given. Trying to make sense of it all. Indoctrination explains my mother in those last months, but the past… I do not understand that. Why didn't she contact Sha'ira or Aethyta and confront them? Demand to know why neither one of them hadn't sought her out? I could have grown up alongside Racen as a sister rather than simply knowing of her as one of my mother's many disciples."

"I don't know the answers to those questions, Li. I think maybe their pain made it too difficult for them to work through. Their love had to be as great as ours for their hearts to be so shattered they dare not confirm their fears even if they hoped it would turn out for the better. I'd say it's the human condition but…"

Liara laughed. "Yes. This only proves asari philosophy does it not? We are all connected into a greater whole." Blue hands slid over and under pale caramel. "All connected…do you think I should forgive Sha'ira?"

"Only you can answer that, babe. You wanted to know who your other parent was, now you know. Or at least mostly know. You know she isn't ashamed of you, she didn't reject you. She may not have been brave enough to confront her fears, to confront Benezia over her assumptions of abandonment and rejection, or plead to have her case over conceiving Racen heard, but she is reaching out to you now. It might be hundred and six years late, but you asari live for a thousand years. I don't think it's too late. She is trying…"

"Yes, I suppose she is."

"Put her on probation. Test her out as a parental unit. But there is the issue of your half-sister, what are you going to do about her and her family?"

"Racen. She is innocent in all of this and just as lost and uncertain as I am."

"You know it might be pretty cool to be an aunty."

Liara grinned at her lover's words. "Mayas. She is already quite fond of you."

"The little sprite is very adorable."

Liara bit her lower lip, "Would you…you desire a child? She would have your traits yes, but outwardly she would look asari."

"Now? No. But yes, someday I'd love to have a daughter with you. But Li, we're going to face off the Reapers soon…and the Normandy isn't a generational ship, not like the Alliance cruisers or dreadnoughts I grew up on." Shepard kissed Liara's neck. "Besides, aren't you a little young to have a child…"

"Racen is a year younger than I and she gave birth to Mayas."

"Yeah, that has me bit confused. I thought you didn't hit matronhood until you were around three hundred and fifty years old."

"There is no set time, Samantha. That is the average age yes, but if a maiden melds often she can advance her stage in life. Or, if her will to have a daughter is so strong, she can command her body to prepare itself for bearing a child, even if she remains in maidenhood. I suspect Racen is still a maiden despite the fact she has Mayas. Her partner is, after all, a Matriarch, and thus several centuries her senior. They must have desired to share a daughter before the inevitable end of Lidanya's life."

"Makes sense. Liara… speaking of inevitable ends, despite the fact I'm human we have plenty of time for a daughter. It might sound a little bigoted, but considering it will have to be you to carry any child we have, I don't have to worry about being too old to safely carry a child. My mom was thirty when she had me. But you've got decades yet. There isn't a rush, we've got time."

"Yes of course." Liara sounded a little deflated. "Time, it seems we are either running out of it or weighed down by it."

"Welcome to world outside of archeological digs my dear Dr. T'Soni."

"I have come to understand that time and tedious study is a treasured commodity, and not a luxury in the military."

"Li…you're going to be a military wife…"

Liara turned around in the circle of the Spectre's arms so she could look at her lover. "I do not have 'cold feet'." She kissed Samantha soundly. "I do, however, hesitate with accepting my dame fully into my life, but not you. Never you."

"Your dame…" Samantha gently removed Liara from her arms and puffed out a breath as she fell back onto the bed. "I just thought of something… rather dreadful and problematic."

Liara frowned. She could feel the Spectre's wall shielding her thoughts and mind from her. "Samantha… talk to me." Liara was getting more and more nervous by Samantha's withdrawing from her. Tentatively, she touched her lower abdomen and winced as her fears resurfaced. Would history replay itself? During the sharing had Samantha tapped into the hidden furtive area she had tried to keep apart from her beloved? Would she be left as Benezia had been? Sha'ira said she had not rejected her sired daughter… but… the fear, the pain had been there all the same. Samantha had been acting so oddly since the discovery of Sha'ira's role in Liara's life; it left the young asari apprehensive and frightened.

"You know that special hell I talked about? Well now I'm definitely going there. By the Goddess, I've walked into my own little Greek tragedy. Move over Oedipus Rex, here comes Samantha Shepard." The Spectre groaned as she fell on their bed and covered her face with a pillow. "I'm sorry; this isn't supposed to be about me… god what you must think…"

"Smothering yourself will not make the issue go away." Liara took the pillow from her lover's face, now completely understanding Samantha's withdrawal. "As I have told you, that happened before we met, before you knew I existed. I found no fault in it then or now. The circumstances might have changed, but the context of your past interaction with the Consort has not"

"That doesn't make it any less… squicky."

"By that I assume you mean upsetting?"

"I fucked your… dad… er… sire for crying out loud!"

"Had you known her genetic link to me would you have done so?"

"WHAT!? Shit no! How can you even ask that? Not only no, but hell no! You saw the memories; she spoke philosophy to me about my past and who I will become. I got a little confused and was about to leave her chambers when she kissed me. And all of a sudden… we… it was just her… and me… in the pleasure dome… oh God… I'm doomed! I can't believe I slept with my fiancé's mother."

"_Dame_. Or, if you prefer the term, my father… or sire. She was not… is _not_ my mother." Liara gently corrected. "Samantha, let it go. It was nothing but a moment of desire and long before you knew me or we shared in our love. As you said, 'not only no, but hell no' to the concept of Joining with her now. There can be no sin where none is found."

Shepard gave Liara a very curious look.

"What is it?"

"You swore. I've never heard you do that. It sounds all wrong."

"Perhaps, but it did gain your attention."

"Yeah okay, but please don't do it again. You're…too…too…I don't know too good, too pure to swear. It sounds just wrong when you do it."

"If you drop the matter, I agree not to use profanity."

A deep sigh. "Seems to be a lopsided agreement to me, babe. I'm getting the better end of the bargain."

"No," Liara said lying down beside Shepard. "I am. My part is easy. I know that for you, it is much more difficult to forgive yourself over the incident."

"How can you be so calm about it? Shit, when one of my old friends back in high school told me my mother was hot, I decked him."

"And if they found your father to be…'hot'?"

Samantha frowned. "Not a single guy said that about Dad. I had more male buddies then chicks. I probably would have made an 'eww' face and laughed at them if they did. Dad's dad you know? I guess he's attractive…I guess. Mom must have thought so at some time. He's just dad…" she shrugged.

"So would it help if I 'decked' you then, for this perceived 'squicky' crime?"

"It might," Shepard said honestly. "Look, even if technically it isn't a crime, it broke taboos. I can't be comfortable with that and I know you're not too comfy either, despite the philosophical high road you're taking."

"Samantha…"Liara sighed in frustration, then smiled. "Whatever this cleansing ritual you've committed yourself to, perhaps you should go ahead with it."

"I definitely have to, Liara."


	7. Huntress

Chapter 7: Huntress

The water was clear deep and dark, and there were only a few lights from the bio-luminosity of small, flitting creatures and plants alike, so everything was dim. Shepard's facemask had its own illuminations, giving her an added benefit that Shiala lacked with her natural defensive translucent third eyelid. She wasn't keen on it, but then she wasn't sure if she would have liked bright light any better. The reef was vast, which limited visibility even more. She watched Shiala who was ahead of her, swim off toward a mountainous range of coral. The 'mountain' of coral was coated in a dozen different species of sea plant life Shepard couldn't even begin to aptly catalogue. She recognized sea cucumber, sponges, and kelp. Creatures like anemones, barnacles, jellyfish, sea dragons and sea horses, were also present, as well as dozens upon dozens of schools of tropical fish darting to and fro. Below her, near the reef-bed floor, hovered a massive stingray. What looked like a remora eel poked its head out of 'cavern' in the coral. It had seen the interlopers as 'seals', and seals were to it as noisy kids are to an old man's lawn. Disgusted, the water serpent slinked back into its cubby-hole, just waiting for a 'seal' to poke its air-breathing nose where it didn't belong so it could bite it off.

They rounded another bend in the reef. They still had a long way to go before they reached the hunting ground of the shark pups, however. Shepard was beginning to feel the pressure on her chest. The exercise was straining the still healing bones, the swim was nothing like the gentle physio-exorcises Chakwas had her do. The gash where the husk of Saren had nearly eviscerated her tightened and screamed at her to stop. Each movement of her sweeping arms was building up into agony.

_It's only pain_. She thought to herself, pushing past the burning in her body. _I have to do this._ This hunt wasn't some macho show of prowess, but proof that Shepard was willing, wanting, to understand the ways of the asari, of the woman she was going to marry. She had to understand the significance of the ocean, of the Goddess Athame and of the sacred firaxon shark. The Hunt to a maiden marked the end of being a youngling and becoming a huntress. For Samantha, it marked the end of a life of solitude to a life with a soul-mate.

Shiala had joined her side, matching stroke for stroke. The violet skinned asari could almost feel Shepard's physical struggle to keep up. Had the Spectre been fully fit, the commando thought she would have no problem keeping pace. The angry mark running diagonally from shoulder to hip still gave the asari a pang of sorrow and compassion every time she saw it.

This was why Benezia had called her disciples to her when still aboard Sovereign. She had warned them: "_Shepard is not the typical human. Do not underestimate her will and determination. In this way she is as the firaxon shark, she will not stop until she has what it is she wants. The firaxon wants to feed, Shepard wants to end Saren and destroy Sovereign. She is a huntress, she will stalk her prey to the ends of the galaxy and whatever the cost, she will pay. Strike where the cost is the greatest, the most dear__,__ and you will have her. Stalk her as a fanged panther, watch her moves, watch her and strike when the opportunity best presents itself. Do not toy with her, taunt her or engage in pointless conversation. She is as Saren__,__ her words pour into the ears of her followers and they follow without question because she leads. Manipulate the currents so that she leads them to their demise, to their destruction not to victory.__"_

The scar Shepard now bore was a testament to Matriarch Benezia's words. Shepard had not stopped, had not yielded, even when her own life hung in the balance, even when her lover's life was in the balance. The lives of so many humans had been in the balance and yet Shepard had paid the cost to make an end to Sovereign. Just was she had made an end to the Thorian. It was this that caused Shiala to become stymied after she had joined minds with the human Spectre.

Touching Saren had been like touching raw chaotic power, a will unlike any other. Or so she thought. Shepard's power over others was not raw, but directed and carefully honed. Shepard had that same will as Saren, but she didn't use indoctrination to control or gain followers. Her followers retained their own free-will, and yet they still followed her, and this brought more fear to Shiala than Sovereign had. If Shepard became as corrupt as the renegade Saren, what then? Who could withstand the raging flood? Shiala herself had desires to follow the Spectre on her quest to end the Reapers. Was this desire hers? Or was it the subtle will of the Spectre that made it so?

It was precisely this subtle will that had made this hunt possible. The Spectre had wanted to engage in the Great Hunt for her beloved, for herself. Though no Hunt was scheduled at this time, she had convinced Shiala and the High Priestesses to allow it. Shepard was indoctrinating herself into asari culture. That had so intrigued the Matriarchs that they permitted the unscheduled hunt and Shiala's part in it.

MEMEMEMEMEME

"_So it is. I will help you in your quest, Samantha. But first you must convince the Matriarchs of your sincerity."_

_Shepard's experience with melds were limited to Liara and Shiala. She wouldn't necessarily call the data-dumps from the Prothean beacons melds. Or the brief joining she had with the Consort a mind meld__,__t__hough it had a connection to telepathy. Standing around her now were three matriarchs, __Councilor __Tevos, __Commander__ Lidanya, and __Priestess__ Mardon. It was going to be a four-way circle__,__ a meld only mastered by asari matriarchs. While Councilor Tevos would be the one to initiate the meld, the others had linked their minds to the Councilor's so they would have the benefit of what their counterpart saw and experienced. Their roles in the meld__,__ like Shepard's__,__ would be passive. _

"_Are you ready for this?" __t__he Councilor asked__,__ gently stepping closely to the Spectre. For this unique meld to work they all had to be touching. Tevos' hands would be on Shepard__,__ while Lidanya and Mardon had their fingertips brushing the Councilor's temple. _

"_Relax, Captain. Close your eyes and feel the universe around you." Tevos uttered the familiar words softly. "Embrace Eternity!" _

_The matriarchs slipped into Shepard's mind. Humans naturally resisted mind-melds__.__W__ith the strong personality and will of the human Spectre__,__ Councilor Tevos expected a more difficult merging of minds. What she experienced __was very akin to touching the mind of an asari youngling__: chaotic energy, trust, and unquenchable curiosity and easily distracted. As a maiden grew older__,__ her chaotic energy was more directed and focused despite being restless. It was a strange juxtaposition to be exposed to, the maturity of an experienced huntress and the willful chaotic power of a youngling exploring her own biotics. _

_That was it! Shepard's mind was unlike any __human____mind the Councilor and merged with because it was no longer simply human. It had melded with the Protheans and they had left their mark upon her. The connection to Dr. T'Soni was so very powerful__ that,__e__ven touching the Spectre's mind, the Councilor could feel the edges of the mind of Benezia's daughter. Their souls recognized one another and became symbiotic. What one experienced__,__ so to__o__ did the other. This was the way of a joined pair__,__ but the bond between Shepard and T'Soni was deeper still. Tevos was positive that Liara would be very aware someone else had meddled with her betrothed__,__ though perhaps not know why. _

_Tevos had to push past the surface thoughts into the deeper part of the Spectre's mind. When she did__,__ she and the others linked to her were assaulted by images of death. _

_A white flash as lightning flared. Screams of the living, organic life being torn apart by synthetics. Wicked claws ripped into flesh, voices cried out in unbearable anguish, pain, untold agony. So many screams, so much death, the worlds burned one after the other in rapid succession as a pandemic plague. In the center of it all were the Reapers. There was no end to them, no end to the screams, to the burning of worlds, tearing of bodies. _

A flash.

"_We __cannot__ act based solely on dreams, Commander." _

"_Only you have seen the Reapers and then only in dreams."_

**Flash. **

"_This isn't an AI! This is Sovereign! Sovereign is the ship!" _

"_You're not alive, not really. You're a machine and machines can be broken." _

"_We are legion." _

Another flash of light as the memories changed. The voices of the Council, of Udina, of betrayal, fell on one another in a jumble of words.

"_Saren's not the real threat! Sovereign is!" _

_"__Only you have seen the Reapers, and then only in dreams!" _

_"__Sovereign is real! He's on his way here now!" _

_"__We have posted blockades at all the relay ports linking to the Citadel, if Saren comes here, he will be stopped." _

_"__Are you insane? A blockade won't stop Sovereign." _

_"__Saren's after the __C__onduit; if he gets it we're all screwed!" _

_"__We cannot risk open war with the Terminus Systems." _

_"__Send me, I can be discreet." _

_"__I've locked out all the controls of the Normandy as of now you are grounded." _

_"__Your help is no longer needed Commander." _

_"__Fools. They sit on their asses and do __nothing__, while Saren is on Ilos right now looking for the __C__onduit. They've doomed the whole galaxy." _

_"__You were useful before, now you're becoming more trouble than you're worth, Commander."_

_"__Only you have seen the Reapers, and then only in dreams." _

_"__One day you will have to take what I say at face value."_

_"__You've done everything, they asked for and more! Everything! And they turn their backs on you, strip you of your command and have taken away the Normandy! This isn't right!" _

_"__I hope you know what you're doing Commander." _

_"…__We have the Council on board. Repeat the Council is on board. Requesting immediate assistance…" _

_"__The Council betrayed you. Skipper__,__ you can't sacrifice human lives for them!" _

_"__This is greater than humanity…" _

_"__I hope you know what you're doing Commander" _

_"__It gives you strength. It is why you lead and others follow without question." _

_"__Orders Commander? Do we charge in like the Calvary or do we hold our positions?"_

_"Only you have seen the Reapers and then only in dreams," _

_"__You are proud, solitary, alone. But it gives you strength."_

_"…__you are more trouble than you are worth…"_

_"__Commander?" _

_"__Commander?" _

_"__Orders Commander?" _

_"__Remember these words Commander, when doubt descends." _

_"__I hope you know what you're doing Commander." _

_"__Save the Council no matter the cost."_

Flash of bright light. The images flowed rapidly. Softer now, one voice, instead of many, yet still they were amassed together.

Tevos' mind, as well as those of the other two Matriarchs', reeled as another brilliant flash light flared and with it new memories.

"_You've changed," _

_"__Saren very nearly eviscerated you and a ship's hull landed almost on top of you…" "Protect Liara. Protect Liara. I'm dead… Protect! Protect! Protect Liara! I love you…" "…before your connection to the first Prothean beacon had changed your beta readings and every encounter you have had with Prothean technology since has augmented that change further." _

_"__Protect Liara!" _

_"__When you gained the cipher you simply weren't given the __P__rothean Rosetta Stone, Commander. You were made to think as a __P__rothean… I suspect that your Joining, augmented what the __P__rothean__'__s did to you." _

_"__Be still my Love, I will see you through this." _

_"__I don't foresee this hampering your fitness for duty, Commander." _

_"__Saren very nearly eviscerated you…" _

_"__I'm a fluke. I will go rogue if only to protect her from them." _

_"__Protect Liara!" _

_"__Samantha, I thought you lost to me…" _

_"__Protect you…keep you safe…" _

_"__You did, Beloved. You did. Now I will keep you safe. I will protect you." _

The flashes of memory in sight and sound became more and more erratic. The images from the beacon, the Councils' continued denial of the Spectre's words, the betrayal of ambassador Udina, to Liara's words and her love and Samantha's devotion to her flared one after the other. More and more, they were accompanied by the sheered hull of Sovereign crashing down into the Tower, and slamming directly onto where the Spectre had been.

"_Only you have seen the Reapers and then only in dreams… I'm dead… protect Liara… you're more trouble than you're worth… we are Legion… Commander… what are your orders Commander… Spectres are sworn to protect the galaxy… someday you will have to take what I say at face value… we owe you a great personal debt Commander one we can never repay… you've done everything they have asked of you and more... Listen to me, the Reapers are the true threat, Saren is their prophet… Sovereign was only a vanguard, the Reapers are still out there and I'm going to find away to stop them!" _

_When the meld ended__,__ Tevos felt a wave of dizziness take her, so much so she would have collapsed onto the marble floor of the abbey's library had the Spectre not caught her in time and __maneuvered__ her to a chair. The Council's personal opinion of the Spectre rose significantly__,__ as did those of the other two matriarchs. While they were left dazed and light headed__, __it was Tevos who suffered the most. She stared at Shepard with brilliant sea-green eyes in total awe._

_To live with those images __and memories__ the beacon imprinted on her mind must place Shepard under great emotional strain. In them the matriarchs had felt deep despair, anger and frustration. No one but her crew, Admiral Hackett and Captain Anderson had listened to her, had believed her, and had taken her words at face value. It had hurt the Commander as a physical blow. She had been devastated when she was turned aside again and again__,__ even after proving herself over and over. She had sworn an oath to protect the galaxy when she became a Spectre__,__ and yet when she carried out that oath she was forsaken not only by humanity__,__ but by those who had made her into a Spectre. _

_Was it any wonder now that Samantha __- __not the Captain, not the Spectre__but the woman__ -__ felt broken and lost? For so long she was Shepard, Commander, Spectre and had ignored the woman beneath it all. _

"_We will grant the request, Samantha."_

MEMEMEMEMEME

Now, perhaps Shepard was regretting her willful desire. Her body could not be controlled and dominated into following her orders. It simply wasn't healed enough. Yet the Spectre offered no complaint, even if it was written clearly in the expressive ocean-blue eyes. Shiala vowed to herself to ensure the Hunt was a success. Besides, Liara would kill her if she allowed anything to happen to the Spectre. It was the task of a matron to watch over their wards.

The Great Hunt was as much a test of stamina and determination as it was intelligence, guile and will. Though she could not directly interfere in a young maiden's Hunt, she could guide the course. There was no shame in failing; only in the attempt never being made. If a maiden chose to yield, she was taken to the surface by one of the matrons guiding the Great Hunt and brought to the safety of the awaiting watercrafts. She would be allowed to try again when she felt herself ready.

Shiala doubted Shepard would yield the Hunt, however there was a real world possibility the woman's still healing body would. If that was the case, Shiala would step in and bring the Spectre back to the safety of the boat. From her peripheral vision, the observant asari caught a movement and very nearly gasped. Quickly, she nudged Shepard and pointed with her chin. "We've got incoming." she said over the rebreather's communicator.

Shepard watched with dispassionate coolness as the distant silhouette closed in on their location. It wasn't that she wasn't struck with awe by the shadow of death, but rather forced herself to view the hunt as an N7 stealth operation. Infiltrate enemy territory, close in on the target, and neutralize it. Do not be seen, do not be heard, and do not attract attention. Quick, quiet and efficient. Her outside demeanor was nothing like the storm within. She was so wired, it was everything she could do to keep from striking out at the shark's ever nearing form with the biotic slam of a singularity.

The Spectre drew her double bladed dagger from the calf sheath, pure instinct causing her to flip it so that it ran parallel with her arm. The blade would allow her a defensive block while simultaneously giving her the ability to deliver a lethal strike.

Good position for fighting bipedal enemies, not so good against a shark. Shiala shook her head, and Shepard flipped the blade around once more and held it before her as if wielding a gladius.

Two full moons had come and gone since it had last fed, and its need was now overriding. Desperate. Before it, an invisible cone of fear swept the warm, shallow sea clean of life. Shoals of hake and tilefish panicked at its coming, scattering like handfuls of flung metallic spears. At a length of fifty feet and a mass of over fifty-two tons, it would take more than a mere morsel to satisfy the firaxon pup.

The enormous shark pup needed food - big food. A marlin circled lazily to the firaxon's left, its barred ultramarine flanks glittering in the flickering shafts of late afternoon sunlight. Capable of mind-stuttering bursts of speed, it was too hard to catch for the shark to bother with. But still the firaxon's hunger burned.

Skulking silently, the firaxon caught a glimpse of two 'seal' creatures. Slow moving little things. While it preferred whale, it would perhaps start with seal for appetizers. Air-breathers were vulnerable.

Closer . . . closer . . . NOW! The shark pumped its tail powerfully from side-to-side, accelerating rapidly to close the distance between it and the fuel its cells so urgently needed. The firaxon's jaws gaped wide, revealing triangular, serrated teeth the size of a turian's hand. Oxygen-bearing water pounded through its gills exhilaratingly. The firaxon's upper jaw, slung loosely under its skull like that of other sharks, protruded forward and down: reaching, straining in anticipation of sweet, warm flesh . . .

The shark was closing in on them, seeing them as better prey than the tiny fish it had been gulping down or the swift marlin. Spectre and commando turned into summersaults, diving deeper into the reef, taking flanking spots in the coral jungle's crevasses and niches. The tail slammed into a jutting stalagmite, enough to crack it as the huntresses struggled to find superior defensive positions.

Instinctive panic rippled within Shepard. This was no thresher maw she faced with the Mako's cannons, this was a monster shark and all she had was a dagger. What the hell was she thinking! The calm she had tried to exert before went AWOL.

'_Peace my love, you have your biotics. This is how we first learn the techniques of guerrilla warfare. You know this style of fighting. Do not lose sight of your training beloved. Oh__,__ by the way__,__ we are going to __**talk**__ about this once you return to the surface.'_

Why did the sudden image of Liara with her arms folded over her chest, and her foot tapping flash in the Spectre's mind? _Maybe I should just let the shark get me_**, **came as an answer to the mental picture of a very pissed off betrothed.

Shepard and Shiala summoned the power of a biotic push, both simultaneously sending it into the shark. The biotic powers shot out like projectiles through the water, hitting it dead center. The wave of power snapped its body back, stunning it momentarily. If firaxon sharks were anything like their counterparts back on earth, it needed constant movement to filter air through its gills, so the hurtling motion would have an almost drowning effect on the beast.

It seemed to roar in pain. The bizarre cacophony was muffled underwater, sounding like a heavy thump. Swimming hard for the dazed creature, both asari and human brought their blades to bear, each storming for a ten foot pectoral fin. One hand shot out grabbed a fin and hung on for dear life. The huntress and Spectre latched on like the pilot fishes on its underbelly. The shark could not get its jaws at them from this angle. They pressed their naked bodies parallel, both summoned protective barriers so as not to be abraded by the sandpaper skin of the monster.

Blades slid so jarringly, Shepard nearly lost her dagger when the shark shuddered, snaked around viper like, and struck out at the Spectre with is massive, two meter wide mouth in a futile effort to dislodge her. It turned and started to dive deeper and deeper into the reef's depths. The barrier was the only thing shielding Shepard from the increasing high pressure. If she let go, the beast would have her, if she didn't, she would lose consciousness, perhaps her life, due to the rapid plunging descent and high water pressure.

"Strike it with a lift!" screamed Shiala through the intercom. Whilst her body could handle the higher pressures, the speed at which the shark was taking them down was straining even her body.

The lift wouldn't have the same effect it would on a krogan battlemaster, but biotic lifts had played havoc on geth colossuses, making them teeter and crumble for a few precious seconds. A lift would do the same to the firaxon; it would destabilize the shark's buoyancy long enough for them to flee.

Still suffering from the biotic slam and the blades ripping into it sides, this new pain swirled the ocean for the shark. The firaxon lost all sense of direction, it rocked back and forth, careened around and headed for what it thought was down, but in fact, it was heading for the surface with tremendous desperate speed.

Shepard let go, a heartbeat later Shiala yielded her position. Without a word, they dove back for the protection of the labyrinthine coral reef. Once more righteous terror seized the Spectre. She shot off like a rocket, passing Shiala. It was so close! Two arms' lengths and it would be on her. It barred its teeth and for Shepard, the dim light in this surreal underwater world was all reflected back from those shiny fangs. She saw its tail lash faster. Its black, soulless doll's eyes stared at her, not with malice, but something far more terrifying - the simple need to feed.

Instinctual panic set in, and suddenly she choked in a mouthful of rebreather air. **NO! **She kicked harder, more frantically, reaching a cave of rock and coral before the monster shark rammed the wall of living rock where she once had been. Chunks of coral, rock and terrified fish erupted in a cloud of murky underwater plumes of dust.

Shepard and Shiala lost sight of one another in the gloom. They could only see the shark swimming toward them. Black blood oozed from twin lacerations at its sides, like some macabre streaming ribbons. Shiala watched as the single minded beast torqued a turn that would have dislocated every vertebra in her spine had she attempted to do the same. A beat later she felt what had caused the shark to bank so hard. It felt like a concussion grenade went off directly under her. And realized it for what it was. She couldn't see Shepard, but there was no doubt that the rippling underwater wave was the effect of a warp-throw. She thought only Benezia had managed to merge the two powers together! But Shepard was Joined to Liara, the daughter of the great Matriarch, of course the younger T'Soni could do the same, and why not teach the secrets to the woman she was going to marry?

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"What the hell was she thinking!?" Ashley shouted. "Skipper's gone crazy! She is absolutely out of her tree. A firaxon shark is to the great white, what Joker's Godzilla is to a gecko! They make _Jaws _look like a guppy!" The newly minted lieutenant paced back and forth on the deck of the ocean cruiser. "She's going to get herself eaten and then the whole fucking galaxy is doomed! Who in the hell will stand up to the Reapers if she isn't there to lead us? Of all the stupid things to do just before the wedding! You're going to be a widow before you're a bride."

Liara looked positively chalky. All the healthy blue washed from her face, which was growing more and more ashen seemingly in time with Ash's paces and rants. Samantha's terror was so overwhelming it rendered the young asari frozen. She tried to send her thoughts of calm even if they were lies…Then it hit her; she had to be calm. Truly calm. The only way she could accomplish that was if she meditated. Ash's growing anxiety was making that impossible.

"SIT, be STILL, be SILENT!" she demanded of the marine.

Ash did so immediately, she had never heard Liara snap at anyone, never raise her voice in anger. Disapproval yes, but anger never. Williams sat and bit her thumbnail, her foot nervously tapping on the decking. Liara had just channeled 'scary indoctrinated Benezia' and that spooked Williams more than she wanted to admit.

Liara turned from her friend so that she might concentrate. She had to center herself and send that calm to her beloved. Shepard had faced dozens of horrors during the battle of Sovereign and the geth, but it was a battle she could understand; the enemy had guns, they had biotics, they had ships. That was familiar even if it was alien. Even facing off thresher maws in the Mako had not brought such fear out of the Spectre.

The only time Liara felt such waves of terror coming from Samantha was during her nightmares of the Prothean extinction. Humans had a primordial fear of the shark that went back into genetic memory. It was more than a shark that captured Samantha, it had been these genetic memories. The bond between the lovers could be used to send not just mere thoughts, but the benefit of meditating and centering one's self.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Hunger and pain drove the shark. The scent of its own blood stirring the already burning hunger into a frenzy. Through the winding, jutting, tapered crevassed corridors of coral and rock, long and short, narrow and wide, it continued hunting the 'seals' with little sharp teeth. It wanted to snatch, eat and tear sweet flesh.

Shepard felt a wave of calm radiance enter her mind, caress her spirit, and she knew if for what it was. Liara. Liara touched her mind, and brought reason with her. Shepard hadn't completely cowered in her fear of the shark, certainly hadn't given into it, but she was close. Her attacks were not decisive enough to do lasting damage. This was a battle she didn't understand. The enemy could not be out-thought, intimidated, or reasoned with; it was pure, primal energy. Not even the rachni blood warriors had prepared the Spectre for this battle. Shepard was, quite literally, out of her element. Though trained to fight in zero-gravity, the Spectre had not been instructed on how to kill something that had both speed and bulk built into a body driven by only one need, to gorge itself on food.

Shiala had forgotten the fear, adrenaline and excitement of the Great Hunt. She had thought herself prepared to engage in the Great Hunt before, but there was significant difference from her first Hunt to this. On her first Hunt there were eight other maiden-huntresses with her, as well as three matrons. Here there was only the Spectre. The only way to kill the monster was to use guerrilla tactics. Shepard had almost lost sight of that, and it had nearly cost her her life.

They darted in and out of the coral and rocks, hitting the shark with combinations of biotics and ripping into it with their daggers. The shark banked and turned trying to get at them, it used its bulk and speed, ramming into the brittle castles of coral, shattering them. The blood steadily streaming out of the great shark would call other mighty predators in no time at all. Already there were schools of larger, braver predatory fish zipping past the wounded shark, tearing flesh from is body even as it lived. Slews of sharks were no doubt already on their way. Blood had called them.

The shark turned once more; blinded by frenzy it could no longer differentiate prey from its own blood. The dark shape lumbering lazily near the surface must be a whale. Hunger drove it to hunt. It had no more memory for the 'seals' with sharp little teeth as it drove itself faster and faster for the surface. The whale would be easier.

MEMEMEMEMEME

Williams had heard of great whites shooting to the surface of the ocean to snatch unsuspecting seals, and walruses, but she had never seen it with her own two eyes. This thing, this monster her CO was hunting, sprang out of the water like some demonic ancient submarine. It had been so close to the yacht when it breached that aftershocks of its fall back into water nearly capsized the vessel. Waves washed over the sides, drenching all those on deck in a mountainous spray of water.

"Holy crap! Did you see that thing!" Williams blurted out while scrambling to her feet and rushing to the side railing of the yacht. Water dripped from her dark hair into her brown eyes. Her entire body was wet from head to toe. She turned her head to see what Liara had to say, but her companion was locked in deep meditations, unaware of the events going around her.

The shark's body slapped the surface, churning it into foamy waves before it was pulled by gravity and dropped hard back into the dark depths of the reef.

The asari gathered on the deck were all just was wet, all of them ready to defend the ship with their biotics if the shark tried to attack again. They knew it was disorientated and enraged. Such a thing could be very dangerous for those on the surface. More than a few times the waiting yachts had been capsized by a shark locked in frenzy. More than a few waiting asari had become shark food; it was always a danger during the Great Hunt.

MEMEMEMEMEME

It was falling back towards them. Shepard pushed her energy-taxed body into a rift between narrow ledges of coral and stone. The torpedo shape was plummeting towards her with a speed she could not follow. There was no time. No time.

_Sovereign's hull would smash into her, kill her. It would kill Liara, precious sweet beloved Liara… Liara save Liara. Save Ash. I'm already dead! Save Liara, save Liara, save Liara. PROTECT LIARA!_

Driven by instinct, every fiber of her being summoned up all the power around her and within her to repel the hull. No - shark. It was a shark, it wasn't metal shards of a ship, it was a living creature. Hull-shark… the bulk… careened towards unstoppable. The images raped her memory. The Spectre snarled in her headset and sent a powerful biotic stasis-singularity that tore into the beast. The impact ruptured the thick hide.

The rippling, distorted body contorted in ways not even a shark was meant to move. The singularity burst shot into its muscles and cartilage, twisting them like a soaked dish rag. It flopped back and forth as if stuck on dry land. From her vantage point, Shiala saw what the Spectre was doing and slammed the shark with her own burst of biotic singularity. The creature contorted and thrashed. Frantic, wet thumps of a very big fish trying to swim through a static bubble of element zero reverberated across the reef.

At first the shark was aware of nothing but the inexorable, terrible vacuum pulling it away from the mother-ocean, away from the 'seals' it was determined to devour. It was dead, really, but its brain would not accept that. In a desperate fight for survival, it tried to swim, to pull away, to dive. Within its body the heart had exploded. Pink-black blood burst in an underwater mushroom cloud which rose to the surface of the ocean.

Shepard sagged, exhausted, against the hollow of the reef bed. She heard Shiala shouting her name, but could barely think, barely react. She watched, had to witness, the massive corpse of the shark rise belly up towards the surface. She had to be sure it was dead.

"Captain!" Shiala shouted once more. Then said the only thing she knew would get through to the Spectre: "Come, Liara waits."

"Liara?" The name of her beloved snapped Shepard from her daze. This was not the garden of the Citadel Tower, that hadn't been Sovereign's hull that fell on her, but a terrible monstrous shark, now dead.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

This time when the shark hit the surface, it was very obviously extremely dead. The asari on the yachts used their collective biotic powers to lift the massive fish onto quarterdeck. Ash and Liara watched as the team lashed ropes around the base of the ten-foot tail and maneuvered it so that it hung upside down. From its open mouth poured water, blood and regurgitated fish parts.

"Oh God, that reeks." Ashley repressed her gag reflex. She covered her nose with her forearm, her face taking on a significantly green pallor.

Overhead flocks of seagull-like birds disagreed with her observation, they dived boldly along the deck, swooping up the regurgitated fish and attempting to feed off of the shark itself. On her way to the yacht's starboard side where she felt the pull of her lover's presence, Liara casually cast a gentle biotic push at the birds. It caused the scavengers to lose their lift over the air-currents and take a plunge into the sea or make desperate attempts to regain control over their soaring. It gave the asari enough time to do their work. The 'gulls' would have scraps soon enough to get over the slight of being pushed aside, for asari made quick work of field dressing the fish. They had to be swift or the ruptured organs would contaminate the meat.

Liara watched the now blood-stained murky depths for her lover to surface. She had felt her lover's mind transfer the incident in the garden to the shark's fall after it had leapt out of the water. In her mind, she had seen the dread Samantha felt when the hull was roaring towards her in the garden, the fast, instinctual action to protect herself and the drive to survive. The shark's falling body had become the hull, she had done what she had done to the hull by blasting it with one last desperate singularity burst. The difference was, in the garden, Samantha had been tapped of energy, while with the shark she was still fully centered. The power of that blast had to have destroyed the internal organs of the mighty beast.

Indeed, when the other asari started the field-dressing, it was obvious that the organs had liquefied, pooling out of the body like some macabre waterfall. This was something they had not expected, and it was clearly showing on each blue, purple and teal face. All of them looked decisively ill or disgusted. Ashley lost the battle with her nausea and emptied her stomach over the side of the yacht. Not that she hadn't been seasick before now, but this had been the stick that broke the camel's back.

"Oh that's just gross," Williams said, voicing everyone's thoughts.

Liara continued to desperately watch for Samantha and Shiala in the waters. On the other yachts it was the same. Hannah, John and Sha'ira all watched the water's surface for any sign of the Spectre and matron.

"There!" Liara pointed to when she saw her lover's distinctive black haired head pop out of the water, followed closely by Shiala. The matron seemed to be almost guiding the Spectre towards Liara. The younger asari wasted no time in returning Shepard to the deck. Gently, Liara cast a lift that wrapped itself around human and asari alike, and pulled them from the ocean. Just as gingerly, she lowered her 'catch' to the deck and rushed to Samantha's trembling form. But it was not from fear that caused the Spectre's body to quake.

Small goosebumps covered her body, her teeth chattered, her body shivering in a natural attempt to get warm. Someone had produced large sheet towels for the huntresses. Ashley was quick at her skipper's side, firstly thrilled to have the woman back who had become so dear to her. Secondly to see if she had any injuries. The third would have to wait, but she was dying to tell the Spectre off for worrying her… ah… _Liara_… like that.

Liara held Samantha's shivering form tightly. "Oh my love, what am I going to do with you?" It was a soft rebuke.

"C…C….cold…" Shepard managed to say between chattering teeth.

Liara concentrated, warming the air around them with her biotics. An asari could only affect the air a few millimeters around a body, but it was enough to take the chill away for a moment. "My dear, sweet Samantha." Liara's eyes were a mix of worry and bemusement. "Whilst blue is a very healthy color for an asari, it is definitely _not _the colour for a human." She kissed her betrothed's forehead.

The Spectre flashed a lopsided grin, "You can always warm me up. They say skin to skin contact is the best thing for that."

"Skipper?" Ash's face wasn't touched by bemusement but a steadily rising rage. "With all due respect, are you on red sand or something? The day before your wedding you go do something so… so irresponsible! You… you had me… er… I mean… Liara worried sick! Look at that thing it could have eaten you and not even chewed."

Shepard moved away from her betrothed towards Ashley. She pulled the large towel closer to her body, less for modesty's sake and more for the warmth. Away from Liara the warm 'barrier' had vanished. "Ash… I wasn't alone, and I would have never done this alone. Shiala was with me the whole time. And so was Liara." She pointed to her head. "Without them this couldn't have been done." She reached out and touched the younger woman's arm. "I had to do this. Try to understand, I had to. As much as you have to read Tennyson to your father's grave, I had to do this."

"Reciting poems doesn't make you shark bait!" Ash shouted, that time it wasn't in righteous anger, it was the fear of losing someone who meant almost as much to her as her sisters and her mother did. She blinked away the tears in her eyes, scowling to hide the hurt. "You should have taken me with you. To…to …cover your six," she mumbled. "I would have…you know."

"Ash? I didn't ask you because this was for me to do. Me. Not as a Spectre, not as Shepard the marine, not as a decorated officer of the Navy, not an N7, but simply me…Samantha. A passage from one stage in my life to another. To truly understand what it is to be asari I have to touch the ocean. I have to feel her tides and currents and understand the heart of it. To do that I had to undergo the Great Hunt. And I had other reasons. I had to cleanse myself…a purification.

"Marines have to undergo the crucible… Heartbreak Hill. You did, I did and Kaiden did. Anyone not a marine will never understand Heartbreak Hill. Not one. Pressly never got it, Joker doesn't, not even Chakwas. The only ones that might are those huntresses who go through the Great Hunt. But even Heartbreak Hill could not bring me to understand the Hunt. It is not simply about bringing down the biggest fish in the ocean. It peels away all that you are, revealing the hidden [parts of your sould]. I was terrified down there, Ash. I practically froze. Until Liara touched my mind, my fear would have taken me. And that terrifies me now more than those teeth. I was down there and all my training in battle, my skills to manipulate others, meant nothing. To a shark you are nothing but food. It makes you fight in a whole different level."

"But Skipper, we've faced thresher maws on a handful of other planets. You even faced a hatchery nest on Akuze."

"Yes, it's the same with a thresher maw. Those sand worms eat and kill and that's all they do. As for Akuze, we were far too late. My team and I were groundside investigating a false distress call in a beta listening post when we got the true distress call from the marines trapped at the alpha site. There was no one alive when we arrived. I couldn't save Toombs' team and he must have been already taken by Cerberus. He was the only true survivor of that incident. If I could have saved them I would have. We were simply too late. The thresher maws on Akuze were nearly dead thanks to Toombs and his squad, my team just finished the job. We just did the mop up, nothing more. We took them out then the same way we did when you were with me on those other planets, with the turrets on the Mako. We were relatively safe inside the heavily armored ATV. That was something I didn't have down there. Armed with biotics and a blade… puts a whole new perspective on battle and on yourself. I _had_ to do this, Ash."

Williams sighed heavily and nodded, finally getting what her skipper was telling her. She might not like it, not one little bit, but she understood the reason now. She wasn't simply trying to impress the asari, she wasn't trying to be one of them, she wasn't even trying to culturally understand them.

It was understanding herself. So much had happened to the Skipper, in so short of time, it had been difficult to process everything, but stripping away everything had simplified the chaos. Commander Shepard, now Captain Shepard, endured great hardships and was a war hero – a champion of humanity. The Spectre endured untold dangers, devastation and was a war hero – a champion of Citadel Space. Samantha…the woman behind the titles, loved by a remarkable woman, had survived unfathomable challenges. Handicapped by a healing body and fear, she had overcome _this_ challenge by her innate skills and by those of her companions and loved ones: by Liara's reassurance and calm, and by Shiala's guidance and experience. Samantha, the woman, had survived. And could endure. That was what this Hunt had shown her, given her, and slowly Williams began to understand.

Shepard was once more feeling the coolness of the air, and her body began to steadily shiver. Liara took from her the damp towel and replaced it with a warm, clean plush blanket. "Come, we will talk of this more below decks. Shiala has already gone below and taken a quick shower. There will be plenty of hot water left for you to cleanse yourself, my love." Soft lips touched her temple. "Besides, you have seaweed in your hair, perhaps you need assistance in removing it."

Samantha grinned mischievously. "Oohh, does this mean I get to share my shower with you?"

"Is that not what I hinted at?" Liara guided her shivering lover below decks and into the ensuite.

Liara undid the seals of her tunic, allowing it to slip to the floor. It was quickly followed by her trousers, which pooled at her already bare feet. Shepard watched hungrily as her naked lover turned the control settings of the shower stall. The water was turned to a level of heat that filled the room with steam. Liara turned and silently took her lover's hands into her own and quietly guided the Spectre into the shower with her. Near scalding water cascaded around them, the steam warming the shivering body.

"I know you want to talk about the Hunt, Liara…"

Samantha felt her body shiver in a completely different way when she felt her betrothed's naked flesh press up against hers.

"No, I do not," the asari said in the same tone of voice that the Spectre had used on Noveria. Even now, the soothing voice of that answer slipped into Liara's mind.

_"__You want to question me about my mother, Commander?"_

_"__No__,__ I don't. You may not be military Liara, but you're part of my team. I trust you."_

That had meant so much to the young archaeologist. No one had ever said as much to her. '_**I trust you, Liara**_.' "I trust you Samantha." Liara whispered softly. "I stood at your side while you explained to Ashley, and I understand why you needed to perform the Great Hunt. You simply didn't feel this need to embrace asari culture or one if its daughters, but to understand yourself. Samantha the woman has survived the hardships her titles could not have helped her with. You are more than the sum of your ranks and title, my love. The Spectre and Captain can only survive if Samantha does. Samantha does not overcome danger, battle, war and hardships because she is one rank or another, or one title or another, but because of who you are." Liara placed her hand upon her beloved's now scarred breast, "In here, and in here." She touched Samantha's brow.

Just as silently as she maneuvered Samantha into the shower, Liara was now just as quietly pouring shower-gel into the palm of her hand before placing it on Samantha's lightly tanned body.

"I didn't do it alone."

"No. And no huntress has ever performed the Great Hunt alone." Liara's hands had caused the soap to lather up nicely, causing Samantha's skin to become slick under her hands. Blue hands took advantage of the frictionless movements to entice and bewitch her lover's senses.

"I didn't mean it that way, Beautiful. I'm grateful for the help. I'm saying I couldn't have done it without you." Samantha's head tilted back allowing the heated spray of water to run down her chest, enjoying all the subtle touches of Liara's oh so talented fingers. "You centered the storm within me. You gave me calm so I could see my fear and let it pass through me. Even if I had eight other huntresses down there with me facing off _Jaws_, there was no way I could have done it without your calm center." Samantha planted a soft kiss on her beloved. Her body aroused beyond containing it. A new storm, a deliberate storm, had cascaded within her, one she didn't want calmed, the way it had been in the ocean depths.

Deft fingers, soft lips, and gentle touches of mind found secret places that brought out gasps of joy and need. Bodies slick with water and bubbles slid easily against each other, creating moans of enflamed desire. Lips trailed down throats, nipping softly at hardened nipples as hands worshiped the inner warmth, coaxing the heightened bliss of shared-climax. One set of blue eyes became solid black, another dilated nearly the same colour. Steam coiled around their bodies like a third lover as hearts, minds and souls became bound; one to another.


	8. Marriage of Ture Minds

Chapter 8: Marriage of True Minds

Nelyna answered the door to her mistress's suite and was a little shocked to find the young Dr. T'Soni standing at the threshold holding a plain white cardboard box. The acolyte recovered quickly and schooled her expression to one of welcome and warmth as if she was standing as hostess in the chambers aboard the Citadel Station. She had only seen the young asari in passing when Shepard returned to the chambers holding onto Mayas. Nelyna's attention was drawn at the time to the granddaughter of her mistress and not to the Prothean expert. Now that she stood face to face with Dr. T'Soni, she saw very familiar azure eyes looking back at her. Even the coloring of her crest was exactly the same as the Consort's.

Sha'ira had not kept the fact she had another daughter secret. She had been so distraught over the past few days that Nelyna had become exceptionally concerned, and pleaded with her mistress to share her grief. And once more the Consort relayed the story. Each retelling of the story however, didn't make it any easier it, only seemed to set in stone how much she had lost.

For a moment Nelyna hesitated, she didn't know how to address her mistress to Dr. T'Soni. With Commander Racen it was easy. Mother. Sire or dame was an acceptable, if not old-fashioned, form of address, but the acolyte didn't know if the two estranged family members had settled on such. In the end, Nelyna opted for a more generic form of address that would not alienate the younger woman standing before her. "I will inform my mistress that you are here, Dr. T'Soni."

"Thank you," Liara responded cordially.

"May I retrieve anything for you? Refreshments perhaps?"

"That will not be necessary." Liara paused as if to consider her next words very carefully. "Simply inform my dame I am here."

"Of course." Nelyna tilted her head slightly to acknowledge the familiarity the archeologist had used to address Sha'ira. With her back turned to the Matriarch's daughter, Nelyna smiled. The term dame would surely lift Sha'ira's melancholia.

Instead of being ushered back into the consort's study, Sha'ira gracefully made her way to her daughter. "Liara?" she said the name softly.

"I will make you no promises. That being said, I will give you…us… the possible relationship between us... a period of probation of an indeterminate time. As a start to this probation, I believe that you should be required to wear this during my Hand-Fasting ceremony." Liara handed the box to the consort.

"What is it?"

Liara grinned mischievously. "A trinket. However unlike the one you gave my Samantha, this one's use will become readily apparent."

Sha'ira reverently opened the lid of the box and gasped. "Liara… I… Thank you."

The young woman nodded. "If you will excuse me, I need to prepare for the ceremony. I asked Samantha to wear her mess dress; I cannot simply appear in my casual clothing and lab coat." She smiled slightly. "You may assist me." The request was shyly given. "Besides, you have been through a similar ceremony, I can only benefit from your experience."

"I am delighted to help you, Liara, however I am able. One note of advice: when you see your beloved taking the seven steps with you, remember to breathe. Slow and steady. Advice no doubt Hannah has given her own daughter as well. Also, do not forget to take your steps forward because you are too star-struck by your lover's presence. Benezia and I both forgot to move our feet towards each other after the speaking of the first vow. Our Trusted had to push each of us forward." She laughed slightly at the memory.

"Who was my Mother's Trusted?" Liara asked.

"Shiala."

That didn't surprise the archeologist. After all, Shiala had always been very close to Benezia. First ranked amongst the Disciples and Liara's first tutor, after Benezia herself of course, in commando style biotics. When she was a youngling, Liara had even asked if it was Shiala who was her sire. Benezia said no. Shiala was her Trusted not her partner. At the time, the word 'Trusted' meant very little to a five year old. Now, however, the pieces fit together.

Liara pulled herself away from the past to the here and now. "I know about the pearl in the bracelet. Was that you or Aethyta?"

Just as Lidanya said it would be, instead of anger in the young maiden's voice, there was cool detachment, almost scientifically so.

"The pearl is mine."

A nod of the head. "Then who stood for Aethyta ? It wasn't you."

"No. It wasn't me, though I of course was present." The Consort shook her head, "Actually it was Lidanya. We have always had a very strong friendship. As you know, a Trusted is just that - someone other than your beloved whom you trust not only with yourself but with the life of your partner. That has always been Lidanya. I was pleased when Racen and she became bonded. The fact she presides over your own ceremony heartens me greatly. For she will protect this union and defend it just as the Matriarch who presided over your mother's Hand Fasting had always done."

"Who presided over the ceremony?"

"Councilor Tevos."

To this answer the younger asari gave no reply but her eyes clearly reflected her surprise. _Layers upon layers upon layers. If these women were present at the Hand Fasting did they not know of my parentage? Is it obvious? Why did none of them speak of it, comment upon it? It makes no sense. And where is Aethyta? _

In the far distance she heard the soft touch of her lover's mind. Liara meant only for her inner ramblings to be just that - inner thoughts. But she transmitted them so strongly that Samantha picked it up. '_Maybe because Benezia commanded a great deal of respect and they thought to honor her wishes by keeping their silence. Considering the idea of a child born of two asari and all... Their silence might also be tied to that missing year.'_

'_It is a mystery I wish to solve, but now is not the time. I have more important and pleasant matters that take my attention.'_

Liara gasped as she felt her Samantha send waves of affection into her soul_. 'I love you too__,__ babe. I just hope I don't make a total ass out of myself out there.'_

'_I will be there for you, my sweet Spectre. Have no fear.'_ In the background of her mind, Liara felt, rather than heard, Samantha's laughter. She smiled in return.

Sha'ira waited patiently. She knew her daughter and the Shepard shared a bond formed out of Joined minds. Theirs seemed to be particularly strong. It was only a few seconds, but it was long enough for Sha'ira's empathic gift to kick in and see her daughter for who she truly was. There was untapped power beneath the calm introverted shell. Power that only Benezia held, power that, when unleashed, could be devastating if corrupted. Power that could bring hope if uplifted and directed. Coupled with Sha'ira's empathic prowess, Liara could become a very influential and momentous leader amongst the asari. If only she allowed herself to be so. But the shadow of Benezia's own greatness hung low and oppressive over the maiden. Time would give Liara freedom from her mother's reputation and hone her into a remarkable Matriarch and leader of the asari people.

"May I ask, Liara, who have you chosen as your Trusted? I would think that Lieutenant Williams will be the Spectre's Trusted." Sha'ira brought her attention back to the upcoming ceremony.

"She is. As for myself, I have chosen Tali. During our travels she has become a good friend and ally. We have fought the geth, Saren and Sovereign side by side. As Samantha would say, I trust her to cover my six, but more importantly, I trust her to cover Samantha's. Ashley is to Samantha as a sister I think. They have a very strong and formidable friendship. Their relationship is almost as an asari commander and her junior officer rather than that of two humans. The human military is closer to turian than asari. Their ranks create great, unseen lines between officers and subordinates. However, Samantha and Ashley have disregarded this precept for the more binding ties of asari military. Indeed, Ashley too will, no doubt, be offering her own candid advice, as well as tease her '_Skipper__'_. She is quite outspoken."

"Yes, I have noticed this," Sha'ira said. "No doubt she will be very vocal with her opinions concerning the traditional robes of the Hand Fasting. I assume you will be wearing such?"

Liara nodded. "Neither I nor Samantha find the human 'white dress' appropriate. Samantha is forgoing most, if not all, human based traditions with our Bonding."

"This troubles you."

"I do not think it is wise she turn aside her own culture for mine. I now understand why she went on the Hunt yesterday. She did so for her sense of self and not for me."

"Had it been only for you, it would have been a sacrilege to both you and the Goddess, Samantha knew this. I do not think she is forsaking her own culture, Liara. She is trying to find her niche, which was one of the reasons she had to perform the Great Hunt. She was born to wear her uniform. That is her culture - that is her tradition. You go into the Hand Fasting with a commando, a huntress, and she will always be so. She was born to lead, Liara. She was born to be a Spectre.

"The trouble is she is torn between her vow to the human military and her oath as a Spectre. This will tear her apart, you must see to it that it does not. I do not believe that the Alliance military understands just what it means to be a Spectre, and now that she is one, she no longer answers to Alliance Brass. This troubles her so. It is screaming within her mind...in her heart. That is my greatest, and often times most painful, gift. I can see into the hearts of others and see them for who they are and will become. Samantha has only known military. You have met with her parents and know why this is so. This is why she turns to the ways of asari. Harmony and the military are one, something that is lacking in humanity's warriors.

"Samantha holds our culture to her because she feels akin to it, more so now than before. I do not profess to understand the changes or the gestalt that took you and her, but it has changed you both significantly. Our culture has given her a firm ground to stand upon which her own could not do. Humans are a very young race, and so inexperienced in understanding biotics, the galaxy around them and other species. Our culture has given her clarity and you give the great storm within her peace and the ability to rise out of the ashes."

Liara allowed the words of her dame to infiltrate her mind. "That is not the first time Samantha has been compared to a storm and I her calm center. Nor is it the first time the reference of the human phoenix has been used."

"I doubt it will be the last, my daughter."

Liara looked up to meet identical blue eyes staring at her. It had been the first time Sha'ira had used a parental term. It wasn't unsettling as much as it was alien. She said nothing but smiled softly. "I have taken that into account when I had this made. It was a rush job, but the jewelers created a remarkable piece of art. Humans do not wear promise amulets, but rather rings to mark their Union with their partners. I had this one created for Samantha. She is not fond of gold outside the practical uses for engineering. This was made with silver."

Liara showed the older woman a blue velvet box she had kept in her breast pocket of the outer robe she covered herself with to fend off the dawn-chill coming off the ocean. Inside the box was a wedding ring made of silver. The band had been carefully crafted to resemble a phoenix with its wings in full spread. Each feather of the mythic bird was micro-detailed to resemble the true fathers of the fantastical avian. The head was turned aside over one 'shoulder' in a scream. The flames around the body were etched with sapphire dust which had an overall ethereal effect. The eye had inset a sapphire (the heart of Athame) as not to catch on anything that could become a danger to the Spectre while in combat. The eye of the phoenix was a beautiful sapphire, and it represented the heart of Athame. It was inset slightly so as not to catch on anything that could be a danger to the Spectre while in combat. When it was completed, Liara was giddy with pleasure. It was perfect.

"Samantha will adore it as much as you treasure your bracelet." Sha'ira thought it so very fitting that the 'trinket' she had given the Spectre was now used in the promise necklace of her first-sired daughter.

"Come, we should prepare otherwise you will be late to your own Bonding."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"You know Skipper, it is a little… creepy to be wearing your full dress after having worn it to Benezia's funeral."

"Lady Benezia," Shepard corrected. She didn't find it appropriate to dismiss the matriarch's title simply because the woman was dead. "And no, the last thing I want this tied to is a period of mourning. But Liara wanted me to wear it. I won't wear a dress if I can help it, and a tux seemed to be a little out of place here. Besides, I know how to be a soldier, being dressed in civvies is…weird."

"I hear ya, Skipper. So that's why you ordered I dress in the stiff formal?"

"You look good, Lieutenant," Shepard said. "Only... there is one thing wrong with the uniform."

Ashley froze. She looked to the new ribbons and rank insignias hoping the tailor she had asked to do the alterations hadn't screwed things up. The blood stripe reflected her new rank as did the lieutenant's bars and stripes. The cummerbund and bow tie were the right color so what was wrong?

"That sword is no longer appropriate, Williams. You're not a NCO anymore. Where's your Mameluke sword?"

"Oh." Williams looked relieved that it was something not too horrible. "Sorry, Ma'am, but I didn't have time or the credits to get the right sword." Officers always had to buy their own swords or have them handed down by another member of the family if they had earned the right to one. Without saying a word, Ashley un-cinched the offending relic and placed it on the Skipper's bed. It was better not to have a sword than wear the wrong one. Besides, she wasn't going to be an embarrassment to the uniform or to her Skipper.

"No, that won't do either." Shepard picked up her sword from the desk in the room and quickly cinched the scabbard around Ashley's waist. "Better."

Ash was struck dumb. Her hand touched the traditional long sword as if it were Excalibur. "Ma'am…?" her voice cracked.

"It's tradition, Ash. As a lieutenant you are now entitled to wear the Mameluke sword."

"Yes ma'am but…but it's your sword!"

"Not anymore Ash. That one is now yours."

Ash's jaw dropped.

"There is another ancient Earth custom, something borrowed, something new, something old and something blue. Dad lent me his cufflinks, you gave me the new cologne and Mom gave me her sword this morning when she delivered the cufflinks. The cufflinks go back, but I get to keep her sword. It's been in my mother's family for generations, long before the founding of the Alliance, when the first Shepard entered into the Marines. It's at least two, if not three, centuries old." She strapped on the antique sword to her waist. "Guess I should explain about the name thing."

"Your mother did when she first came aboard the _Normandy_. She said your Dad actually spells his with a double p."

"Yeah, guess that makes me one hundred percent Shepard ehe?" the Spectre laughed.

Ashley did something she wouldn't have dreamed of doing months ago. She grabbed Shepard into a tight bear hug. Shocked by her own actions, she took three giant steps back and shakily saluted.

Shepard burst out laughing as she snapped a solid salute back.

Ash cocked a crooked embarrassed grin. "Sorry Ma'am, won't happen again."

"It's okay Ash, I think today we can forget ranks for a few hours."

The younger woman looked relieved. "So…ah…something blue?"

"Liara of course." The Spectre flashed a coy if not mischievous grin.

Ashley couldn't contain her burst of hilarity if she tried.

MEMEMEMEMEME

The air was filled with a rich variety of smells: wood smoke, roasted shark, smoked fish, and most pronounced of all, the perfume of flowers. The flowers were everywhere, brilliantly colored blooms of all sizes, all colors. Hannah and John Shepard and Consort Sha'ira were wreathed in crimson, yellow, green and blue orchids, the traditional leis of parents. Sha'ira wore hers with undeniable pride. It was this lei that had been in the box handed to her this morning. Hannah smirked and nodded her head to her counterpart. It was a start.

Ashley and Tali wore a wreath of flowers around their heads (though Tali looked a little surreal wearing it) and leis of matching blossoms around their necks. They waited opposite each other for their charges to present themselves from twin archways constructed out of grape vines that had been covered in blue and red roses.

Samantha appeared first, looking proud and regal in her mess dress. A true champion.

But it was Liara's garb that caused all to suck in a breath of air. If she looked ravishing in her gown during the awards ceremony she was beyond alluring now. Traditional asari Hand-fasting gowns left very little to the imagination. The front of the gown was made of translucent sea green silk and cut in such a way it resembled a Y. The arms of the Y were narrow strips that formed straps along the shoulders and fell across her breasts. The material so sheer, so translucent you could clearly see the fullness of her breast and it did nothing to conceal her nipples. The stem of the Y was a narrow band of material that covered her belly button and groin but left her waist and hips uncovered. The band formed a thong in the back and trailed up her spine to branch out in the arms of the Y. About her hips she wore what might be better called a sarong, for the garment wasn't in the strictest sense a skirt. It was clearly knotted, slightly askew of her virginal area to give the overall effect of an air of demure seduction. The bunched material covered Liara's most intimate area, but also gave the hint she was sans undergarments. Her arms were covered in long, fingerless gloves similar to those she had worn to the awards ceremony. She was barefooted which furthered the alluring look. Around her throat was the promise necklace.

"You're not breathing," Ash whispered, pushing her Skipper. The Spectre didn't even react, she simply stared at her beloved.

'_You approve_.' Liara smiled coyly.

Shepard was only able to flash a rather stupid looking grin. It was as if she was a teenager and received her very first kiss. A very primitive impulse struck the Spectre, forming only one word. _'MINE!'_

Liara smiled. '_I am, as you are mine_.'

"Skipper, you have to get married before you go all primal and carry her off over your shoulder and have your way with her." Ash put a very tight and restraining hand on the Spectre's arm, feeling her flex in protest at being held back. As for herself, Ashley thought Liara was beyond ravishing. The woman oozed sex. Once more, the young officer found herself fantasizing about touching and being touched by another woman. In this case though, it wasn't her powerful Skipper but an asari.

"You are so beautiful," Samantha said and sent at the same time.

"She is," Ashley commented softly. Right now wasn't the time or place to crack a joke at her Skipper's reaction. She couldn't blame Shepard's response to the gown. Asari traditional Hand-fasting garments aside, Liara appeared in a 'come fuck me' outfit and had done so for her Samantha.

Aside from the sheer sea green gown, Liara wore upon her head a feathered headdress that draped down her back down to her knees in a V formation. It had a crest of macaw and toucan feathers, borders of finch and bluebird tail feathers, and even the wing feathers of the small cyan bird that was known as the 'tear of the forest'. A double line of blue-green lotus blossoms and orchids ran parallel to the feathers. Blue the color the Mother Ocean.

Samantha also wore a similar head-dress, though instead of greens and blues, hers consisted of fiery red and orange macaw feathers, deep crimson lotus blossoms and orchids. Red the color life bringing fire.

Phoenix and Wave - Fire and Water - both could become a storm. Both represented in Samantha and Liara.

Matriarch Lidanya stood before the sacred fire garbed as she had been for the funeral; in the customary sacred black robes of Athame. Slowly, she raised her hands over her head before she brought them down in an arch, like the opening of a blossom. Open palms were facing up and pointing to her left and right where the two lovers stood opposite each other. Her voice clear and strong as she spoke the ancient words of Hand-Fasting:

"There was a seeking of the lost, now it is found. A mate is found, one to share the chills of winter, the winds of the tempest, the waves of the tsunami, the laugher of daughters, the fields of battle. A mate is found to share great wisdoms, knowledge, memories and dreams. A mate is found to share in the unknown future with enlightenment. Love has made a plea that you two now become one, here in Mother Ocean. You are to be Hand-Fasted and the prayer has gone its way." She looked from one lover to the other, before bringing her hand together in a booming clap. It was the cue to begin the Seven Vows, Seven Steps towards the Hand-Fasting.

Both Samantha and Liara were to take seven steps _sunwise_ around the sacred fire. For each step taken, a vow was said by each. They would do this until they joined each other in a circle of blue and red blossoms. Family and friends would create a half circle around them, hand in hand around the fire.

Liara moved first, and with her first step towards her marriage to the Spectre she spoke the words. "O' my beloved, our love has become firm by your walking one with me. Together we will share the responsibilities of the lodge, battle and daughters. May the Goddess bless noble children to share. May they live long."

Samantha had stayed up long trying to memorize the traditional words of the ancient asari vows of matrimony. Liara would argue it wasn't matrimony as humans understood the term, but it was profound union. She took her first words and in a confident voice recited the expected words. "This is my commitment to you, my beloved. Together we will share the responsibility of the home, battle and daughters. I promise that I shall discharge all my share of the responsibilities for the welfare of the family and children"

Liara's second step was taken. "O' my beloved, now you have walked with me the second step. May the Goddess bless you. I will love you and you alone. I will fill your heart with strength and courage: This is my commitment and my pledge to you. May the Goddess protect our Union."

Samantha grew bolder with each step and strangely, more giddy. "My beloved, at all times I shall fill your heart with courage and strength. In your happiness I shall rejoice. May Goddess bless you and our honorable Union."

By her third step Liara was practically trembling. "O my beloved, now since you have walked three steps with me, our wealth and prosperity will grow. May Goddess bless us. May we educate our children and may they live long in ascending wisdom and knowledge.

The Spectre sent waves of her love to Liara as she took a third step. "My soul-mate, I love you with single-minded devotion as my beloved. My devotion to you is pure and you are my joy. This is my commitment and pledge to you."

"O' my beloved, it is a great blessing that you have now walked four steps with me. May the Goddess bless you. You have brought favor and sacredness in my life." Liara sent back her own joy.

"O my beloved, in all acts of righteousness, in prosperity, in every form of enjoyment, and in those divine acts such as the Great Hunt, worship and charity, I promise you that I shall participate and I will always be with you." _So far so good_, Shepard thought to herself she had remembered the vow of the fourth step.

"O' my beloved, now you have walked five steps with me. I will share both in your joys and sorrows, your sweet dreams and your nightmares. May the Goddess bless us." Liara's fifth vow resonated strongly for both of them. Many a night now the Spectre woke shuddering from her nightmares of the Prothean's end. Only Liara's presence seemed to bring her any ease.

"O my beloved, I will share both in your joys and sorrows, your sweet dreams and your nightmares. Your love will make me very happy.

Liara took her sixth step, her heart pounding loudly, quickly. With each step of their hand fasting grew into greater reality. "O' my beloved, by walking six steps with me, you have filled my heart with happiness. May I fill your heart with great joy and peace, time and time again. May the Goddess bless you."

"My beloved, the Goddess blesses you. May I fill your heart with great joy and peace. I promise that I will always be with you. I will protect you and accept your protection. Together there is no tempest we cannot storm."

The final step brought Liara into the ring of red and blue lotus flowers. The symbol of fire and water both needed to create life, intertwining, mingling becoming one glorious whole.

"O my beloved, as you have walked the seven steps with me, our love and friendship have become inseparable and firm. We have experienced spiritual Union in the Goddess. Now you have become completely mine. I offer my total self to you."

Samantha stepped into the ring taking her lover's shaking blue hands into her own trembling ones. "O my beloved, as you have walked the seven steps with me, our love and friendship have become inseparable and firm. We have experienced spiritual Bond in the Goddess. Now you have become completely mine. I offer my total self to you."

Liara held her beloved's left hand into her own. In the palm of her hand she had kept hidden the intricate silver phoenix ring and gently pushed it home on Samantha's ring finger. "To have and to hold from this day forward." She added the human words to the ceremony of seven vows and steps. "Let this ring be your symbol of our Bonding."

The Spectre had not expected such an extravagant, and yet still tastefully simple gift. She stared dumbly at the ring, the weight of it on her finger making the ceremony seem all that more real, that much more solid. "To have and to hold, from this day forward," she echoed Liara's words, just before she placed the bonding bracelet on Liara's wrist.

And then she kissed her wife.

Arms entwined. Holding their bodies close, eyes dangerously close to becoming black as the kiss deepened. It was a subtle cough from Tali and a bump in the back from Ash that separated the two. Their blushing faces creating soft chuckles from those around them.

The ceremony ended with a ritual sharing of sweet _elasa _from three flat cups stacked on top of one another. Liara led the ritual, taking three sips from the first cup, followed by Samantha, who also took three sips from the first cup. Then they move on to the second and third cups. The _sweet elasa _was then offered to the couple's families. In Liara's case it had been Sha'ira and Racen.

The families had their own words that were customary to recite. Together, the four of them spoke as one. "May you have walls for the wind and wave and roof for the rain, drinks beside the fire. Laughter to cheer you, your love near you, and all that your heart may desire."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

The whole of the wedding party and guests were ushered into the banquet hall for the wedding feast that followed the ceremony. By Liara's insistence, the hall had been laid out according to the more human traditions of the bride's table and smaller round tables for the guests. Before each guest's place at their individual tables were small, wrapped boxes. It is a human custom to offer Groom's cake, but instead of a confection, every guest had been given the gift of one of the sacred friaxon shark's teeth. It was a symbol of blessings, strength, courage and righteousness.

Behind the bride's, table a waterfall cascaded from the fountains, creating a rippling aquatic curtain. Small vid-projectors were fitted in the fountain's bed so that images of playing orcas could be viewed. How the asari got hold of old documentary film footage of wild orcas was unknown, but not surprising given their resourcefulness. Both the Shepard women thought it a remarkable display of unification of ancient religions.

Indeed, the whole feast had an underlined aquatic theme to it. Each dish in the asari Hand-Fasting banquet was a symbolic wish: For happiness, prosperity, long life and many children. The shark Samantha had hunted was the primary course in the meal. It had been smoked until the flesh had turned a peppery black, representing the color of asari eyes in the thrall of deep passion. It was followed by other varieties of seafood. Carp was served with the tail and head forced up from the plate forming a circle, the symbol of eternity. Clams were served with both shells together, the two halves symbolizing the couple. Lobster was often served for its deep red color, the color of luck.

"You are magnificent, Liara. That dress…"

"It is traditional for the Hand-fasting as much as the white gown is for humans." Liara was feeling a little self-conscious.

It hadn't occurred to the young woman that human males would find her garments less than respectful. She had seen Ashley cuff Joker quite hard over something she had not heard, but it had obviously been about her the gown. Her father-in-law never met her eyes, always looking at Samantha with disapproval. She had even heard him say: 'You allowed that _woman _to parade around like some common street hooker? You can see all of her bits through that scrap of cloth she dares to call a wedding gown!'

Samantha frowned and told him 'This is the asari way, _**Father**_**.** Their ways are not our ways. I can adapt and I accept. If you can't, you can leave. Thank you for the show of your face, but with all due respect _Major Shepard_, you're dismissed if you going to make this an issue. You will not become problematic on my wedding day.'

Even Captain Anderson had a small problem with the attire, less out of being scandalized but because he had profound respect for the young woman who was marrying his junior officer. Seeing the nearly nude form put thoughts into his mind that a man of his age shouldn't be entertaining, especially about someone else's newly wedded wife.

"I know, Li and it's wonderful. Forget them." Samantha dismissed the murmurs from the humans. "It's our day. It's beautiful: stimulating, tantalizing and perfect." Samantha ran her hands along the soft silk material on her wife's arms. She placed two gentle fingers under Liara's chin lifted her head back and kissed her soundly. Nipping at her lips, neck even as she nuzzled the soft velvet folds of her crest, she whispered, "Perfection."

"Perhaps I should keep this for a private showing." Liara's voice became husky.

"Please do." Samantha continued to shower Liara with kisses until the young maiden's eyes became solid black.

Sha'ira, Lidanya, Shiala and Racen discreetly lifted the couple behind the water curtain allowing them a few moments of privacy. The young lovers hadn't been aware they were projecting their desires outward. In fact, every asari present had been feeling the effects of Samantha and Liara's libidinous responses for one another, and it had been building. Making them all feel _sand in the crest._

Following the feast was dancing. The dances helped create a distraction, for the newlyweds had yet to emerge from the hidden alcove behind the false waterfall. It was unlikely they would for some time. They had stopped projecting their strong desires, but anyone remotely telepathically inclined had felt the wave of wanton lusts. It was up to the more experienced asari matriarchs and matrons to put out the fires, as it were, until the newlyweds reemerged two hours later.

Unlike the custom in human receptions where the first dance is with the newly married couple, followed by the father of the bride and his daughter dance, the asari opened with only the married couple. Even if the traditional father-daughter dance was to be performed, Liara wasn't in a comfortable frame of mind with Sha'ira as of yet, and John Sheppard had left just after the feast. That he had stayed as long as he had was only from the threat of pain of a wife's wrath.

Accommodating the fact his only child was a lesbian was something the man could accept. Having his only child married to an alien, even one as intelligent and capable as Dr. Liara T'Soni, was more than he wanted to bear. The cufflinks he had lent Samantha was due only to a frigid glare from his wife and the threat he 'had better play nice or else'. She never said what that 'or else' was, and knowing Hannah as he did, John had no desire to find out. He rather face a whole platoon of geth armed only with a baseball bat than discover what that 'or else' was.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Indeed, the Hand-Fasting between the first human Spectre and the daughter of a renowned, recently acquitted Matriarch was something everyone was talking about all across Citadel Space. The news-vids continually flooded the extranet with the story. There were several opinions about the topic, some pronouncing that it was found to be a true star-crossed lovers' romance, while some believed the marriage was another strut in the bridge between humanity and the other races, specially the founding council races. Still others thought it was a race-betrayal for Captain Shepard to even contemplate shacking up with an alien, let alone marry one in some heathen ritual. On the non-human side, some thought it disgusting that an asari daughter would engage in an illicit affair with a human, even if she was the first Spectre and Savior of the Council. She was still human…

Sacrificing human lives, even if it got humanity a seat on the Council, was a betrayal to many. To marry one of the aliens, especially the promiscuous asari, was, to several parties, completely unforgivable and sacrilegious.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Far from Asari space, far from the hands of the Citadel Council, a conclave was held in a private conference room in the upper floors of the Mezzanine hotel upon the frozen world of Noveria. Those in attendance at this unconventional business meeting were positively atypical, even for hired mercenaries: asari, krogan, batarian, turian, human and salarian. All of whom waited impatiently for the holo-imager to project the image of their patron.

"This better be worth it," Inamorda rumbled. His deep krogan bass created a jarring sensation in the bones of those sitting close to him.

Aleena was a unique specimen for asari being that she was, not only a highly trained commando huntress, but a mercenary. Her dark blue eyes looked over her counterparts and she began to wonder why Wrex wasn't amongst their numbers. Rumors had it he had gone legit and was now running with the Alliance Military as some kind of scout. Still, it was strange he wasn't in attendance. The amount of incentive credits just for showing up would have wetted the brute's thirst for ready cash over any commitment he would have given to the human's military. Each face here the asari knew by reputation, if not by competition of a contract.

The two salarian females were twins, as much as those born to a brood could be, as they had hatched from the same egg. They called themselves 'Mournful Blades.' They were deadly by themselves, but together they were beyond lethal.

The seven batarians were a part of the Blue Suns, a mercenary band of slavers, drug pushers and smuggling contraband, and specialized in inhuming notable targets.

The five turians, Aleena knew, dealt with illegal mods as much as they did contract work. Apparently they were the only ones left after a large bust made by C-Sec. This bunch was far less subtle than the typical assassin-mercs, but you couldn't argue with results.

The nine humans gathered together like a pack of snarling kath hounds, keeping as far apart from the others as the room made allowances for. The shoulders of their black varren leather jackets bore the twin intersecting diamond insignia of Cerberus.

"You are gathered here because of your talents, skills and numerous victories," came a distorted voice over the comm-system just before the flickering orange glow of a hologram was projected. The figure looked to be a human male, but the face was deliberately distorted and flickered so a positive ID could not be established. "By coming here you have agreed to the contract. Your involvement only requires you to find and eliminate your target. We have an inside agent working with us, so locating them will not be difficult. This agent's loyalty has never been question by the target's associate and therefore can move about without impunity. Their transmissions will be unremarkable as they are known to send several transmissions as a necessary part of their occupation aboard the target's ship."

A high profile kill, a very high profile kill, Aleena surmised. By the expressions of the others within the room, they had all come to the same conclusion. And each one of them had just upped their fee.

"Just one target?" Inamorda snorted. "You called in heavy guns for just one target."

"She does not travel alone, it may be necessary to eliminate her companions. For each head you will be awarded accordingly. If you manage to inhume her closest companion you will be very well awarded: You will have enough credits to buy your own moon."

"Just who is this target?" Aleena grew more and more suspicious.

"A Prothean archeologist, Dr. Liara T'Soni."

Aleena frowned. She knew that name, as any asari did. Matriarch Benezia had been without peer. From the news-vids, she knew the matriarch to be dead and given full honors on Thessia. Killing a daughter of such a notable matriarch wasn't going to be easy. Her fee just went up again.

"You called in a lot of guns, human, just to take out a single asari bitch," one of the Blue Suns commented, glaring at Aleena. "An archeologist?" he laughed. "What's the catch?"

The boys from Cerberus shifted uneasily. They had all read the reports from the head office. This T'Soni was an extremely powerful and deadly biotic. She also traveled in the company of a Spectre. A human Spectre that had been responsible for wiping out several labs and the death of dozens of Cerberus mercs.

"The Spectre whore she has allied herself with is the catch," the hologram said angrily. "That human-traitor has become more trouble than she is worth. Destroy T'Soni, you destroy the Spectre."

"The Spectre is the true target, not the archeologist," Aleena said. Her price just doubled over its previous raise.

"If you believe you can take her down, I will offer no protest. However it is easier to strike at the Spectre's most vulnerable spot, and that is the archeologist. Destroy her and you destroy the Spectre."

"Why would you want your Spectre destroyed?" one of the Turians barked. "Isn't she a paragon of humanity? Savior of Elysium, of the Citadel? Wasn't it she who made sure there were enough humans sacrificed in the war with the geth and Saren to give your race a seat on the Council. Why do you want her dead? "

"She is the furthest thing from being a paragon of humanity! She is a danger. I happen to know, if anything where to happen to her asari pet, she would go rogue. Just like Saren. Can this galaxy truly afford another rogue Spectre? I represent a political party of Earth that will fund this expedition, and believe me, she has no allies amongst them. She has made some powerful enemies. Even the Shadow Broker is displeased with her. Hunt down and kill Dr. Liara T'Soni and you will be well rewarded, I promise you. Each of you have already been paid a healthy stipend and the promise of much, much more. Each of you will be issued OSD's with relevant data on this contract to start your planning." The hologram went dark, leaving many questions about the contract in the dark along with it.

Everyone tripled their price.

MEMEMEMEMEME

A/N 1: If anyone has the _Art of Mass Effect_ look to page 22-23 this is the inspiration for Liara's gowns both at the award ceremony and the wedding.

A/N 2: the vows, ceremony and words are taken from Native American, Hawaiian, Japanese and Viking marriages.


	9. Changes

Chapter Nine: Changes

"They're both changing," the salarian Councilor Valern said quietly. "Though it is more pronounced in Shepard."

"How?" Anderson was already aware of his protégée's altered alpha and beta waves in her hippocampus, but this was something new.

The Council had gathered together the day after the Hand Fasting at Tevos's insistence. She had grown concerned over the small incident during the reception with the newlyweds broadcasting their affections for one another so strongly that everyone had been slightly affected. Fortunately, the matrons and matriarchs present had been swift enough to dampen the lovers' libidinous projections before something scandalous occurred. When Tevos returned to her chambers, she had ordered full medical reports on Shepard and Dr. T'Soni. She shared her findings with her fellow Council members, as well as the dire need to discuss the topic.

"Dr. Chakwas' report reveals that their endocrine systems are fluctuating," the other male said simply.

"Explain this please," Sparatus, the turian Councilor, nearly demanded.

"The asari and human endocrine systems work on the same principle, but at different levels and proportions. Those levels in both of them are changing in relationship to each others. Shepard's system seems to be tending toward the asari balance and T'Soni's seems to be adjusting toward the human one," said Tevos

"Are you saying Shepard is becoming more asari and Dr. T'Soni is becoming…" Anderson began, his eyes narrowing despite his rigid self-control.

"No," interrupted Valern, "far from it. Dr. Chakwas isn't sure yet, but she thinks there is a trend toward a balance of levels between them. In other words, their systems will match."

Anderson didn't like the sound of this. "What effects will that have on them?"

Tevos drew in a long breath. "I have studied at length all the data we were given by Dr. Chakwas. In fact, she was quite thorough in her exams of both Shepard and Liara. It is quite astounding the conclusions I have drawn. You must understand exactly what the endocrine system does. It controls much of the body's functions. It affects appetite, thirst, the body's ability to withstand heat and cold and the ability to sleep, amongst other things. If they are prohibited from Joining or sharing regular mind melds, they will have a variety of symptoms including possible dizzy spells; something Dr. T'Soni has experienced numerous times. They will also suffer headaches; feeling washed out and tired at the wrong time of day, and may be generally irritable, unable to cope with stress. Basically, adrenaline levels peek at different times for different people. It means their adrenaline and hormones levels will be in phase with each other."

"Is this due to their mental link, their bond?" Sparatus asked.

"Almost definitely." Valern nodded, having studied the data at length as well.

"Is this common for asari?" Anderson stared long and hard at Tevos.

"It is very, very rare, and no recent documentations have been recorded. When it has happened, it has been between two asari. This is the first time, that I know of, that it has happened between two different species.But all of those symptoms vanish, and they becoming stronger, when their systems realign with each other again With two different minds, it is difficult to discern what will happen when they have blended so completely as theirs have. For now, we can do what they are doing and that is to wait. We dare not interfere." Anderson sat back and digested this the new revelation. "So, what you are saying is that Shepard and Dr. T'Soni will feel alert or tired at the same time of day? They can feel each other's emotions? If they don't share melds they become light-headed, headachy and grumpy?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Then we have nothing to worry about," Sparatus commented. "Sharing melds is something they do quite liberally, if what happened at their Hand Fasting is any indication."

"Perhaps. But I still think you have failed to understand, my fellow Councilors, the extent of their bond. They have not just bonded deeply and gained the ability to communicate with each other through the bond. Their minds have merged so completely to the point that they are neither asari nor human, but something else. And I don't know what that is nor does Dr. Chakwas. I doubt even asari physicians will know."

"This is connected to Shepard's melds with the Prothean beacons, isn't it?" Anderson reasoned.

"That might have been the catalyst, but their link goes beyond that. I believe this connection was more due to the fact Liara was using her body to keep Shepard alive for so long, they never truly separated. This is speculation, but the theory fits," Tevos said. "They were already master biotics, now their powers have been enhanced and have become intermingled. Huntress Shiala told me that she had witnessed Shepard summon, not only a warp-throw, but a stasis-singularity during the Great Hunt. The only other person I know of that had been capable of doing so was Matriarch Benezia. It is reasonable that Liara would be capable of such feats given her lineage, but for Shepard to do so is remarkable! Such power, such control, has never been done in the history of humanity. I have touched Shepard's mind and it has the feel of an asari youngling, not human."

"What, if anything, will we do?" Valern asked. He shuddered at the thought of Shepard following the path of Saren.

"We wait," Tevos said. "It is the only thing we can do, as I said we cannot interfere. This might be a new evolution between two species. Even if we wanted to do something, there is nothing that we could do. This is biological, not something deliberately orchestrated nor genetically manipulated. We can, however, insist that they have tutelage with a matron who can school them in dampening their emotions so they do not broadcast them as they did during the feast last night. I think Huntress Shiala will be an ideal choice. She had been responsible for Liara's early teachings and they do trust one another. With the Great Hunt, as well as sharing the cipher, there is a connection to Shepard as well."

"Agreed. We need to keep this under wraps. If word gets out they could be exploited by opposing factions for their own ends…or failing that, set to destroy them," Anderson said. "They already have opposition for simply being married. Captain Shepard and Dr. T'Soni both will lay down their lives to save all organic life; they were willing to do so for the galaxy. We need to protect them as much as they protect us. That reporter Khalisah Al-Jilani has already started a smear campaign against Shepard. She is the unnamed spokesperson for Terra Firma. Charles Saracino is using it as a platform for his campaigns, coupled with the death of so many humans in the Battle of the Citadel, he is even gaining supporters from those that might otherwise have stood against the xenophobes. On the other hand, the parties that desire more integration in citadel space have used Shepard and T'Soni as poster-children for their own agendas. "

"The best option is to remove them from control by any faction. After all, Shepard is a Spectre. No insult intended Councilor Anderson, but I believe it is in the best interest for all concerned if Agent Shepard was completely removed from Alliance Military's command," Sparatus said.

"Are you suggesting she resign her commission just after being promoted?" Anderson looked at his counterpart dubiously.

"She is a Spectre - her role, her duty, goes beyond her race. And there is another thing. When an Agent is in command of a ship, they are given the honorary rank of Commander, not Captain. Granted, a Spectre normally is not the CO of a starship, but rather an overseer for the duration of their mission if, and when, they are onboard. As you recall, Agent Nillus was given such when he was with you." The turian's mandibles flared out slightly showing his frustration at, yet again, having to explain a Spectre's role. He had to remind himself this wasn't Udina, but Shepard's former commanding officer. Anderson was a military man not a politician. Duty, honor and service were his way of life. As it was Shepard's way of life.

"The _Normandy _is an Alliance vessel, despite the joint effort in its creation. It will be in the flotilla that faces off against the Reapers, but it cannot be under Shepard's command. However, we have an alternative," Tevos said. "Let us show you."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"We're leaving on the _Ascension_ back to the Citadel, to catch up with the _Kilimanjaro._ Sam, if there is anything you want to talk to your father about, now is the time," Hannah said. She had enjoyed her time in the gardens of the estate and had taken time to partake of morning tea in the lush and sanguine environment before she had to go back to the utilitarian world of ship-life. She also was greedy with her time and spent the light meal in the company of her daughter and Liara.

"Why? He made his point pretty clear by leaving the reception early, as well as what he said. He made a good show of tolerating Liara before, but his actions later tell me he's nothing more than a bigot." Samantha belligerently ignored the 'mother's tone' in Hannah's words.

"I think the reality of seeing you married hit him pretty hard. And I don't think he was prepared for the customary gown of an asari bride." Hannah spread jam on some toast before biting into it. Discussing hard to talk about topics over a light meal made it easier to broach the subjects. Moments of uncomfortable silence were filled with eating rather than allow for festering emotions to go haywire and uncurbed words to be spewed.

The Spectre snorted but said nothing as she fidgeted with her own cup of tea.

"Samantha, I think maybe you should do this. I had not spoken to Benezia in thirty years and the rift grew larger, and it became habit not to offer any communications at all. Now she is gone from my life and I regret not presenting a peace offering to her," Liara said diplomatically. She could feel Samantha's reluctance. She didn't want the repeated hurt of her father's rejection. "You will never know if peace can exist between you if you don't try, beloved."

Folding her arms over her chest, Shepard fought an internal war. All she wanted to do was leave the room and shun her father. It would be easy and not much different from their previous relationship. Granted, they simply fell out of touch but this….this was different. "Fine. But we see him together." _'I need you close_.'

Liara tilted her head. '_I am always close.'_ Liara sensed that Samantha was throwing her father in at the deep end, forcing him to face the fact of their intimacy.

"But we see him here. He has to make the first move. I won't live in shadows, Liara. Surely I am no less his daughter for loving you? I won't let him make me feel wrong. Not this time."

Liara pressed her forehead against her mate's, their hands resting on each other's cheeks. "I understand."

Hannah simply smiled.

An hour later, one of the bastion's servants showed Major John Sheppard into the inner lounge. "Lady T'Soni, Captain Shepard, your guest has arrived."

Liara caught in the midst of brushing Samantha's hair, heard her lover murmur a few choice epithets. She put the brush down hurriedly, watching and waiting for Samantha's next move. Major Sheppard hovered near the door, obviously unsure as how to address Liara and unwilling to give her the benefit of her rank.

"Come in Major Sheppard." Ever graceful Liara shifted from behind her wife and welcomed her father-in-law into her home properly by escorting the man to one of the settees. "Be welcomed here."

The major sat down on the edge of the seat, "Is it really necessary for us to have Liara here?" he asked his daughter.

"Even if Liara left the room, she'd know what you said," she replied evenly, squaring her gaze with his.

"Of course. That consort woman tried to explain Joined minds. It's hard for me to accept this asari mumbo-jumbo as truth, Sam. But then you are a biotic, so I suppose it makes sense in some fashion, even if you makes you dispossessed of your own kind."

"Biotics are my own kind, Dad." Samantha wrinkled her forehead in thought. "You could never accept that. Your stoic reluctance to face the truth doesn't make it any less of a fact."

"I'm not here to debate biotics with you. I was made aware by the Council how important the two of you are to both of our species, and I accept what has happened between you. The Prothean beacons scrambled your mind and Dr. T'Soni aided you in sorting it all out. As a result you two are now linked."

"Can't you see us beyond the political implications? Does it bother you that much that we are important to each other? Where do Samantha and Liara fit into your life - if at all?" the Spectre asked.

"I can't say it's what I wanted for you, Sam, it isn't." He said looking acutely uncomfortable. "I can see why you feel the need to be defensive. But if your relationship is important to you, and you feel it's right, isn't that all that really matters?"

Samantha stood up, hugging herself, "You don't understand it at all do you? I can feel it, Dad. Oh, don't patronize me and tell me I'm wrong. You think I've made the best out of an impossible situation, don't you? You believe it's an intolerable situation."

"I'm your dad, Kid…Samantha. I want what is best for you. I've supported your need to become an N7. I supported you when you became a Spectre. I defended your reputation when Al-Jilani's news reports said you went rogue, stole an Alliance warship and became a mutineer because I believed in you. I believed you felt what you were doing was the right choice and gave you the benefit of the doubt. I want you to be happy." He tried to reach for her hand but Shepard took a step back unwilling to allow his touch. He let his hand fall. "I just don't think you will be happy with her. I don't see how you can be. Think of all the differences between her people and ours; their customs, morals - everything will be different."

"When we first Joined….when our Union was completed, I understood everything Liara knew as if I was her," the Spectre said softly, still staring hard at her father. "I know what it's like to grow up on Thessia, swimming in the ocean depths, practicing biotics under the watchful eyes of Shiala, sitting at Benezia's feet learning philosophy, religion. Enjoying the smile on her face and seeing her as she was before the fallout.

"I felt what it is like to look into the far future and strategize small elements now that will have greater impacts into that future. The urge to rebel against the accepted conventional wisdoms and dive into the past. I know what it feels to be touched by the quiet shunning of other asari because of my genealogy. I'm no longer just a human spacer. Part of me is totally asari, and humans feel as alien to me as you feel non-humans are to you."

"You're talking rubbish, Sam. Just because you know what it feels like to be asari...to be her… it doesn't make you asari. No matter how many sharks you go hunting naked as a jay bird you are not one of their kind."

"This is pointless…" Samantha growled.

"Please. Allow me to help you understand, Major," Liara intervened.

"How?"

Divining her purpose, Samantha opened herself full into the bond that connected her to Liara. "Relax, Major. Close your eyes and breathe deeply." Liara whispered. "Embrace Eternity" the words meant so much; the unending cycle of life, death and re-birth, the energies of the universe touched in a single glorious moment of clarity. In that moment, Liara allowed John to experience what it was like to share such a mental bond.

White-faced, Samantha's father stumbled back, "By Danu, what the hell was that!"

"That is our Bond," said Samantha. "Now you know what it feels like."

"I…I could feel what the both of you were thinking, like a constant stream running through my mind. How…how can you live like that, so aware of each other?" He sat back down, pale and shaken.

Samantha turned from her father to the end table and poured him a cup of tea. "Drink this it will help."

He took a healthy gulp, then a second. By the third the tremors began to steady. "I…I didn't know people could become so close," he uttered quietly. "How can you stand it?" He looked from the cup in his hand to his daughter. "It is so intense, so domineering, dominating."

"Only to you." Liara said, moving to sit beside her beloved. "For us life would be unbearable without it. What we have isn't an ordinary asari bond though. It is more demanding."

"And more rewarding," the Spectre added. "Now do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand, and I felt your commitment to each other, but I still can't say I like it," he said, putting down the cup. "I am worried for you Sam. Would you have chosen each other if it were not for this damnable bond?"

"The attraction was already there Dad, the pull to be drawn together already in play, the bond didn't cause those feelings. But yes, it intensified our love for each other and fed off what already existed" Samantha admitted.

"I see." He stood. "Then I wish you all the happiness, Sam. Understanding and accepting are two different games, Kiddo. But I'll give it a go. I don't want to lose you over this. Since you entered the marines I was prepared to lose my little girl to battle, that's a soldier's life. When you became a Spectre I knew you would be facing dangers at every turn and I accepted the fact it might end with you in a coffin. I don't think I could bear it if I lost you when you're still alive." He hugged Samantha. "I'll see myself out."

Shepard watched her father go before turning her attention back to her wife. "Thanks for that."

Liara touched her Spectre's face, "I know the pain of never have known my sire, I do not want that for you. Now that I have the opportunity to know her better, I'm beginning to understand such connections are important." Liara placed a kiss on Samantha's lips biting her softly.

"You're not playing fair, Li," Samantha moaned. "You know we have only two hours before I have to report to the Council."

Liara continued her administrations; her delicate fingers deftly tracing the symbol of eternity along her lover's ribcage. "More than enough time to express our affections."

"Two hours, eh? Then we better get started." Shepard scooped Liara up into her arms carrying her to the large sofa in the lounge, her own lips kissing the blue skin of her lover's neck. She opened up her mind fully to Liara, even as the asari did the same for her. The bond flared brilliantly between them, causing their desires to super nova in wonderful pleasurable crescendo.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"So much for a honeymoon huh, Captain?" Ashley asked during the long lift ride up to the penthouse suite the council had claimed as a temporary conference room. The hotel was not on the T'Soni estate, but rather in the spaceport of Armali.

"Oh, I don't know, you can experience a life time in a brief touch of the mind." Shepard gave a sly look to her wife.

Ash looked from one woman to the other and shook her head. "Yeah, I gathered. Last time, before you ducked under that waterfall, you two were getting hot and heavy."

"I believe the human expression is 'It was our wedding night, we were allowed," Liara playfully teased.

"Yeah, but most people wait until they get to the bedroom to do…er…well…what you two did under the waterfall."

"You know the old saw, Lieutenant. 'When in Rome do as the Romans do'."

"I think I'll stick to keeping things behind closed doors, Ma'am," Williams chuckled. "Besides, you may have had an excuse, but the rest of us didn't. I had to bolt from Joker and the bar scene; he was getting a little randy for my tastes. For a moment there I thought it was something in the booze that had everyone getting a little antsy. But then the music started and hell, who doesn't like a good dance?"

The lift doors opened to the private floor reserved for the Council. Standing beside the twin doors of polished cherry wood were two Asari commandos, garbed in the brass and black uniforms associated with the city-state of Armali.

"Captain Shepard, you are expected; however this is a closed session concerning Spectre business, only you will be able to enter at this time."

"I understand." Shepard bowed her head slightly. She turned to her companions "Stand by. I don't know how long this will take."

"Aye-aye ma'am." Williams saluted.

Liara flashed an encouraging smile but said nothing. She watched Shepard proudly walk through the doors clad in her shining Colossus hardsuit. Even her weapons had been polished and readied for use. The Spectre was back in the House.

Upon entering the suite, Shepard was greeted with the presence of eight honor guards. Two asari, two humans, two salarians and two turians - a pair of each species represented on the Council - stood at attention in the circumference of the outer lounge. She passed them without acknowledging their presence. They served no true purpose beyond pomp and circumstance.

Shepard had grown accustomed to the Council amphitheater, and having to stand on the Petitioner's Stage. Being seated directly across from the quartet was more unnerving than speaking in the great forum. She snapped a crisp salute before she stood at attention.

"At ease, Captain," Anderson said, knowing the young woman would hold the pose until otherwise told. She went into parade rest, which was about as relaxed as Shepard could achieve.

"Captain, we called you here to address a rather problematic dilemma," Tevos started. "It appears the Alliance Military refuses to appreciate the gravity of your status as Spectre. Nor do they seem to be willing to understand your responsibilities, position and duties as a Spectre."

"I've spoke with Admiral Hackett and he admitted that his counterparts see your status as a Spectre something akin to being knighted and a special agent of the Council," Anderson said. "While they understand the duties of other Spectres, you have placed them with a conundrum with your service in both forces. Because you're still a part of the Alliance military, the top Brass feel that they still have say in your orders and position. They also feel that you would be better used in service in a flotilla using your Spectre status to recruit new cadets."

Shepard frowned. She didn't like the sound of where this was leading. "You want me to resign my commission and they want me as a recruiter," it was not a question.

"You are already a voice for recruitment, Shepard, whether you know it or not. Since you engaged against the geth, Saren and the Reapers, enlistment has gone up to seventy percent. Eighty-two since your speech during the awards ceremony," Anderson answered.

"However, the issue still remains. Your service in both Forces is a conflict of interests." Valern commented. "One cannot serve two masters."

Sparatus picked up his counterparts thoughts. "When an agent is selected to become a Spectre, they must step down from any previous military force they belonged to. Their oaths of service are not forsaken, Commander, but transferred. We did not ask you to resign your commission in the beginning because it served a purpose. We needed to test your commitment to the whole of the galaxy, not just human interests."

"And if I didn't work out I still had my old job, is that it?" Shepard looked directly at Anderson.

"Exactly. We also had to witness how the Alliance Systems Military would approach your status as a Spectre. You have been tested beyond the rank and file that singles out Spectres," Valern said for the four of them. "We realize you are fully committed to being a Spectre. The time has come for humanity to fully accept this as well. In their trial, they failed to appreciate the separate status you hold. They attempted to hold you hostage with your own humanity and service to the military. That cannot happen again."

"The Alliance Military and ambassadors cannot hold sway, rank or authority over you," Sparatus said. "And there is another issue. As a Spectre, your rank is not that of a captain. You have the honorary position of Commander within the Citadel Fleet. Your salutation however, remains as agent."

"Back to being a Commander?" she sighed. "I think that was the shortest lived captaincy on the record," she scoffed. "I get the fact I have to serve the galactic whole, just as the Council does even if it means at the expense of my race. I think I proved that during the battle over the Citadel."

"Your actions are not in question, Shepard," Anderson interrupted. "Quite the contrary. While being a commander seems to be a step done in Alliance command structure, it is not so in the militaries of the other council races, the asari in particular. In the chain of command within the asari militaries, Commander is directly below that of Rear Admiral, just as Captain is within the Alliance. When aboard a ship, the Spectre's follow that of the asari chain of command."

"As for the SSV _Normandy_, you will no longer have command over her," Tevos said, and held up a hand to forestall the rage she felt build in the young woman before her. "Instead you will be given full autonomy - separate and apart from the Alliance - as captain of a new ship. She was constructed like the _Normandy_, with the collaboration of all of the Council races. New human innovations have been recently added. The ship is dry docked here. She is a Council ship, therefore you will report solely to the Council, just as any other Spectre."

Shepard was a little stunned, but kept her face schooled. "May I ask what class of ship she is?"

"Like the _Normandy_, she is a prototype frigate, but has been specially designed at first for an asari crew. Humans will be able to adapt. As an asari frigate, she has a crew of 300 souls. Because of the newer, necessary and revised innovations, the Victory, however, will hold 150 souls."

"One-Fifty? On a frigate? It was cramped on the Normandy with its full complement of forty! Hell, it was tight with the skeleton crew we had chasing Saren, Councilor. There is no way we can cram that many on a ship that small."

The asari smiled. "This is an asari Wavecrest class design. Like the Destiny Ascension, she is larger than her counterparts in other militaries of the other races. She will still able to land groundside and drop a Mako. I know you are concerned with speed and stealth, believe me, Captain you will be well pleased with the schematics."

The turian Councilor handed Shepard a data-pad containing the stats of the new ship, including a picture. Wavecrests were designed to look like the wave-skimmers on Thessia: a bird of prey that resembled a prehistoric pterodactyl if they were feathered. They dove and ambushed their prey, usually marlins or small sharks, that were sometimes several times larger than they. Their speed and stealth gave them all the advantage. The Wavecrests warship was molded with that attack style in mind.

Shepard gave a small glance to Anderson and, she could be wrong, but her former CO looked positively giddy. Anderson doesn't do giddy! But he sure was beaming.

"This particular Wavecrest-class Frigate is considered a mathematical work of art by its engineers. The eight hundred-twenty-five meter ship was designed with every single measurement, arc and number to be either a prime, powerful, or perfect number. The ship was developed by the math-obsessed salarians at the Jaedo Science Academy, and manufactured by asari engineers here at Armali Shipyards," Anderson said.

Valern picked up the conversation. "You will find that the_ Victory_ is a quick vessel, capable of lightning fast hit and fade strikes against enemies due to the salarian ability to calculate complicated microjumps with ease." There was a small hint of smugness to his voice just then. "She is designed around the hit and run doctrine of the asari commandos."

Once more Tevos spoke. "The Wavecrest class frigate is best when disrupting the flow of combat by surprising enemies. The _Victory_ will be able to microjump into the center of enemy formations, launch fighters and harass the enemy for mere minutes, then jump out again. A number of these passes would reduce many fleets with much greater numbers to wrecks, and cause many admirals to sound the retreat. The _Victory_ also contains a hangar filled with four turian Raptor class assault shuttles, four Viper-class fighters and four Alliance Mako's."

"My crew?"

"The _Victory_ will be the first, true multinational ship. The majority of your crew will be made up by members from the council races, but also comprised of other Citadel Space species as well. You will be given a quota to match for each species, but you are free to choose your crew. No doubt those who served with you on the _Normandy_ you will want to post on the _Victor_y. The pilot seat was even aerodynamically designed for someone with Vrolik's syndrome," Anderson said. He smiled briefly. "The _Victory_ also has a very large seat installed in the comm-room and a krogan sized sleeping quarter kept apart from the rest of the crew given their territorial tendencies."

"However, as this was originally designed for an asari crew, only the commanding officer and her partner have separate quarters. All others are in communal living spaces according to department; every member will have their own bunks, but they will be sharing living spaces," Tevos commented.

"That shouldn't pose a problem with the Normandy crew; we're accustomed to hot-bunking," Shepard said. "Hell, even on bigger ships crew quarters are shared, the only exception is families like mine, and we were given very small separate quarters.

"Be that as it may, Commander, shared living quarters will not be divided by species. I speak not only of humanity, but turians as well," Sparatus pointed out. "There may be some difficulties."

"Either they adapt or they don't get on my ship," Shepard said firmly. "So when do I get to see this bird?"

"There is a shuttle waiting for you now, Commander." Tevos smiled. "The rest is simple formality."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Look at her guns!" Ash all but shouted, rushing to the porthole to better see the _SSV Victory_. "She's armed for heavy combat. Just look at those oversized guns."

"That's a massive twin plasma cannon, looks powerful enough to melt an ice moon measuring one thousand kilometers in diameter, or pierce the shields of a ten kilometer- wide Grade Three battle station," Tali said in as much awe as the Lieutenant.

"Two long-range plasma cannons will be perfect against Dreadnoughts. Thirty-eight point-defense laser cannons for anti-starfighter firepower, twenty-six twin plasma cannons. She's got fifteen…no wait….twenty flexible response light turrets. Damn! The asari sure know how to arm their ships," Williams praised. "She even has five quad plasma cannons."

"She was made for a Spectre in mind. I get the feeling the heavier guns were new additions to fight against the Reapers," Shepard pointed out. "She normally carries a crew of three hundred, but they made room for a larger cargo hold to contain the gunships and fighters, not to mention the Makos. So we only have half the typical crew. She's four hundred and twenty-six meters wide, height and depth measure to be two hundred and forty-three meters. She has forty-thousand tons of cargo capacity and consumables for two years. She has three Tantalus core drives. She's capable of stealth flight and even comes equipped with a tractor beam and two gravity well projectors and extensive shielding. She can drop a Mako like the _Normandy _and land groundside as well."

"Think you can handle her Joker?" Williams tossed over to the still silent pilot. "Or she too much ship for even you?"

"I can handle her," Joker said, not without awe in his voice. "She just needs a careful loving hand, like any woman. I'll make her coo for me."

"Careful Lieutenant," Shepard warned. "You are seriously outnumbered here. Watch the innuendos."

"Yes ma'am," he said, knowing there was a very delicate line between tasteless jokes and insubordination. He had crossed it on Virmire when he almost snapped; he knew the drill of what was expected of him during that mission. Shepard had privately reamed him out for the liberty and said she'd bust him down so fast he wouldn't know if he was a private or a cadet. Since then, he learned to gauge just what was permissible and what pissed her off. If she used his rank he was bordering on this side of a reprimand. Having suffered one, Joker was in no hurry for another.

"So Skipper, any thoughts on the crew manifest?" Williams asked.

"Some. I'll go over the list with you after we take the grand tour of our new boat. I need you to collect all the department heads, Liara you'll be needed as well. You're the new head of Sciences. I know your specialty is the Protheans, but I want a geologist and mineralogist, and scientists who deal with exobiology and zoology and toxicology. I want experts in general archaeology and anthropology, VI and AIs, as well as botany. Never know when we will run up against some Thorian creepers or some sort of mutation of it. I want to be prepared. I also want a larger team to deal with any and all Prothean finds we discover and already have.

"As I said, Li, you will be head of the department, you know who is best qualified amongst your counterparts in that particular field. I'll need to have Adams and Tali's input on engineering crews, and Chakwas will be making a list of those she will need in medical. I want experts in all fields. I'll be evaluating commandos from all the council races. Ash, you will be sitting on the selection process. As XO you will need to familiarize yourself with the crew, you're the buffer between them and me." Shepard smirked. "Not an easy job, believe you me. You're going to feel drowned in the paperwork alone. It's heavier than you had to deal with as a platoon, squad or unit leader. Trust me."

"Ooh…I hadn't thought of that," Ash groaned. "Just to let you know, Skipper, I henpeck the keyboard."

"I don't care if you type with your nose just as long as you meet the deadlines," Shepard said almost sternly.

"Aye-aye ma'am."

"We will also have four clergymen from the Council Races who will serve, not only as religious officiates, but they will be qualified in counseling and mediation. This will be a fully integrated ship, we will need to be able to live and work together as a collective whole or we're all ready doomed before we set sail."

"You will bring us together, Samantha," Liara said confidently. "You did so aboard the _Normandy_, no doubt you will do so again on the _Victory_."

"Yeah she's right, Skipper. Only this time, don't headbutt any krogans to make them loyal."

Shepard smirked. "It worked though, didn't it? Wrex fell in line and swore a battle-oath to me."

"Yes, and you suffered a concussion for a day and half for that particular tactic of inter-species co-operation," Liara chided.

The Spectre only shrugged. "Can't argue with the results."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Two months before, the attack on the Citadel had dominated the media, along with the thoughts and awareness of every being in Council space. Now, however, the shock and horror were beginning to fade. Sound-bites from Shepard's speech were still commercialized to promote vigilance, patriotism and recruitment in the Alliance systems military. Other political diplomats used choice sections to promote unification and still others used it to promote their xenophobic views saying Commander Shepard had stepped beyond her station as an officer in the military by voicing Captain David Anderson as a choice for candidacy for the Council, and the President going along with it just because she was a Spectre.

The media was now showing pictures of a newly restored station. Its pristine condition made the crowded streets of Omega space station seem all that more oppressive. Aleena hated having to come to the de facto capital of the Terminus Systems, but nevertheless it was the best place for her next objective in fulfilling her contract.

Omega, or rather as her fellow asari called it in their own tongue, 'Heart of Evil', was the sort of place you constantly looked where you were going to avoid being gutted; constantly looking over your shoulder was a good way to leave yourself open.

_Heart of Evil _was located deep in the Terminus Systems. It was unique even for a space station. There was not another facility like it in the known galaxy. It was enormous and built out of the remains of a massive irregularly shaped hollowed out asteroid. The asteroid itself had once been mineral rich and mined ages ago now provided the initial resources used to construct the space station that completely covered every inch of its surface. Like the Citadel it had been constructed by the Protheans.

While the asari had the prestigious claim to have been the first aboard the Citadel no one was sure just who it was that found Omega. There were no Keepers aboard Omega, even if there had been they were long dead now.

Many had tried to hold Omega but few did. Only two are known to have been in power for any amount of time on the station, but they both held power for centuries. A krogan, whose name had been lost when his power had been stripped from him centuries ago, had once controlled the station. Since then, it had been ruled by a ruthless asari name Aria T'Loak. Everyone knew the Pirate Queen's name and her dominion stretched throughout the entirety of the Terminus systems. She kept around the krogan whose power she had taken and dubbed him 'Patriarch'; a trophy and a testament to her immense power.

Omega was a metropolis of interstellar commerce of the lowest common denominator. Those unwelcome in Citadel space, like the batarians, and the salarian Lystheni offshoot (which the twin Mournful Blades were apart of), slavers, assassins, and criminals from all races made deals, lived and thrived here.

Numerous factions settled on the station over the decades, each building out sections of the station to suit their specific needs. Their efforts had completely transformed '_The heart of Evil_' into a massive floating city. As a result numerous independent districts sprouted up and out in their own mismatched architecture and haphazard design. This gave the station its uneven and lopsided appearance when it was seen at a distance. Arms added to the main hub like the ward arms of Citadel jutted out not as a symmetrical star but an ungainly creature with add-ons extending out from those arms at bizarre angles.

The narrow streets and alleyways were alive with feverish activity. Rushing this way and that, everyone was far too wrapped up in their own concerns to pay attention to beggars who made their pitiful demands from dark, shadowy corners. Prostitutes, red sand dealers and fences took up most of the attention. Getting from a to b as quickly as possible, being the first to nail a deal, obtaining the best price while undercutting your competition, _that _was what succeeded in 'The Heart of Evil' was all about. You needed nerves of adamantium and eyes in the back of your head to survive. You had to learn to smile even was you were stabbing someone else in the back. It was a rough life, a tough life, a ruthless life, it was an exhilarating life. It was life in Omega. Aria the Pirate Queen of Omega was mistress of such tactics It was why she was still 'Omega' for more than a century.

Aleena shook her head as she navigated her way down the snickleways of the streets. There was no planning, no organization, no purpose to the streets, avenues or districts or buildings. Streets twisted and turned unexpectedly, and sometimes curled back on themselves to create infuriating dead-ends. Not even the residents were safe from quickly becoming lost or disorientated. New arrivals were easily overwhelmed. Aleena had been on the station several times in pursuit of a quarry or contact, and she generally made her employer pay heavily for the inconvenience.

True to her character, the asari bounty hunter didn't care for the harmonious, pristine often sterile and ordered world of the Citadel any better. At least here she could literally get away with murder. Petty crime was a by-stander sport. There was no law enforcement, no rules, no law. Gangs were hired by those who controlled each section of the station to enforce some measure of rules.

While on the Citadel everyone spoke the common trade language, on 'The Heart of Evil' everyone spoke their own native languages. Automated translators had to be programmed to interpret because most refused to cooperate with any other race. Whereas the Citadel, even the under streets of the Wards were free of trash and refuse. No one wanted to pay the exorbitant fines for littering. A thousand credits was a lot of cash for not chucking a discarded article in a refuse bin, and they went up from there_. Omega…_it was quite different. The reek of unidentified food, unnamable perfumes, and putrid stench of uncollected garbage was the norm.

Aleena was half tempted to activate the collapsible helmet of her hardsuit just to filter out the scent of rot, decay and vermin guano. If the stench wasn't bad enough the sounds were worse. With everyone chittering away in their own tongue, swoop bikes zipping along, air-cars roaring above and the occasional fight, the cacophony was almost more than a sensible asari could cope with. Still, she would not be eschewed from her objective.

The bounty-hunter had been given very specific directions from the Shadow Broker which would lead her to one of the finest cosmetic surgeons in the field. He also happened to have lost his license, along with Dr. Saleon, to practice, but that didn't stop the physician from work. Unlike Saleon, who fled in a stolen freighter with hostages, he had fled to Novaria to his elder brother Administrator Anoleis. Unfortunately for him, his brood-brother had been apprehended due, in no small part, to Spectre Agent Shepard. When the good doctor heard a Spectre was on the station, he fled here to the Omega space station. He made far more credits here in Omega then he had done in Citadel Space or on Novaria.

While his former colleague worked in transplanting and cloning organs, Dr. Anoleis made a fortune altering appearances. Some procedures were as simple as eye tinting, while others were complete facial reconstruction. A lot of people wanted to lose their identities when wanted by rival forces, C-Sec or worse the Spectres. Aleena only wanted a simply eye and skin pigmentation change, as well as removal and alteration of her facial markings. The cost was going to be high. Still, the stipend in accepting the contract was enough to cover the cost.

She would have enough money left over to cover the cost of a hacker who was also an agent of the Shadow Broker who was supplying her with a new background and new identity. All of this was part of her grand scheme to infiltrate Shepard's crew. Learning that Wrex was part of the Spectre's crew had caused a few difficulties for the asari, but nothing she could not overcome. That krogan would have easily identified her, but hopefully with the cosmetic changes, as well as altered pheromones, Aleena would be unidentifiable to the aging battlemaster. She only hoped it was enough to veil herself from her fellow asari as well. She'd have to come up with some excuse not to meld with anyone, for her mind was one thing she could not disguise.

"Oi, you there, pretty girl! What's your price for a macho-macho-sandwich?" a voice shouted out from one of two human males coming from the opposite direction Aleena was heading. He thumped his chest proudly, as if this action was somehow a mating ritual. Who knew - perhaps for his species it was.

_You cannot possibly be that stupid to think I'm a whore._ she thought. She narrowed her eyes, taking in the surroundings, two refuse dumpsters to the right, ladder to a fire escape of a tenement building to the left. Locked and gated back ally doors to pawn shops just below the fire escape. This should be easy.

Her voice was almost without a hint of emotion when she spoke. "When I'm done talking you two will turn around and walk the other direction and find entertainment elsewhere. Do this you live. Do not and you shall not. I'm done talking now."

"Oh, an asari cunt who thinks she's a big bad. You dykes are all the same." The dusky ginger haired male slapped his friend (the one who had spoke before) on the arm. "I thought all you asari liked to fuck." He laughed.

The blonde snickered. Then blinked, as rain fell on him. No, that was inaccurate, it didn't exactly fall on him, more like splashed. "What the hell? Hey Chuck, I think a bird just pissed on me." He turned to Chuck and stared transfixed by horror.

"I think I've been shot." Chuck touched his chest stupidly before he crashed to his knees and then fell face first on broken glass. Blood sprayed from a large open chest cavity.

"You had a warning," Aleena said coldly. She was pointing a Devlon pistol at her new target's chest. "You were unwise."

"You murdering whore!" The blonde made a grab for his own Hahne-Kedar pistol and squeezed the trigger, but nothing happened. Glancing down, he saw the status indicated on his weapon flashing red—it had overloaded. The whole weapon was disabled, even with manual override he would not be fast enough to fire again.

He felt a flash of agonizing pain tear into his legs. It felt as if every muscle, bone and fiber in his limbs had erupted. This was no hyperaccelerated projectile tearing into him; the asari bitch was using biotics! He felt stretched and compressed at the same time. A gravity well circled his body, flinging him head over feet, careening him into the dumpsters, along the upper catwalk of the fire-escape to crash on to the corpse of his friend. He lay still in his own bile.

With deliberate slowness Aleena approached him. "I'm a betting woman, human male. I'd wager that right now you wished you had taken heed of my words earlier. Now you understand the gravity of your choices." She smiled at her own joke. "Shall we take an introspective look why you chose death?" She crouched down near him and touched his mind in a meld with her own. She was not gentle.

The first thing she saw was the shock of seeing Chuck dead. The next was being turned away because of age by a well dressed, though scantly so, asari. The surroundings were familiar…Consort's chambers. Though his eyes, Aleena saw exotic asari dancers. Again the location was very familiar….Chora's Den. Being strangled and thrown against a bulk head by a dark haired woman with fiery-ice blue eyes. The human Spectre! He had lost all his privileges, all because he lost track of a little snot nosed asari rug rat! No one cared he was Kyle Gou, the only son of an important diplomat. The next images were growing steadily more and more violent. Buying and dealing red sand. She saw though his eyes… the rapes of a dozen women, some human, some nearly dead or dying asari.

Aleena snarled in rage. "You will feel all their pain, all twenty-three victims, all at once." The mercenary pushed her mind, forcing her will into Kyle's as he had forced his body onto innocent women. She rose as silent as a shadow, leaving the screaming, weeping, pleading man behind her. Kyle Gou would never see another dawn.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

The usual rumors and gossip, whispered plots and lies filled the bars and pubs of the Wards so that the air seemed to hiss like pressurized steam coming from the water purification centers on the Citadel. Like the steam, the words were heated, poisonous; sometimes opaque, sometimes crystal clear - and indicated that something dramatic was about to take place. If the rumors were true, there were only a few in the Alliance military who supported this action, many more felt usurped for they had lost their poster girl to the Council. A political storm was on the horizon

And why should it not break like a storm? The first human Spectre had docked on the station in a newly designed asari frigate with a newly innovated integrated crew. For the moment it was asari and human, but after two weeks she would have a crew of 150, the majority of them being from the council races, with a few volus. The ship was fully autonomous under the direct command of the Spectre, and only answerable to the Council itself.

Twenty-five soldiers had been chosen from each of the Council races. That made a hundred. From the _Normandy's_ original crew, all save one had transferred to the new ship. The six who Shepard came to call her squad also joined the roster. That left twenty-four [vacancies on the ship]. Four volus scientists filled the ranks. Once more, the Council races made up the last of the twenty, and all of them were scientists and doctors. Some PhD's, while others were physicians.

Doctor Michelle declined the call to service; working on wounded soldiers was still not her idea of fun. However, Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa stepped up and took up the gauntlet to aid Dr. Chakwas. The asari physician had extensive knowledge of the biology and physiology of aliens. Chakwas was very grateful for the other physician's aid. The human might be knowledgeable about asari, but she had practically no serviceable knowledge of volus, turian and salarian biology. She needed aid and wasn't above admitting it.

As for the other none-combatants, they were all scientists, and all under Liara's command. They ranged from archaeologists, anthropologists, xenobiolgists, astrophysicists, engineers (though they fell into ranks of Lt. Adams's department) and geologists.

To be fair, there was only one geologist, and remarkably enough it was another Williams. Abigail Williams had followed her parent's footsteps just like Ashley, only it was her mother rather than their father. Shepard was only grateful that it wasn't Lynn.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

**AN1: **

**As my readers well know from the codex that human ranks slightly differ so you have the admirals, captain, commander, the other races have a slight different order. This is how I've come to understand it and it is also loosely based on the New Battlestar Galactica. To me it s a mix of Air Force / Navy vs. the human's Navy / Marines. And Matriarch Lidanya is referred to as Commander so I don't think asari have a higher rank in their military other than High Command as mentioned in ME3, I could be wrong. Irregardless I'm sticking to this in my fannon **

# Asari / ^ Salarian / * Turian / ~ Human

*^ ~ Fleet Admiral

* ^ ~ Admiral

* ^ ~ General

* ^ ~ Rear Admiral

* ^ ~ Brigadier General

**SENIOR COMMISSIONED OFFICER**

*# ^ ~ Commander (for humans this is captain)

*# ^ ~ Lt. Commander

*# ^ ~ Colonel (commander here for humans)

*# ^ ~ Lieutenant Colonel

**JUNIOR COMMISSIONED OFFICER**

*# ^ ~ Major

*# ^ ~ Captain

*# ^ ~ Lieutenant

*# ^ ~ Junior Lieutenant

*# ^ ~ Ensign

* ^ ~ Warrant Officer

**SENIOR ENLISTED (NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICER)**

* ^ ~ Master Chief Petty Officer

* ^ ~ Sergeant Major

* ^ ~ Chief Petty Officer

* ^ ~ Gunnery Sergeant

* ^ ~ Petty Officer 1st Class

* ^ ~ Sergeant First Class

* ^ ~ Petty Officer 2nd Class

* ^ ~ Crew Sergeant

**JUNIOR ENLISTED**

* # ^ ~ Specialist

* ^ ~ Corporal

* ^ ~ Crewman

* ^ ~ Private First Class

* ^ ~ Crewman Apprentice

* ^ ~ Private


	10. Sowing the Seeds

Chapter 10: Sowing the Seeds

Rose petals fell around three seated figures in a plume of biological confetti.

"Commander, this is not a race or a contest," Shiala admonished as she brushed red fragments of flower petals from her crest. "Direct and control your powers. Narrow your field of focus with pin point delicacy. I know you are capable on your own as is Liara, but the two of you must work in conjunction with each other."

"I think the problem is not cooperation as much as an influx of power at hand," Shepard said. "When we're linked it feels the energy coursing though me…us…is unleashed."

"Precisely why it is necessary to build up your control, Commander." The older woman said. "And why we need these exercises. We will try it again." The violet-skinned asari placed a new rose between Liara and Shepard who were both sitting lotus style on the floor of the Commander's quarters.

"Perhaps if you thought of this exercise as if you were in the field of battle and taking a sniper shot," Liara suggested. "You are a marksman after all."

Samantha smirked, "Good idea Love, but Ash is the sniper, not me. But I get the analogy. Close careful shot of a pistol versus the wide spray of assault rifles, got it. Like I said, my problem isn't a lack of focus, its more like my biotics have more 'firepower' now than before."

Liara was facing the same problem, since the gestalt when she had used her body to live for her lover, her own biotics had gained in force and magnitude. Going back to rudimentary training exercises seemed to be a wise choice on Shiala's part. The younger woman recalled having to lift a flower by biotics and make it hover in the air while simultaneously plucking each petal off when she was five years old. It was a very elementary exercise but still very useful, and at this point, valid.

Samantha stretched out her hands, one with the palm up the other facing down, and Liara mirrored this so their palms were pressing against each other. Liara used a pin-point lift to suspend the rose. Shepard fixed her gaze on one of the petals. It started to vibrate as it had before, then her gaze narrowed and the rose started to turn in a gentle circle. A petal tore away neatly and fluttered to the carpet. Liara focused her own gaze and pulled another petal off. The idea of using a 'scope' to narrow the flux of biotic-power evidently had served its purpose for soon there was a pile of rose petals on the floor.

Shepard leaned over and kissed Liara to celebrate their success, at which point the stem of the still hovering rose blew apart. "That wasn't me this time," The Spectre said defensively to her mentor.

Liara looked away bashfully for a moment, and then smiled playfully, "I was distracted. Sorry."

"Yes well we can't have that happen every time. You can't lose your control just because you're aroused," Shiala chided. "We will do this again. This time you will be distracted. By all means kiss, BUT concentrate on the rose and try not to make anything else blow up!" the older woman crossed her arms over her chest glowering so sternly at her pupils, Shepard believed she was back in grade-school expecting to get a caning for her inappropriate mischievous behavior. Liara half expected to be assigned to run laps for her loss of control. It wouldn't have been the first time Shiala demanded it of her students. Liara, along with the rest of the younglings in her level, had run plenty of laps around the bastion's gardens for not fulfilling expectations due to being easily distracted. Apparently once a master-teacher, always a master-teacher, it never left the voice or the eyes.

Another rose lay between the lovers as they started the exercises for the twelfth time.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Learning to control the unquantifiable energies of their gestalt-enhanced biotics wasn't the only concern on the _CCS Victory. _Forced maddened affability seemed to ease its way throughout the ship. Shepard knew that cohesion was a must. There was the deceptive calm of a volcano waiting to explode within the hundred warriors forced to coexist in an alien environment. Even with fifteen decks the frigate was still a small enough ship to make if feel crowded if nerves were allowed to seethe and fret like a dog on a leash.

The remaining fifty crewmembers might not be hardened warriors, but even the scientists were forming cliques, not into species necessarily, but rather branches and specialties. Science and Academics versus Military; an age long battle that waged war long before anyone on the ship was born and would continue to battle long after they were all dead and forgotten.

Unlike the _Normandy_, the Spectre wasn't confined to the bridge [if she wanted] to open ship-wide communications. Even the security station was separated from the helm, which meant Joker couldn't flick the cameras on and 'spy' on the crew as he had on their old ship. For that Shepard was grateful, she never felt comfortable with the pilot's indiscriminate ability to flick on the security cameras and get an eye-full of things he had no business watching, or for that matter hear. Some things were supposed to remain confidential, but that wasn't possible if all it took was for someone to flick a switch and see and hear everything. _Victory's_ CIC was like the _Normandy_, which meant it was of turian design, but it had asari controls which meant that all security was under the Commander's command or the XO's.

Joker almost jumped out of his chair when he heard the distinctive voice of his Commander over his personal headset. He had been so accustomed to opening a ship-wide channel for her or patching communications through that he had forgotten he no longer had control over it.

"This is for all you new people. This is my boat and we are a single team, you lose your politics at the airlock. We are all here for one reason: Find a way to stop the Reapers. This is not an Alliance vessel nor is it under asari, turian or salarian military jurisdiction. The _Victory_ is a Council ship…a Spectre ship. Understand that. Bureaucratic and political games have no place on this ship. Every single one of you was carefully chosen and handpicked, you all swore an oath to the Council to serve as a single unit. I have no tolerance for bigotry, alienation or any other of that type of crap. As you've noticed I speak very bluntly and to the point.

"Our primary mission, our quest, is to discover a way to stop the Reapers. We must protect all organic life from the oblivion that will surely come if the Reapers are allowed a foothold in our universe. Sovereign was only one ship and the devastation wreaked by that enemy nearly destroyed the Citadel and would have opened the floodgate from Dark Space. We know of indoctrination due largely to the sacrifice of Matriarch Benezia and her disciples. We know the geth follow the Reapers as gods, and we know how to destroy them. We cannot fail, we must not. You are all here to insure we are victorious."

Shepard closed the channel feeling marginally better for having spoken her piece. In her heart it might be naiveté, but she was a firm believer that everyone she had chosen had the motive to see past species diversity and work as a collective whole.

'_Well said__,__ my love_,' Liara praised through their bond, aloud she said, "Hopefully your words will not be simple words but practice."

"I sure as hell hope so, Li, or this is going to be a very long mission." The Spectre gave her wife measured look. "I plan on having a departmental heads meeting soon, to see how well everyone is fitting in. No problems I hope within _Victory_'s scientific community?"

Liara's expression became almost strained, not pensive per say, but concerned. "There seems to be some issues regarding the scientists' interactions with the military heads. There isn't exactly a schism in the works, but it could lead there if parameters are not laid out, Commander." Liara had used her wife's rank rather than the familiar name as they were on duty and in a more public setting. She believed if she was openly familiar with Shepard, the Spectre might lose the tenuous hold of the change-wavering calm that drifted down amongst the crew. The young Prothean expert had noticed that whenever she and Samantha were together others tended to think themselves as trespassers.

"It won't be the first time there was a difference of opinion in philosophies between scientists and soldiers, just look at you and Ash. The thing of it is, we need each other. We will play to each other's strengths. The asari commandos do guerilla warfare and assassination far better than any other race. Turians and humans, and especially krogan, can stand up hard against a firestorm. And no one does espionage better than a salarian. We need hackers, scientists and techs to disable, uncover and reclaim equipment, gear and computers, as well as AIs, and they need us to cover their six and neutralize the enemy. It is only a matter of course to make everyone realize it."

When in command-mode, Shepard had a certainty about her that you could bend steel around. She walked around as if she had the deeds to the galaxy. It was as if she could see what was real and you couldn't. On countless occasions the Spectre's bold actions had allowed them to prevail against seemingly impossible odds. But just as often it had been Liara's circumspection that had pulled them back from the brink. Whether foresight was something innate in Liara or the result of her continuing fascination with the Protheans, or with the unifying biotics - the asarian long view - Liara couldn't say. What she could say was that she had learned to trust Samantha's instincts. The Spectre's instincts held the firm belief that the crew would cooperate because she hadn't given them any other choice. She had bereft the crew of their independent natures of politics and race and forced them into a single functioning unit. They were the organics.

Liara watched as the mask of command fell over her lover. She watched in awe as this passed, even the crew members seemed to see the change, despite the fact they might not have actually witnessed it. Shepard had a reputation for being cunning, but it seemed now that the Spectre had overcome cunning a thousand years ago, had sped past devious, had left artful far behind and had in a round-about-route come to straightforward.

The Commander moved up to the navigational galaxy map studying it for a long moment. There were nine clusters where Prothean data disks and caches had been discovered, including the Local cluster. Ten systems and eleven planets, well… not all of them had been planets; a few had been asteroids to be fair. Some of those planets had Prothean ruins upon them. Pyramids, ancient temples and one with a hovering sphere and one without, though a sphere had clearly been there once upon a time. It was as if someone had done a fly-by and snatched the sphere from where it was supposed to be and buggered off and they were left without a clue as to where the thieves had fled. And two systems - two planets - had had Prothean beacons.

The Spectre rubbed her face with her hands and let out a breath of air. Finding a way to end the Reapers was presumably far easier said than done. Gut instinct took over the Commander telling her the way to the Reapers were by those who where first wiped out by them; which pointed to the Protheans. The obvious locations were Ilos and Feros, for both had ruined Prothean buildings on them. It was difficult to say what was still hiding untouched on Feros and what the corporations had either stolen, reused, or relocated. ExoGeni had a way of doing that.

Ilos. It was obvious choice. Even if Vigil wasn't actually there anymore, there were still resources to harvest. The geth had a foothold to be sure, but with the firepower of _Victory_ they could be neutralized. The Protheans had been utterly destroyed by the Reapers, but Sovereign had been utterly destroyed by the united might of the military forces of Citadel space.

Ilos.

Taking an untrained, or rather more accurately, an untested team behind enemy lines wasn't the most prudent of decisions. Individually they were far from untested, but this crew specifically had ever worked together. In the Spectre's opinion that was just asking for disaster. However this mission would force cohesion at a much faster rate and that was a recipe for success.

_Normandy's _crew had been tried and tested against the geth, they had experience in fighting them. The others might have fought against them in fighters or aboard their own warships, but not on the ground. Even if they had come across independent geth incursions, the individual units had not worked together. There was no time for it; the enemy wasn't going to wait for them to get into a full fighting unit of warriors. They weren't impotent soldiers simply unaccustomed to each other. Ilos would force them to work as one. So Ilos it was.

From the files sent to her by the Council, however, one of the first places that might be advantageous for them to visit was Elysium.

Elysium.

How very strange it came all the way back to Elysium. Shepard scrubbed her face once again with her hands. How she hated Elysium. Oh, not exactly for what happened there during the Skillian Blitz, but she couldn't set foot on the damned place without getting accosted by the fan-club. Trying to be gracious as an Officer and a Gentle-lady, Shepard spoke to her worshipers and smiled at the children who wanted to have their pictures taken with her and get her autograph. She had become an icon of heroism, and she simply allowed it, because, truth-be-told, it was far easier that way than telling people she hated the hero-worship and people not understanding.

The reason Anderson spoke of Elysium was for a scientist named Kahlee Sanders. She had left the Systems Alliance Military for the Ascension Project, the new biotic program that had overtaken BAaT Training. Sanders had, according to Anderson, been a part of the initial contact with Saren and the investigation into the massacre at Sidon, as well as the disappearance and murder of man named Dr. Shu Quian. Who, incidentally, was instrumental in the Alliance's dalliance into AI research.

Quian had undeniably dabbled with Sovereign. In fact, he had been involved in uncovering the sleeping Reaper. The batarians and Saren had taken it further. Or rather, Saren had. Armed with that knowledge twenty years ago, the turian Spectre had sought out the only person he believed who could help him decipher the doctor's notes; Matriarch Benezia. All this information had been in custody of the Council long before the war broke out, however they didn't know exactly what they were sitting on until it was too late. Only now had the Council given the Spectre all the information Quian had gathered.

So not Ilos just yet….Elysium first, or more particularly, Grissom Station.

The Spectre wasn't sure what Sanders knew or what she hadn't already told the Alliance Systems Military. Of course the military hadn't believed Shepard any more than the Council had about the coming of the Reapers. The Council and the Military Brass had both believed the Reapers were nothing more than creation by Saren to bend the geth to his will. The Military believed Shepard was slowly losing her mind due to the beacons. Now they were all scrambling for her to do something to save them because she already knew how to fight them.

Reapers. What did she really know? What did any of them truly know? For reasons unknown, the Reapers culled the intelligent races of the galaxy, taking with them all technology and resources, and leaving no evidence of their conquest—only desolate, barren ruins of those who came before. The Reapers were inevitably coming. Was this limited to the Milky Way or were other galaxies included? Shepard gave a brief thought of the other galaxies - no way to save them if the Reapers came for them.

The Reaper were far more patient than even the asari matriarchs. They would lie in a state of hibernation beyond the edges of the known galaxy, in Dark Space[,] until they felt their prey was at a point when they could be culled. Their trap was simple. A sentient species would develop FTL drive, but were limited by the speed. The Reapers had left a network of relays capable of instant transport across the galaxy; the Reapers virtually ensured that it would be used. Placing the impressive Citadel at the hub of the relay network, the Reapers ensured that it would become the center of galactic civilization.

Sovereign had implied that the presence of the mass relays would lead the sentient species down a predetermined route with regards to weapons and armor technology both based on element zero technology. It was probable that this reduced the possibility of organic life discovering alternative, more advanced technology and progressing down a different path. Once the sentient races had established themselves on the Citadel with the aid of the keepers, the vanguard would send a signal to the organically created slaves to open the station's hidden mass relay.

A link between Citadel and Dark Space would open and a flood of Reapers would appear. They would start killing the leaders of the assembled species before branching out and obliterating all spacefaring life around them. The Reapers would always first enter the galaxy at the point that they ensured would always be the center of galactic politics, information and finance, and they would be able to decapitate any resistance almost before the prevailing civilizations had any idea what had hit them. The Citadel held the controls of the entire relay network, and once the Reapers conquered it, it gave them the ability to track down every settled planet and attack them, either strip-mining the words of resources or enslaving populations with indoctrination and turning them into sleeper agents. Once the Reapers had harvested the galaxy, they wiped every trace of their existence from record and retreat back into Dark Space.

Shepard had the scans from the Klendagon in the Hawking Eta cluster and they hinted that this had been going on for at least thirty-seven years. The problem with the Reapers was the whole indoctrination bit. Any organic exposed to a Reaper came to believe the synthetic AI was correct in its goals, and the Reapers plans as a whole, and would do anything to serve them. Gradually the mind was eroded until the individual became a mindless slave, unless they could prove their value.

Shepard looked up from the galaxy map, her eyes traveling to the asari crewmembers. The asari had immense mental strength. Matriarch Benezia resisted indoctrination but was only able to do so for a short time and only forestalled the inevitable. Benezia had deliberately allowed herself to be killed by the Spectre and Liara rather than risk falling under the power again. Even Saren had managed to pull away from the indoctrination and killed himself to prevent doing any further damage to the galaxy. Indoctrination was permanent.

But then there was Shiala.

Shiala had been freed.

She had been freed because of the Thorian. Indoctrination battled indoctrination. When the Thorian was destroyed Shiala was completely freed. Was that a key? But anyone studying the Thorian became indoctrinated. Breathing in the spores was a hell of a lot easier in exposure than being forced aboard a Reaper ship. But... no, the Thorian was out. Besides, there seemed to be only one and the Spectre had killed it.

Still, they had the data ExoGeni had on the Thorian. They had more than data, they had the minds responsible for the research. In the squad of scientist, Dr. Lizbeth Baynham, formally of ExoGeni's exobiology department, had been recruited by Shepard on Liara's recommendation. The young woman knew of the Thorian's unique indoctrination tendencies, perhaps not as much as Shiala, but she was still a valuable mind to have on the team. Her mother, Dr. Juliana Baynham, had also accompanied her daughter aboard the _Victory_. The senior Baynham was an expert in retro-engineering and would be a valuable asset in uncovering Prothean technical secrets as well as perhaps those of the Reapers.

Other experts in the field of AI and VI technology were misters Jahleed and Chorban, volus and salarian scientists who had partnered up and developed medical devices to scan the keepers. Something that had never been done before. All their data on the insectiod creatures would be of extreme use in uncovering the secrets of the Reapers. Shepard had even press-gained the inventive salarian hacker Schells who once tried talking Shepard into cheating for him in Flux's gambling den. Shepard needed military cohesion but she also needed those who thought outside the box. The scrawny male was no good in a fight, but he was a very good technician which made Schells an asset.

Another scientist that had been recruited was a salarian toxicologist named Palon who once worked at Peak 15 on Noveria. But after the incident with the Rachni Queen he wanted nothing more to do with Binary Helix and gladly joined up with Shepard. Palon wasn't the only one to have joined the _CCS Victory_ from Noveria. The turian mechanic Lilihierax, who continued to go by the name of Lee, had eagerly joined the Spectre. He hated the corporate world with a passion. He hated polishing gizzard even more. Adams had accepted him and named him chief deck officer in charge of maintaining the Makos as well as the fliers as the man was clearly qualified to work on all manner of military heavy vehicles. Tali was of course second in command of the whole engineering department.

The other face the Spectre took note in was the new addition to the medical team. Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa. The asari was not only a very capable surgeon with extensive knowledge of anatomy both of her own species and of the others aboard the ship, including quarian and **volus**, she was a fully trained commando and had fought in several skirmishes and battles and wars. The matron was an accomplished biotic on top of it all which made her a perfect field medic. To top it all off, the matron was an accomplished biotic and it made her the perfect field medic.

Shepard prowled her ship like a dog on guard. They had an eight hour wait between berths from the Citadel to Grissom Station. She knew her wife was meeting with the scientists and would be wrapped up in dissecting the Prothean data disks previously gathered by the _Normandy._ The Spectre left them to it, trusting them to their work.

And then there was the politics. Shepard had never gained a handle on politics. She was too honest, too forthright for politics. It was full of traps for honest souls. So she had requested a liaison for…'POLITICS'. But not a diplomat. Diplomats were never ever to be trusted. And so she had sent a regquest to the Armali Council for a representative. It might have come as a surprise to some the name she put forth, and further more the affirmative to the request. Mallene Calis.

There was a time when Shepard was in Port Hanshan in the Hotel Mezzanine that Mallene had tried to get Shepard to commit to espionage via a bribe. She had told the man from Binary Helix about the attempt to crack their data base and then turned around and told Mallene what she had done. When asked why she had done so, Shepard simply said it was against the law and she had attempted to bribe her. BH was now on the watch for her and that was more severe than a slap-on-the-wrist-fine. Mallene didn't seem at all angry about being turned in. In fact, she seemed to respect the Spectre's choice. Shepard had proven to the asari she was no dull-stone after all. When she asked for a political liaison who wasn't a diplomat she got Mallene. She was named Corporate Political Liaison Officer and the title worked.

It seemed to her the crew had sectioned themselves off in departments rather than species. Well that wasn't completely honest; the soldiers had indeed separated themselves off according to their species. But then they would, their tactics were different. However, they would need to train together if they were ever going to be successful. Sniper shots and guerrilla tactics from the asari to force the enemy to flee into a human-turian ambush and while distracted espionage crews of salarians would hack into the enemy computers and snatch away much needed information. Shepard demanded they all train together to better efficacy. She also demanded those of the scientific crew capable of fighting to train with them. She also was insistent that her 'favored' groundside crew take every opportunity to train with the new squads.

There were three cavernous chambers that were the training roomsand on the same deck were the weapons lockers. Here Williams had called her home. No, not home, but her sanctuary. As the XO she was now to be stationed at the CIC, but Williams had always found peace in weapons workshops.

Shepard padded up silently behind her 2IC, she had intended to startle Ash by asking her what she thought she was doing away from the CIC. She paused in mid-step hearing the words coming over the computer, "...consider the offer very carefully…" Ash had sensed the presence of another behind her and quickly snapped off her computer.

"Skipper! I didn't know you were there." She swallowed hard. "I've finished with the daily department reports. I just took a bit of time for personal mail." Williams gave an unsteady grin. "My other sisters want to know how Abby's getting on, from their big sister's point of view." She gave the Spectre the steady, honest gaze of a born soldier.

Shepard held it, lie for lie.

Shepard's expression didn't change, but she felt herself turn into a small ball of rage behind it. Look at the eyes-look at the eyes…liar. _Liar!_ The question was, why was Ashley lying to her? The Spectre's look became thunderous causing Ash to turn away. "_By all means_, Lieutenant if there are dull moments between missions catching up on private messages isn't against regulations." There was a gleam in her eyes that was an open declaration of war. They both knew who had the upper hand.

Williams bit her lip. The woman edged around so that the workbench was between her and the Spectre. She looked at her as a sentient soul looked at a very fierce dog on a very thin leash. Her face contorted in a series of twisted expressions as she experimented with replies.

"You have something to add, Lieutenant?"

"Er, no…ma'am." Her face was gray which the Spectre's stare could do.

"Very well, carry on then," her voice said with snow on it.

Williams watched her commanding officer leave with footsteps that made no sound at all, but she could feel the vibrations of each crashing step after crashing step. The younger woman shuddered. She had been caught out, and yet Shepard smiled at her! The Commander knew…she knew she had been lied to and said nothing, pretended not to know she had been lied to. Ash's hands had become fists, though she didn't know when it had happened, she only knew they had been fists because now they were smarting for having hit the surface of the work-bench. She flexed the fingers a few times, at least they weren't broken.

She opened the message again. It was such a small thing, the request from the sender. Such a small price…a small thing…for the promise for greater things. For something she had wanted all her life, it was right there at her fingertips. She looked up to the door where the Spectre had vanished and winced for feeling the temptation to answer the offer with an affirmative. Without looking to the terminal she shut it down and attempted in vain to lose herself in the tediousness of modifying the new colossus armor. "Damn it," she cursed. She picked up the tools then a trembling hand dropped them. "Damn it! God damn it!"

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

The Spectre railed against the lie, against the blatant dishonesty of the lie. The friend justified the lie; it wasn't what she thought it was, there was a reasonable explanation. The officer fumed against the lie, against the blatant infraction of regulations. The Spectre won. And the Spectre would wait for the reasonable explanation that surely must exist. It had to. It just had to. The alternative was …unbelievable but…not unthinkable. Because it had already been thought even if it had been a silent thought. The Spectre wouldn't allow herself to speak the word even in a whisper. The unbelievable word, though thinkable, wasn't speakable.

The three in her agreed to think not of the 'T' word. This wasn't treason this was…was fraternization with a fellow officer. Yes, that had to be why Ashley lied. Williams was having an affair with another on board the ship and obviously someone of lower rank or higher rank. Considering she was the XO of the ship that was pretty much everyone. That's against regulations. Of course it could be a civilian. Secret love affair. That's fine. Nothing to worry about. Not a thing. Nothing whatsoever in any way. Everything was absolutely nothing to worry about in any way. She ran a hand around the back of her neck. Right.

Right.

She moved to the ship's stores to inform Corporal Merkerson (formally of the _Normandy _as her requisition's officer) to take a shuttle down to Elysium to accept shipments of mods, armaments, weapons.

"Already anticipated that Commander, I'm all over it." He gave a watery smile "Any chance of new licenses?" his voice rose in pitch in the hopes of possibly getting his hands on extremely rare asari mods. Oh, the Spectre had acquired the very rare Armali Council licenses, but there were others from the asari he coveted. Some only the very powerful could get their hands on.

"I doubt it. Besides, it's a human colony, they won't have Spectre quality goods at any rate. The only place for that is the Citadel. Still, they'll have access to good equipment. Get what you can, if there are any difficulties send a com to me and I'll assist in sorting it out. I doubt you will have any at any rate though, word that a Spectre ship has arrived and the merchants will be scrambling to sell you their wares." Shepard flashed an easy smile at the disbelieving corporal. "Sometimes it's good to pull rank. But this also means it goes into the ship's profits and not your own as it is the Council who is fitting the bill for the most part. Any separate deals you are still allowed to make, but not on the Council's dime. Got it?"

"Aye-aye ma'am," Merkerson said with a smile that all accountants possess when the fiscal year comes up. A look Shepard interpreted as calculating. Of course Merkerson would be attempting to figure out an angle to where he could make a profit, but then there wasn't a requisition officer in the Fleet who didn't try to make a profit. If there was, Shepard wouldn't have trusted him for being so very honest. You could trust a slightly dishonest requisition officer to be dishonest and somehow cheat you, it was to be expected. You caught them out, they apologized for trying to make a credit or two on your dime and took something off the next order and the process started all over again. You couldn't trust a fully honest requisition officer because you never knew what angles they had or where they were coming from.

"I've been working on a deal to get a few new licenses myself but I thought you might be able to get them faster."

"This isn't a trading vessel Corporal," the Spectre reminded him. "The way I see it we don't need any more licenses, we get what we need as it is with what we have."

The corporal opened his mouth to argue the finer points of trade negation but stopped short. Commander Samantha Shepard was a shrewd calculating warrior and galactic hero, but a merchant she wasn't, and therefore she would never see the finer points of the Markets. As long as her ship was well stocked and gear was top notch she was content to settle for what she had.

"Aye aye Ma'am." He said again

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

A bleep alerted Aleena that her private extranet account had new messages. In fact, she received several official bursts every fifteen minutes. Piggybacking personal messages onto the official busts was one of the perks of her position.

Aleena frowned, recognizing the sender's address. It wasn't exactly a surprise, but she wasn't happy to see the file. Because it meant others had this intel as well. For a second the bounty hunter toyed with the idea of ignoring it. But that was foolish. Besides, she had a headway against her competitors and she wasn't going to lose it. Not now. She had her mark and she wasn't going to lose it.

It wouldn't be the first time she had taken out or tried to neutralize a competitor. Take Wrex for example. She had spent days aboard a salarian space station trying to kill Wrex and avoid being inhumed by the krogan at the same time all because she was the named contract. Before that they had tried to kill each other over the same contract over some turian. So if she wanted keep her mark safe she would have to protect her. Or rather them. But how do you secretly protect an overprotective Spectre protecting her wife?

That wasn't going to be easy. But that wasn't half the problem. Half the problem was getting close and gaining trust. She had to make herself invaluable to the Spectre on a personal level. That meant getting close to the ground crew. A novice might try and get close to Liara, but the Spectre would suspect that. Getting close to the favored ground crew however... now that was check and mate.

Opening the e-mail, she wasn't surprised to find the Spectre's new locale was given. And where the human Spectre was there would be Liara T'Soni.

Elysium.

So, the traitor on the ship was giving information away like sweets. Hum…that was going to make things difficult in the protection line. Aleena would have to uncover who was the loose lipped betrayer if she wanted to keep her mark to herself. Goddess damn it to the Progenitor's gullet! Why in the Abyss did things have to become so complicated? Protecting the mark was going to be difficult enough without trying to fish out who was the slimy back stabbing squid of traitor, so she could inhume the motherless spawn before they made it impossible to protect Liara. Her face turned into that universal default expression of all bounty hunters everywhere that said this: 'You are all ready dead only my patience stands in the way.'

"Ah, Dr. S'thasa," Chakwas' refined British accent floated through the med-bay as she addressed the emerald skinned asari. "I was hoping to consult you on the physiology of Joined-minds."

Aleena turned and flashed a true smile of interest. "I noticed you didn't say asari Joined-minds. May I be so presumptuous to believe this might be about Commander Shepard and Dr. T'Soni?"

The human nodded. "I must admit I'm not fully versed in telepathic connections but it is vital that I become so."

Ah…there it was! The way in. Medicine. As _Doctor _Mal'dicta S'thasa, Aleena had managed to infiltrate the Spectre's ship but not the Spectre's company. Now she had a way into the lives of her targets - a way to protect them from being inhumed by rivals so she could have the privilege of collecting herself.

"I'll be happy to. But I must admit this deep connection between the Spectre and Dr. T'Soni is something beyond my practical experience. But I am knowledgeable about Joined Minds having been bonded myself."

"You have a bondmate?" Chakwas asked softly. She was clearly keenly interested in the answer.

"Not anymore. It was a long time ago and a time best left in the past."

Chakwas nodded and understood the silent request Mal'dicta wasn't going to share further. "I understand." She gave a small smile. "So about the data…."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Coffee was only a way of stealing time that by rights belonged to your slightly older self. Liara had two cups. Which made her feel quite asari and made her feel capable of handling long hours with even longer questions.

She much preferred to work alone; she had never been good at teamwork, that is to say academic team work. You couldn't travel with the Spectre and _not _become good with martial teamwork. Now she had thirty scientists under her command. The young woman muttered a litany of prayers to Athame that she wouldn't make a fool of herself as soon as she opened her mouth.

Liara was in her element with digs, computers, data chips and remote places, but a room filled with scientists wasn't something was she familiar with. Well, that wasn't exactly true; she had been to symposiums, but that wasn't in command capacity. Touching Samantha's mind Liara know how to take command of those who didn't want be controlled because they felt they should be the ones to have that control. The first thing was to establish the line in the sand that said, 'I'm the commander, you're my squad, and you will obey. If you don't like it, it's too damn bad, because by being here you agreed to be a follower and you will follow me.'

"We have a duty before us," she started briskly. Making sure all eyes were now on her rather than in little huddles of chittering, gossiping individuals. "On your arrival you were given OSD copies of the Prothean data, as well as how and where they were found. I've also asked you to compare them to any and all other data you might have come across to uncover anything that spoke of the Reapers, indoctrination, cycles of extinction or technology the Protheans themselves uncovered. Thoughts?"

"I found it fascinating to discover that the planets and asteroids the disks were discovered on were classified levels of one and two hazards in pressures, toxins and frozen temperatures. Others were carbonaceous and had high concentrations of heavy and light metals," Abby Williams said. "Outside technology, I've found the Protheans geological surveys very fascinating. They had a way of mining for minerals and metals that didn't completely destroy the environment around them. They turned their mines into colonies afterwards. Take the space station Omega for instance. The whole place was once a mining station; once they cleared it out they made it a home."

"What does that have to do with anything?" asked Chorban in the typical salarian speed and impatience that comes with having to deal with anyone who didn't speak as rapidly as they did. Of course salarians never respected humans thinking them dull and stupid because of how slow they were. One wonders what the salarians think of the elcor.

"Well, the beacons were found on lush worlds like Eden Prime and Virmire," Dr. Williams continued. "I don't know if it is relative or not but it seems important. The pyramids were found on worlds rich with minerals but tended to have a toxicity hazarded for most sentients and the disks were found on the most inhospitable of places. Were these places like that fifty thousand years ago or did the Reapers make them like that? So if they were made like that it means that the Protheans are more like us. Er… no offence to the volus crewmembers. But if those places were always like that then it means the Protheans either lived like the quarians in environmental suits or they were adaptive and could readily survive any environment. You said Vigil had expected that someone would come along and open them up, just like the Commander did, and have it completely figured out that intergalactic culling was going to happen. So it's possible they put data disks and beacons on a variety of worlds with different environments hoping they would be uncovered by whomever…who could survive on those planets or asteroids."

Liara paused to consider this. She had found ruins on worlds that were volcanic, frozen, toxic and fairly dead worlds. She had even been to Sharing and her sixty moons. They all showed Prothean developments. In the same system as Feros, the planet Ogl had an Earth like atmosphere. And Quana had Prothean mining infrastructure. Unlike Feroshowever, the Quanaian necropolis was intact, but devoid of anything valuable having been long since raided.

Liara had never found anything, but then what had she looking for? If they could go back there, they might find something like on Ilos. It was a long shot, so long Liara would have to press Shepard to go. What, if anything, would they find there - a pyramid, the orbs, a beacon… nothing?

It was so easy to feel as if you were given a puzzle with both sides painted, no corners or edges or the picture on the box but you were expected to put it together just to save all sentient life. How did you put a puzzle like that together? Where did you start?

Everyone seemed to be considering this, what, if any, relevance was there to the environment and the relics of the Protheans? Was it a shotgun way of getting information out or was it something else. Ilos was important, surely, but so was Quana. They had to go to the silent necropolis. It was important.

"Thank you, Dr. Williams, that is a theory worth pursuing and we will."

The young woman beamed from the praise of a scientist she had always admired, because in her view the asari archeologist was simply brilliant. She was a geologist yes, but Abby had an amateur's fascination for archeology. And considering that the Protheans mined minerals and metals then built colonies fell into her field via the back door.

"While this has been interesting," the distinct click-hiss of environmental suit's com-system, "I am more interested in Vigil. You said it is a Prothean AI that is still functioning?"

"It was losing continuity when we left Ilos. Whether or not it is still functioning is unknown, and as it is unknown, it is a waste of time attempting to plan accordingly. However, I would shape a plan around the fact the AI is _not_ functioning. Still, Ilos holds a multitude of secrets that need to be uncovered. There are databanks and armature controls…"

"Armature controls!" this came as a bark from one Mr. Chorban. "You didn't say anything about that!" his voice carried the unmistakable notes that he thought he was owed an explanation.

Liara narrowed her eyes. _So this is command, is it?_ Samantha had once said sometimes it's necessary to puff your chest, stare hard and lower your voice to the point that it vibrated even the elcor base tones. "_MISTER_ Chorban, if I was in your place I would recall my position lest I lose sight of it. May I be so bold as to _ask _what is _your_ rank amongst the crew?"

This seemed to confuse the salarian. "My…my rank?"

"I thought it was a relatively elementary question. Perhaps I should speak more _slowly_ so that you understand," Liara said pulling on her inner Benezia. She knew she had insulted the scientist. Telling a salarian you would speak slowly was like telling him he was a dull stone.

"I…"

"Oh yes of course, forgive me." There was a bit of ice in Liara's voice that Benezia would have used when addressing anyone she considered beneath her, even if they didn't understand that they were beneath her. How thick was the iceberg Saran had to climb without knowing he was climbing it? "You don't necessarily have a rank do you? That is to say you don't even have the position to head the AI/ VI department. Perhaps you believed the lack of rank allows you to assume one and one that places you as Head of the Sciences. I can understand this given your former affiliations. No matter, I shall happily clarify this simple matter, _MISTER_ Chorban if necessary."

Benezia would have been proud. Liara actually felt Samantha beaming in pride.

Shiala was stricken with just how much Liara sounded like Benezia, and for a moment it was as if she was the presence of her former mistress.

Chorban visibly shuddered. "No…I…I…forgive me Dr. T'Soni. I was caught up in the idea of a Prothean AI."

"Of course you were." Liara allowed the slippery thin excuse to pass. "As for the armature controls we gained control over them and were able to make the armatures to fight _for_ us. This is no small thanks the Spectre's talents. We made the geth _fight_ for us. Against other geth. Against Saren. Against Sovereign. Mind that next time you pose questions please, it will waylay these rather embarrassing moments."

"Yes Ma'am," the salarian turned his head a side clearly humiliated, "of course Ma'am." He swallowed very, very hard.

Liara chanced a look to all the other figures in the lab. All of them were stricken slightly pale. Of all of them the palest was Shiala. It had to be the inner Benezia. That was the answer to a spoken question. The inner Benezia raised her head and took full command.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Why…why is a Spectre coming here?" asked Jiro, one of the head scientists of the Ascension Project to the Project leader.

Kahlee Sanders shook her head. "I don't know. And apparently they don't have to say. She's only said I was to meet her and it was confidential."

"Do you think she's investigating the training here?" the man continued to ask, his nervousness almost tangible.

It should have bothered Sanders that her part-time boyfriend was growing anxious about the prospect of a Spectre coming to the station. But then anyone would be anxious about the prospect of a Spectre coming anywhere in their vicinity on official duty.

Hendel, who was the station's head of security, harrumphed. He hadn't overlooked the antsy behavior of the scientist. Why would the man be nervous about a Spectre if he hadn't done anything wrong? Never mind the fact anytime a Spectre came along they were either after trouble or it came in their wake.

"She wouldn't say, only that she was coming here on a matter of the utmost security," Kahlee repeated. She wasn't keen on Spectres. After all, the last one she had encountered was twenty years ago and that was Saren. Facing the Spectre who had hunted down and was instrumental in neutralizing the turian Spectre was more than a little nerve-wracking. It was said Shepard was a very powerful biotic and was married to the daughter of the most powerful biotic in Council space. Nerve-wracking didn't begin to cover the emotions Kahlee Sanders was feeling.

Why was a Spectre coming?


	11. Out of the Woodwork

Chapter 11: Out of the Woodworks

_Victory_ approached the medium-sized space station that was Grissom Academy. Half a dozen small docking bays were built along its exterior, each capable of accommodating small to medium sized vessels. Fortunately the _Victory _fit into the latter. Most of the time the port played host to supply ships bringing necessary resources from Elysium to keep the Academy functioning.

Elysium hovered awe-inspiringly below the observation window. It looked like a blue and white marble, like Earth a thousand years ago, before the mega-metropolises.

A few seconds later the Spectre's ship, an asari bird of prey - a frigate, drifted silently into view. Her pilot was an expert; making no mistakes as he settled the ship into a position to allow the automated docking clamps to lock her into place. The fully enclosed platform extended out from the station to connect with the frigate's airlock that would equalize the internal pressure of the ship to the station.

Staring intently out of the window were Kahlee, Hendel and Jiro, all eyes were on the confident figure of a woman. Her shining black and red colossus armor proudly proclaimed her identity. This was the Spectre. She wasn't heavily armed, carrying only a pistol at her side, but then she was a very powerful biotic, she didn't need a lot of weapons. The three others at her side were asari, one sapphire, [the second] emerald and the other violet. Like the Spectre they were only armed with pistols. That said a lot.

It said that the Spectre wasn't concerned she would be out gunned because when you could control gravitational fields and generate singularities you didn't need an army, and you didn't need a lot of weapons.

Hendel turned to Kahlee as she was the head of the Academy. "Do we confiscate the pistols?"

The woman shook her head. "They're for show. Spectres are always heavily armed, yet she shows up with only a pistol? Why? Because she's on a station filled with children?"

"Maybe, but I think it has more to show she's not limited to firearms," Jiro said staring at the dark haired woman with a keen interest. "How powerful is she?"

"According to the news-vids she repelled several mass-tons of a ship's hull from crushing her to death and she was already drained. It was like when she was first here on Elysium. She had rallied the colonists and security forces to fight but when it looked like they were going to lose they fled into underground bunkers and left Shepard to fight the platoon alone. She used her biotics to a point that should have killed her in order to fight off the enemy forces. Even then it was said she was as powerful as an asari huntress," Kahlee answered.

"I've seen the news-feeds," Hendel said admiringly. "The way she took down that rogue agent Saren was incredible. She shoved her pistol into his gizzard and continued to fire until her gun nearly exploded in her hand. She's N7-trained special-ops - she would continue to fight even if her body was dead. Hell, if it came right down to it, she's stubborn enough to not allow herself to die until she completes her mission That's hardcore, that is."

"If she's biotic…where did she train?" Jiro asked. "She looks to be about the right age to have been at BAaT program at Gagarin Station."

Hendel shook his head. "No she wasn't there. I knew everyone there. I was good friends with a good number of 'em. If she was there I would have known about it, everyone would have known. She would have a lot of attention just like my friend Rhanna. I suspect she had private tutors. I heard a few young biotics were selected for an even more hushed-up trial program than BAaT, which enlisted the aid of the asari to train them. And all of them were females. Apparently males have an unhealthy obsession with asari so they wouldn't take any."

"I always thought that 'secretly-trained-by-asari' to be rumor and urban myth." Jiro sounded a little concerned. But then there are a lot of secret programs going on behind a lot of thick doors. Look at Cerberus after all…as a matter of course don't look too closely at Cerberus, the young man thought. It would lead to some very complicated questions he had no desire to answer.

He had to wonder though. Did the Illusive Man know about the Spectre's secret training? Of course he did, the Man had to know. He had to know just how powerful she was. Wasn't…wasn't Shepard responsible for shutting down several research facilities? Hadn't she taken a Cerberus agent into custody on Ontarom for what had happened at Akuze and the thresher maws? And now she was here? _Don't panic! Don't panic! Excuse yourself…and make a call to the Man….that's all I have to do…She doesn't know anything. If she did Hendel would have done something by now. No, don't do anything. You're being paranoid. Don't do a gods damn thing._

Hendel drew in a breath, "Alright, let's go down and meet our guests." The large soldier smiled at the prospect of his male counterpart being unnerved at the Spectre's arrival.

"Actually, bring her to the reception hall, Hendel. I don't want to appear too eager to meet her. I need your appraisal of her."

"You think she's anything like that turian?" Jiro asked tentatively.

"No. I was told by Councilor Anderson that she was going to arrive; he would have been more guarded if she were like Saren. Besides, she used to serve under him before the _Normandy_ became hers. I heard it in his voice, he's proud of her, more than that he respects her."

"_Councilor_ Anderson? Ha! I still think that position should have been given to Udina. I think he got shafted by the double-dealing Council if you ask me," Jiro said.

"Yeah, but no one did ask you did they?" Hendel growled. "I doubt she's after dusters, but there is a chance she could… find out about someone who is."

Jiro shot the other man a glance. "We have no proof Grayson is a duster."

"Then you're as blind as you are-"

"Gentlemen!" Kahlee snapped, bringing both men to attention. "It's best not to keep the Spectre waiting. They are not known for their patience," she warned, thinking again of Saren and the run-ins she had had with the rogue. She still had nightmares of him storming into her father's house and demanding answers for what happened at Sidon.

Now twenty years later, another Spectre was here after answers about what happened at Sidon.

Spectres, whether paragon or rogue, always made things difficult. Elite agents of the Citadel's covert Special Tactics and Recon branch, Spectres answered directly to the Council itself. Highly trained individuals authorized to act above and outside the law, the Spectres had one special mandate: protect galactic stability at any and all costs.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

The Spectre gave a small glance to the heavy red velvet rope snaking back and forth in the bay to usher passengers through customs. Being a Spectre she didn't have to stand in the queue. She passed the ropes, the yellow painted line on the floor and the armed Alliance guards. They started to move forward but stopped.

"I am Commander Shepard, Spectre. Stand-down."

At once the guards obeyed. She out ranked them in both their own human military and by virtue of being a Spectre. Even if they had been ordered to oppose her there was no way they would stand up to her. They had seen the vids, they knew she had taken out an asari matriarch, a rogue Spectre and his army of geth and was instrumental in the attack on Saren's warship. Besides you couldn't confiscate biotics.

The first to enter the room was a tall, rusty-brown haired male, over six feet tall, a thick neck, chest, and arms with a beard closely cropped and mustache in the same style as Joker's. He, like Shepard, had a slightly darker skin tone that hinted at a mixed heritage. He was Scandinavian-Spanish, where she was Native-American and English-Scandinavian. He had a military swagger about him, Shepard had come to recognize as full of rules, regulations and care for those under his command. Those under his command were the children. The Spectre approved. That is, until he spoke.

"Hendel Mitra, Chief of Station Security."

Shepard all but rolled her eyes. In her experience, station security commanders always puffed out their chests trying to prove their power and at the same time ignoring the Spectre's rank. And if they weren't doing it themselves their second in commands were. There were times when Shepard wondered if this was why the Spectres had a rough and almost ruthless reputation. They were continuously being challenged over their position and so they shoved back. Hard.

"Commander Samantha Shepard, Council Spectre," She said in a voice that said 'challenge me and I'll make sure you'll have a very, very bad day. I really don't want to do it in a station filled with kids but I will'. You could say a lot in a tone of voice or with a look that was never vocally spoken aloud.

He only nodded, which said to her. 'I understand your rank; you won't get any trouble out of me or my people.'

"This is Dr. Liara T'Soni and Commander Shiala of Armali and this is Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa. Take me to Dr. Sanders now, please."

"She's in the reception hall, I'll be happy to escort you." Hendel turned and headed back the way he came.

Well, the man was military. He understood that the chain of command was sacrosanct in the Force. Despite the fact Shepard no longer served the military, she was MILITARY. Shepard reasoned this was why she hadn't been faced with the hassle she had encountered on Noveria and the bloody stupid ERCS security teams.

As they made their way to the halls of the academy, Shepard was well aware of many little eyes on her. She knew she had been deliberately taken through the corridors of classrooms. The message said. 'Try anything and these are the faces that will suffer for it. Could you do that? Bring harm to all these innocents?'

Shepard bristled slightly under the assumption that she might have done something that would have endangered the children. "This station seems exceptionally large, even for a boarding school, just to train a handful of biotics," Shepard said. "And it isn't like Jump Zero."

"This isn't just a school for biotics. Grissom Academy is also a school for math and science geniuses and music prodigies. For music we are second only to Juilliard back on Earth. Their education is one of the finest in the Alliance. Here they can reach their full potential," Hendel said proudly. "The parents entrust their education and well being to us."

"The children here are separated from their parents?" Liara asked Hendel horrified. "You were separated from your parents?" she asked this time the question was directed to the Spectre.

"Dr. T'Soni not all of us are as fortunate as the asari or those who had private asari tutors," Hendel all but spat in a voice cool and leveled. "Some of us older biotics… the L2's were even abandoned by our parents. There is still a lot of terror and prejudice against biotics – even from their own families. In the past, parents disowned kids with biotic potential because they feared them. BAaT came forward took the unwanted kids, hooked them up with amps and then turned them over to turian tutors. The L4 kids in the Ascension Program are not isolated, but they need special care and teaching." Hendel turned to look at the four young women. "Asari don't ship their kids off to boarding schools?"

"Not at such a delicate age, no. An asari daughter is trained by specialists yes, but the child remains in the care of her mother…or parents. It is her mother that guides her daughter through the first understanding of mind melds. The bond between mother and daughter is strong and the first mind melds are very intense and place the child in a state of vulnerability. The familiar comfort and care of her mother's mind will guide the child into the safe recesses of the mind. She learns to protect her mind, to shield and also open herself. No mother would entrust another to have such an intimate connection to her daughter. No asari would take advantage of a daughter, but the maternal instinct is very strong. When a youngling is ready she will begin training to hone her biotics. Then at that time, yes, she is sent into boarding academies, " Shiala explained. "Especially if she wants to become a huntress. Not all asari wish to further their biotic training past the age of thirty."

"Ah," Hendel said. "Yes, but um…humans, as you know, don't do mind melds. I know asari can mind meld with anyone, but the rest of us can't." He smiled as he now understood the young woman's shock of young kids taken away from their parents. "And even if this is a boarding school, their parents are allowed to visit anytime." There seemed to be something left unsaid, 'Sometimes even when we don't want them to.'

Liara hadn't given much thought about how human biotics were trained; only that they had been. She knew humans, like other non-asari, suffered headaches; Kaiden had and there were times when Samantha had as well. The meditations were helping with that however. "Do you implement meditations to assist with the headaches?" Liara said, maneuvering the topic to less toxic ground. "There are several asari techniques that should help."

"We have consulted the asari in this on occasionally. Dr. Sanders wants to negotiate to have tutors come from Thessia to aid in the teaching. Political red tape and military interests are difficult boundaries to hurdle over," The large man said. "There's been little progress so far. Especially after what happened at BAaT."

"Maybe Sanders is just waiting for a certain Spectre to say a word or two in the right ear?" Shepard said off-handedly.

"I wouldn't know about that, Commander. My tasks are to ensure the kids don't throw each other into a biotic scuffle and try to teach them something along the way."

"Discipline can be difficult with younglings who possess command over their environment and potentially others," Shiala said. "For more than a century I have taught younglings to use their biotics."

Hendel turned to the violet skinned woman. She and Liara both were accustomed to such a gobsmacked expression. Short lived species often found it difficult to reconcile a young face with centuries of living.

"May I ask how you disciplined them?" the man asked.

"Running laps to start," Liara said, more or less under her breath that got Shepard to smirk. "Laps and then the harsher forms of disciplinary actions take place."

Hendel raised an eyebrow. "Running laps?"

"Corporal punishment only reveals violence is violence - a lesson of might makes right. we do not strike our children. That is no lesson to be learned. Asari younglings must learn the consequences of their actions. If they have harmed another with their biotics, a mentor will make a connection between the one harmed and the wrong-doer so the assailant will experience the humiliation and pain of the injured party. Manual labor also works," Shiala smiled oddly, "Being forced to thoroughly clean and polish several intricate statues with a toothbrush tends to make one think twice about inappropriate behavior. Mucking out animal stalls, weed removal, making organic compost, cleaning out fish ponds or other similar tasks is also effective."

Hendel smiled conspiratorially. "Manual labor - the more intricate and smelly the better. This is a space station so we don't actually have horses, but there are gardens to be tended. Compounded with restrictions on their vids, games or other private entertainment, it could make them think twice about misbehaving. But they will still leave here arrogant snot-nosed punks. Back in my day you got slapped upside the head so hard your ears bled."

"We have been forced into confrontations with several biotics from the BAaT training," Shepard said almost regretfully. "We were forced to neutralize them. Apprently corporal punishment didn't seem be that effective, it turned them all into insane bullies."

Hendel turned on her, "I didn't say it was the best way, Spectre, but lectures and lockdowns don't leave a lasting impression."

"Have you attempted a more academic method?" Dr. S'thasa asked, speaking up for the first time.

"What do you mean? What, writing lines? Make them write a thousand times 'Biotic pushes are not to be used to shove a person down the steps.'"

"Not exactly," Shiala clarified. "A malcontent will be instructed to write a five hundred word report on rules, regulations and why they believe they are above the laws. They are forced to justify their actions. That report is then given to the malcontent's mother, as well as the head-mistress, and they are further forced to read the report aloud to classmates. The reports follow the child through her entire academic career.

"Asari are far-seeing beings, Mr. Mitra. The prospect of malcontent-justification reports following them throughout their years in education has its effects. Their inappropriate behavior soon stops. No asari desires to have their futures marred by behavior that is unacceptable. If it happens more than once, those reports become a permanent part of their records."

"Those reports could follow them into their careers, could it not?" Hendel seemed to think.

"Yes," Liara said. "In fact very much so."

"Just think of it if they wanted to enlist," Shepard said. "Those reports would be seen by the Commander of Basic Training and follow them in their records wherever they go. If they wanted to go corporate, I don't think the CEO of a company would think well of those reports."

"However that being said, once we turn sixty and are allowed to leave our parents homes, we are expected to explore our restlessness and be adventurous, perhaps even a little on the mischievous side. It is called our 'wild maiden years' for a reason," Shiala said looking to Liara.

Hendel opened his mouth to say more but they had arrived at the reception room. He ushered the four women into the room. The room itself was tasteful, if not utilitarian, in design. Soft taupe carpeting, four dark blue sofas and matching armchairs encircled a low, glass-topped coffee table. The table itself had the latest issues of several journals on music, science digests and understanding biotics strewn across it. Along with the periodicals were brochures on the academy itself, explaining its function, classes offered and the facilities at the disposal of the students and staff.

Shepard noted two other doors on the opposite wall, one no doubt lead to the admitting office, the other was possibly the office of Dr. Sanders. The Spectre took note of the woman of almost fifty years old. She had aged gracefully and was indeed beautiful and still would be for years to come.

Next to the sandy blonde woman was a young man of Asian descent with spiky, dyed-red hair. It looked like he had just rolled out of bed. He shifted slightly under the scrutiny of the Spectre's stare but tried to force an expression of calm and bravado onto his face. Neither Shepard nor the asari were impressed.

_And here I was concerned the security chief would try to pull some I'm-bigger-than-you-are crap._ The Spectre thought to herself.

"Spectre Shepard, I'm Dr. Kahlee Sanders, director of the Grissom Academy and the Ascension Program. And this is Dr. Jiro Toshiwa he is …"

"Leaving," The Spectre demanded, though her tone was neither crisp nor harsh, it was even and expected to be obeyed.

The young man opened his mouth to speak but Hendel cut him off. "You heard the Spectre, Jiro." He turned to the dark haired warrior. "I'm going to hazard a guess you want me gone too."

The Spectre smiled slightly and nodded. "This meeting must be confidential, Chief." She offered no apologies. She didn't have to, they were both military. She returned the crisp salute the security chief offered.

The women watched as Hendel manhandled the younger man out of the room before they turned their attention back to each other and the reason for the visit.

"Dr. Sanders let's cut to the chase," Shepard started once the men had left. "Councilor Anderson informed me that when he was a lieutenant he worked with you twenty years ago on the Sidon incident. He said you had encounters with Saren. He told me of your former CO and colleague Dr. Qian and the illegal experimentation the Alliance undertook with AI technology.

"I have the reports former Ambassador Goyle gave to the Council but I need more than that. Qian found Sovereign in a state of hibernation. I need to know where. I need to know how he got on board, when you first noticed a change in his demeanor and I need you to look over the notes he made. I need you to add your own interpretations to those we already have."

Sanders was a little taken aback by the bluntness of the younger woman's demands. "I don't know how Dr. Qian got on board. At the time we only knew that he had discovered some kind of alien artifact. Most of us thought it was Prothean, others believed it predated them."

"If he was your mentor how could you not know what he was working on?" Liara asked incredulously.

"He kept us in the dark. He treated us like lab-monkeys, running data he gathered from his tests and experiments," the blonde explained. "Only Qian knew all of the details about the artifact; where it was, what it was, what it did. He went missing about the same time Sidon was attacked, though I didn't know it at the time. The reports had stated there were no survivors of Sidon and the bodies had been deliberately burned beyond identification."

"He was probably extracted during the attack, which was more than likely a distraction to do just that," Shepard said.

"I wasn't there…I…" Kahlee said. "I left when I felt something wrong. I can't describe it now any more than I could then. Only that something was wrong with Qian."

"That would be indoctrination," Shiala said evenly.

"Indoctrinated into what?" Kahlee asked. "Does it have something to do with Saren's attack on the Citadel?"

"Very much so," Liara said.

The asari noticed that the Spectre hadn't spoke of Sovereign or the Reapers and they were mindful not to speak of the synthetics themselves. "As you remember your former mentor well I want you to look over these transcripts of his notes." Shepard handed Kahlee an OSD.

Sander's hands shook as she took the small data strip. "How…how did you get these?"

"They were in the possession of Saren," was all the Spectre offered.

Kahlee slipped the OSD into her omni-tool and began to scan the reports. A puzzled expression washed over her features. "This is his work but the language…the phraseology isn't his."

"No. Saren gave the reports to another he was working with, his second in command. She transcribed his work. But the notes are very elusive as to where the relic was discovered. They speak of the Perseus Veil and the Terminus Systems but they become vague after that. Saren's agent believed Qian was speaking in code. One only he knew. I think you might know as well. Comments he might have said, particular phrases that might have been typical to hear in mundane or nonsocial conversation could have had double meanings. It is very clear the man was become more and more delusional. And in that delusion I believe he wrote where the relic was discovered."

Kahlee gave a moment to digest all that the Spectre had told her and more importantly what she hadn't said. She hadn't named Saren's XO. That hadn't gone unnoticed. Still recalling the cold-harshness of Saren, Kahlee could see the same cool resolve reflected in the black-haired woman before her. There was a significant difference in that similar gaze that set her apart from Saren however: there was a careful kindness - a quiet nobility to the expression.

This was Commander Samantha Shepard. A living legend, just like Kahlee's father Jon Grissom who was the commander of the first mission through the Chiron mass relay in the Sol System. Her father was a hero yes, but his limelight was fading due to the new heroics of Shepard. She was the only reason Elysium was still standing today. Many lives owed their existence and freedom due to her efforts in holding off an entire platoon until reinforcements arrived.

You couldn't walk the streets of Elysium now without coming across a pub or bar that had her name on it, doubtful this young woman even knew. One of the main thoroughfares was named Shepard's Way and another called Samantha Shepard Boulevard. There was even a small recreational area called the Samantha Shepard Park.

The older human studied the readouts on her omni-tool and gave a rather hopeless shrug to Shepard. "I know he was into fishing, but even these ramblings about 'the one that got away' seem to be just that; ramblings.'It was too bad because it was big enough to satisfy even Jonah's finicky tastes for sushi.' makes no sense to me. I don't recall any personnel by the name Jonah being at Sidon." She frowned. "I'll have to check my own notes on the place but I don't recall this 'Four-I: Job-thirty-eight' either. But we were segregated; it could be referring to another project some of the other researchers were working on."

"Yes, but unfortunately you are the only one alive from Sidon. The others are dead, the records destroyed. All I have to go on is your memory and any files you had on you when you went AWOL." Shepard said evenly.

Kahlee sucked in a deep breath trying to calm her nerves. She kept looking at the binary coding 'Four-I: Job-thirty-eight'. The Systems Alliances relied on such coding for nearly everything. Take the vocational codes for instance - the N7's to be precise. The N designates Special Forces. The 7 referred to the highest level of proficiencies. It was applied to marines who graduated from elite training programs and showed immense skill in the field. "Maybe he inverted the four and the 'I' to hide the vocational amplitude."

"I-Four has nothing to do with AI's or VI's. It's not even used in their field." Shepard shook her head.

"Perhaps it refers to a certain client, one that would be vocationally considered this I-Four," Liara reasoned.

"What is this vocational classification?" Aleene asked.

"All twenty-six letters of the Western alphabet in the Systems Alliance are used, as well as numbers one through seven, to indicate proficiency in a certain vocation in the military. And trust me, the letters have nothing to do with the vocation. I am an N7. N isn't even in the spelling of Special Forces. The codes make sense to those who made it up. To the rest of us, it's simply the MILITARY way of doing things. The Military has always used binary codes for nearly everything. It's tradition.

"And I doubt that code is inverted, we just simply do not have the key to his coding. He's trying to communicate something and I think you know what it is. Think back on the man you knew, you thought you knew, and the man rambling on in the margins of his notes. Your specialty was once encryption and security algorithms, _Miss _Sanders. Look at them again." Kahlee took the command in. Shepard was not bullying or even pulling her Spectre's rank demanding respect. She spoke like any commanding officer and expected to be obeyed. End of story.

Sanders read and reread the notes. She repeatedly came across the words, 'taninim,' 'Four-I', 'lost-lies', 'buggy-eyed-chipmunks squeaking about tanimim lost.' "I think I figured out one of the words. Qian was…a bigot. After the war he didn't trust the Council races. He called salarians buggy-eyed-chipmunks." She looked rather embarrassed to have to admit it. _Please God, don't ask what he called asari!_

"Buggy-eyed-chipmunks?" Shepard lifted a pencil thin eyebrow. "He served in the First Contact war didn't he?"

"I did too, so did Anderson. Not everyone who served in the war came out a bigot," Kahlee said defensively.

"However, Qian did emerge from the war as such. Was he part of Terra Firma?" Liara said for Shepard.

"I think so. With all due respect, humans weren't the only ones to come out of that war with prejudiced views. Saren hated humans because his brother died in that war."

During the years following the First Contact War, there had been more venom in the air towards aliens than ever before. Armistice Day continually brought it all back. Shepard hated Armistice Day. To her it brought out all the worst in humanity. There was too much politics involved, too many chips handed down from shoulder to shoulder, too much boozing. Terra Firma came out like scurrying beetles from an over turned rock shouting out 'Earth First!' The leaders of that particular Party, according to the Spectre, were malign idiots who preached that it was humanity's duty to shun all aliens. Terra Firma spoke of 'History', 'Destiny', 'Shanxi' and 'Never Again' and all the others words that got trotted out to put a gloss on slaughter. It was heavy stuff except that there weren't brains involved. During that damned Day it seemed that Hell went for a stroll with its sleeves rolled up. Since the battle over the Citadel, Hell had gone for an extended marathon with the prejudicial.

"Twenty years ago, a batarian named Edan Had'dah had been the one to order the attack on Sidon. At first I thought it might have been a faction in the Alliance, someone wanting to shut Qian up, to stop him and the AI project. At the time I didn't know what to think. It turned out to be batarians. Like you said, they had vaporized the bodies to cover up the kidnapping actually ordered by the project's suppliers on Camala…"

"Batarian?" Shepard knew they had been involved with Quin's death and Sidon but now there was context to their involvement. "Four-I," she snorted. "It isn't a security algorithm used in the project, but it is an 'encryption' of sorts."

"Four eye not Four-I." Sanders picked up the Spectre's thoughts. "I still don't know what Job thirty-eight is. It could very well be the work he was doing with Edan. I was captured and held prisoner and I'd rather not get into the details about it, but they had tried to break me. They wanted me to help Qian. I refused. Fortunately Anderson came before matters could grow worse. Qian wasn't a victim, Spectre, he willingly committed treason and murder and he was completely mad."

"He might not have been as wholly willing as you assume. He was indoctrinated, "Liara said in a rather strange, saddened voice. Or at least strange to Sanders, but then she never had understood the asari.

"He was controlled and came to believe he was in the right, what he was doing was ordained. He felt as if he had no choice and gave into his despair, his hopelessness over what had been shown to him. Words slipped into his mind and he obeyed, he wouldn't have had a choice," Shiala said. "He was indeed a victim, Dr. Sanders, one of indoctrination." If there was further explanation none was forthcoming.

"What is this indoctrination? Did Saren have something to do with it?" Sanders asked. She always wondered if there was some connection between the illegal research Qian was doing at Sidon and Saren's dreadnought.

Shepard countered, "Are you absolutely sure you don't have any recollection of anyone named Jonah on the project, or perhaps a personal friend to Qian or a fishing partner?"

"I know there was no one on the project named Jonah, Spectre. There were fifteen security personal, twelve researchers, and six support staff. Not one of them was named Jonah."

"And 'tanimim', you're going to tell me you don't know who or what that is aren't you?" The Spectre frowned. "It wasn't the code name of the project? Sanders you are of course aware security clearance is not an issue for me. "

"Yes ma'am, I mean, no ma'am." Kahlee shifted under the cool iron gaze. She hadn't been this nervous since she stood in front of her gunnery sergeant that first day of boot camp. She knew she was testing the woman's patience, and with a Spectre that was very dangerous. "I understand your position, Spectre, but I can't tell you what I don't know. Qian never used tanimim in reference to another race."

The Spectre rose sharply, "If you should happen to recall anything contact Citadel Council. Councilor Anderson will forward it to me." This was a waste of time, growled Shepard in her hind-brain. '_She didn't tell us anything that couldn't have been spoken over __an__ FTL comm-system.' _she grumbled to Liara.

'_But we didn't know that my love._' Liara's calm steady words filtered into the Spectre's mind. '_She needed to see the notes and she did give us a clue as to Dr. Qian's thought process. If you will__,__ she was in many respects a cipher_…'

Kahlee sucked in a breath when she saw an inexplicable smile slid onto the Spectre's face. "Dr. Sanders, would you consent to a mind-meld? You may actually have knowledge that you don't know you have. Out of context, Qian's words are nonsense and so you may have disregarded them as such."

The request wasn't a request but a carefully hidden order. Kahlee was quick to pick it out. She nodded her head. "Of course." The older woman watched a silent conversation pass between Dr. T'Soni and the Spectre.

"Relax, Dr. Sanders. Close your eyes, allow yourself to be open and feel the universe around you. Embrace Eternity!"

Kahlee felt the soft presence of another slip into her mind. At first she resisted, wanting to retreat, but felt as if the whole of the galaxy surrounded her.

The images flashed brightly. The Perseus Veil. A great large whale vomiting up a living human male on a beach, his black beard covered in seaweed and fish guts. 'It was too bad because it was big enough to satisfy even Jonah's finicky tastes for sushi.' 'Damned four-eyes, taking the tanimim like it belongs to them.' In the images there was a balding man about sixty years or more, a batarian man hissing threats. An explosion of orange blood, as a krogan battlemaster fell, shot down by a very young Lieutenant David Anderson. More explosions. A room filled with so much dark that the tiniest amount of light became a sudden super nova, like light house shining in a foggy winter night. More blood and explosions. The old man dead. 'It was big enough to satisfy even Jonah's finicky tastes for sushi. Damned four-eyes, taking the tanimim like it belongs to them.' And the whale appeared this time vomiting up Saren, Edan and Qian.

Liara pulled away a little dazed from connecting to a human mind. She didn't feel the cerebral gurgling that connecting to her lover had first had done, but she was a little dizzy. Samantha had been the first human she had melded with and she was so powerful. Dr. Sanders had a strong mind but nowhere near Samantha's.

"Wow…that was…intense," Sanders said a little shaken. "Is melding always like that?"

"It affects everyone differently," Shiala said sagely. "It depends upon the minds involved, the species and the information that is being sought or given." The older asari still felt the sharp clearness of Shepard's mind.

Shepard ignored the conversation going on and turned the totality of her attention to her wife. "What did you see, Li?" she asked, placing a hand on the small of the asari's back.

"The most prominent image was an Earth whale vomiting up a bearded human male, explosions and the same whale vomiting up three different males, one human, I believe him to be Qian, a batarian who could only be Edan and the last was Saren. The name of Jonah brought to the hind area of her mind the images of a whale."

Shepard soaked this all in. "As in Jonah and the whale."

The asari looked at the Spectre waiting for an explanation that never came.

"I didn't register it when you asked me, but now that I think about it, Qian's comment about the one that got away and the name Jonah brought the old bible story to mind," Kahlee said.

"I suspect that was a deliberate slip on Qian's part. I further suspect that the word 'tanimim' refers to aquatic mammals," Liara said. "If the whale vomited up Qian, Edan and Saren, is the whale somehow a representation of Sovereign? Samantha, I do not follow the connection."

"It goes back to a story in the bible, um…one of humanity's religious texts," Shepard started. Her voice shifted into softer tones. "In it there's this story about man named Jonah who shirked his duty and so God does a bit of smiting on the ship Jonah goes AWOL on. The sailors on the ship are a superstitious lot and toss Jonah overboard in hopes to quell the storm, and it works. God, who still wants Jonah to finish his missions, sends this massive whale to swallow the guy whole. The stomach serves like a brig for the three days it takes the whale to reach the port where Jonah was supposed to go and vomits the shirker out on the beach." Shepard shifted. "That's the briefing. Ash can tell the whole thing properly, being religious and all."

"But how can a living body stay alive in the stomach acids of a whale?" Aleene asked. Thessia had its own variety of whales, porpoises and suchlike. One large enough to swallow a body whole wasn't an issue, after all, the fraxon sharks, while not mammals, could do so. But to live in the stomach, that was not medically possible, never mind the lack of light, oxygen, clean water…

"Look, I don't know. I think it's one of those moral-parable stories about not shirking your duty. Ask Lieutenant Williams, she's very religious and knows all the stories in the bible and can wade through the double contradicting bits and makes sense of it. Besides, I'm leaning more towards Athame these days. That aside the idea of a monstrous whale and Sovereign makes sense. According to Qian, the batarians, specifically Edan, were instrumental in finding Sovereign near the Perseus Veil…"

Kahlee watched as the Spectre and asari had formed a think tank huddle and had forgotten all about her. She didn't understand what they were saying as they were all speaking in the asari native tongue. A thought occurred to Sanders: when Shepard had started speaking, the Spectre wasn't fully aware she had done so in Asarian. The others had responded in like, not as a snub at Sanders, but because it was simply a natural reaction for them.

It was Shiala who blinked. "Dis! That's where Sovereign was discovered. It must be."

All eyes were on her.

"Dis?" the Spectre frowned. "How did you come to that conclusion?"

"Twenty years ago, on Jartar in the Dis system, a batarian survey team discovered the corpse of a living ship they called Leviathan. They found it at the bottom of a crater. According to them, the ship was a billion years old. It 'disappeared' after they left the system, but the batarians claimed that it hadn't existed at all. The salarian scientists, who had done their own recon and had seen the crater and apparent corpse of the living ship, issued complaints, but they were not fully followed through as there was no true proof the batarians had done anything illegal. Even if they had, it would have been a case of claim-jumping and thus on the low end of priorities for the Council."

Shepard's mind raced and labored to piece together the random information spilling out of Shiala and what Sanders had handed them. Twenty years ago a batarian survey team stumbled across what they thought was the corpse of a living ship. Edan must have had a hand in it - the first to be indoctrinated. He knows he's not smart enough to figure this Leviathan out… this AI. So he talks Qian into helping. They disguise puzzling out the 'corpse' under an illegal AI program. Qian slowly becomes indoctrinated, he becomes obsessed. Somehow, they get the 'relic' from Sidon to some hidden locale where Saren and Anderson struck. With Qian dead, Saren discovered the leviathan and the notes. He takes the notes to Benezia…

"Why didn't you mention this before?" Shepard asked Shiala. "You were in Sovereign."

"I wasn't privy to Sovereign's mind as he was to mine. Even when I was sacrificed to the Thorian I didn't know Sovereign was one and the same as the Leviathan the batarians found in the Dis system, Commander."

"Of course, you're right."

"Spectre?" Kahlee's voice floated into Shepard's ears.

"Yes?" she turned her eyes to the older woman.

"Forgive me, but I don't understand Asarian. I take it the mind meld revealed something to you."

Something in the administrator's sentence caught the Spectre's attention. '…_don't understand Asarian?__'__When did I slip into Asarian? I don't recall doing that._ Aloud she said. "I apologize, Administrator. Yes, actually we have. You've been of great assistance, thank you. We'll be taking our leave shortly."

For some reason, Sanders felt as if she woke up after a one night stand and the guy she picked up in the bar had left during the night without saying a word: 'Wham-bam thank you Ma'am.' She wished she understood what it was they had been speaking about, but that was probably the point of switching languages. The switch was so fluid it was probably an unconscious act.

Shepard saw the expression on the older woman's face. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you more. Twenty years ago you were attacked for what you _might_ know. What do you think the enemy forces will do to you for what you _do_ know? It is safer that you remain ignorant of what information we have garnered from your meld with Dr. T'Soni. In fact, it's better no one knew you shared a meld, ma'am."

Kahlee nodded. She could see the ghost of her old friend Anderson in this young woman. She was a lot like him, Sanders decided. She was decisive, blunt when she spoke, her mind sharp and swift when she thought. She was a Spectre through and through.

"Of course." The administrator nodded. "Incidentally, I wanted to thank you for Elysium. I know you must get that a lot, but it's a bit personal for me. Your actions saved the life of thousands including my father's. For what it's worth, I needed to thank you for that."

Shepard's expression for a moment flashed a bit of a shy grin. "I just did my duty," She said in a tone of voice that said she had said it a thousand times. "I didn't completely do it alone, I had help. People tend to forget that little part."

"But you didn't. Not in the end. The security forces and all the aid you rallied left you alone as they got everyone into the bunkers, and the underground facilities leaving you abandoned to face them off by yourself. You are the only reason Elysium is still standing and why we can have this academy here now. When David said you were coming asking me for aid, I didn't hesitate. Whatever you need from me, you have it. Your past actions and David's belief in you were more than enough to make me trust you and your motives, whatever they are. "

"Thank you. Your cooperation and discretion is all I require," Shepard said diplomatically.

"Of course, but Spectre, you must realize that news of your arrival back to Elysium isn't something that will go unnoticed. The station may be named for Rear Admiral Jon Grissom, but you _are _the Hero of Elysium. Discretion may not be in your grasp."

"I know, especially if my requisition officer opens his mouth while on the supply run. If I can keep it down to a dull roar I'll call it a good day. The discretion I've asked for isn't for my being here, only the purpose of the visit."

Sanders nodded. "Of that you have my guarantee."

Before Shepard left for the corridors that would take her back to her ship she turned to Sanders. "Ma'am…a word of caution...call it a gut feeling from a Spectre. Whatever advice your Chief of Security officer gives you, I'd take it, for its face value. He's got a sharp mind and he has protective streak for these kids that spans the universe. I can feel it. You trusted Anderson enough to meet with me despite your interactions with former agent Saren. Trust Hendel Mitra with that same trust you gave my former CO."

Sanders was clearly taken aback by the Spectre's sudden words and endorsement of a man she had only known for less than eight minutes. Nevertheless the warning was not lost on her.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

It had been five years since Samantha Shepard had been on Elysium and that was for the dedication of a new park that bore her name. Two years prior to that, in 2176, the batarian-funded pirates and criminals had launched a surprise attack on the human colony of Elysium; the battle later became known as the Skyllian Blitz. The assault was repulsed by the Alliance fleet and the single ardent soul who held off an entire platoon to save the colony.

The four women had decided to walk the less traveled side-streets of Elysium in order to catch up with the _Victory's_ crew on their rare shopping spree, or rather that of Corporal Joss Merkerson who was in charge of the ship's stores. A gunship had been left on Grissom station as per the orders of the Spectre while the _Victory _landed planet-side.

Even taking the less traveled avenues, Shepard soon amassed a small group of kids leaving several shops. She allowed a moment for a few autographs and pictures to be taken. What surprised the young woman was that the posters she had been signing looked an awful lot like the picture Conrad Verner had taken of her back in the Citadel Markets. The guy must have made a mint by selling enlarged versions of the photo on the extranet. The other surprise came in the form of discovering that she, the golden-ground crew, as well as Joker, Saren and geth troopers were now action figures. There were also figurines of batarian pirates and a _Lieutenant _Shepard who was the savior of Elysium. There were even scale models of the _Normandy_, Geth drop ships and the M5 Mako.

Liara was amused and purchased the figures of her herself, Samantha as well as Ashley and Tali. The volus shopkeeper gave a full set of the figurines to the Spectre and was more than ecstatic when the famous Spectre-Commander Samantha Shepard autographed a few of the sealed packages of the figures. The purchases and gifts were to be sent via a courier to the docks where the _Victory_ was moored.

Both Shiala and Aleena tried to fade into the background, neither one of them accustomed to the fan fair that Shepard was trying to slip away from rather unsuccessfully. Shepard turned most of the adults away, but spoke with the children with the graciousness and compassion of Shi'ara.

Despite the hustle and bustle, the shop-owner was more than happy to help the Spectre slip out the backdoor of her shop and into the alleyway. Near one of the refuse bins was a very badly mangled cut out of a batarian pirate. It had obviously been part of a large piece but the cardboard cut-out of Samantha Shepard had been removed by some overly zealous fan.

Shepard stared at the cutout for a moment. So it came all back to the batarians, the Spectre mused. Her thoughts opened only to Liara. '_They joined and funded the attack on Elysium seven years ago and thirteen years before that they funded and sanctioned the attack on Sidon and __found__ Sovereign on some bloody stupid planet and __woke__ the Goddess be damned ship up.'_

'_We know more than we did before__,__ my __l__ove. We know where Sovereign was found and how. We know the work Qian was doing thanks to my mother's interpretations and even Saren's. We are not__,__ as you say__,__ "fucked".'_

Both Aleena and Shiala saw the Spectre visibly wince. They were not privy to the private conversation and thus didn't know how disturbing Shepard found it when she heard Liara use human curses. Had they heard they might be in accord with Shepard, it was just so wrong to hear such words issued from one seemingly so… so…innocent.

'_Li__,__ please don't say words like that. Your voice, your innocent beauty is…is just wrong. It hurts the ears to hear you say things like that_.'

Liara smiled endearingly and further more understandingly as only a wife could. "I apologize," she said aloud as she touched her wife's back. "Perhaps it would be better if I used asari expletives."

"Maybe. I got used to…" Shepard's words were cut short by explosion of pavement just beside her.

Instinct took hold of all four of them.

Four women…four highly-skilled warriors, rolled to separate sides of the street, their bodies surrounded by a sudden faint blue aura. With pistols raised they scanned the darkened horizons for the perpetrators who had shot at them. For the Spectre, her mind thought 'the bastard who shot at Liara will burn, he will burn.'

The Spectre could sense the enemy even when she couldn't see them. Somehow she just knew where they were. She had stopped trying to explain her unique talents long ago, she just used them to the best of her abilities. From her bond with Liara she had come to realize, no understand, that this sixth sense was natural to the asari huntresses.

"Keep an eye on the rooftops. If there is one there will be more. Snipers," she murmured needlessly, but felt as if it had to be said. She was, after all, the commanding officer.

A shadow moved against the shadows. One of the assailants attempted to take advantage of the distraction his buddy had caused and took aim at the young blue female. In the sights of his scope he watched in sheer amazement as the green-skinned asari spun around in a round-house maneuver unloading her handgun with almost FTL speed into his skull. At point blank range the rounds from Aleena's pistol sheared off half of the guy's head.

Shepard materialized from behind the dumpster and fell on her first target like a dark wind, and sliced him diagonally from shoulder to hip with a Talon. The man wore a Hahne-Kedar light Mantis hardsuit made up of composite plates stitched together on an interwoven padded underlay to allow for flexibility. The cuirass covering his chest was capable of absorbing several high-powered shots from inside thirty meters, but Shepard's knife sliced through the protective layers and carved a fatal five-centimeter gash through the flesh and bone beneath. The kinetic shields would do nothing against a biotically enhanced force of a blade when they were designed for heavy ballistics and kinetic force of firearms. She didn't hesitate over her kill but moved on to the next target.

The merc literally didn't know what hit him. One moment he was taking aim at one of the asari bitches, the next he felt as if something had struck his spine. Hard. He spun on his heels ready to shoot, or pistol-whip, whatever creature was behind him. He saw only smoldering fury in the ice-blue eyes. The scream didn't even reach his larynx before he found himself flung into air and his body contorted in a way the All Mighty never intended a human body to twist.

As she had done with the shark, the Spectre had hurled a singularity-throw at her target causing him to twist and turn this way and that like a tormented doll. His hardsuit closing in around him as if a giant fist had closed over an aluminum can and crushed it.

Shepard felt the wave of dark energy wash past her, Liara had cast singularity cone towards the far end of the alleyway. Startled cries went out. A moment later three bodies tumbled and turned and swirled in the air from a warp-throw hurled maliciously at them. Shiala and Aleena acted quickly, their pistols rapidly fired two shots every four seconds, sticking the tumbling targets with exacting precision of master marksmen. After such a concentrated volley, whatever was left of the bodies, armor and weapons hit the pavement with a horrible wet splattering sound.

Shepard examined the armor on the bodies and found what she expected to find: nothing. No markings either on their armor or bodies to indicate who they were, who they served or where they came from. Rest assured they hadn't come from Elysium. They didn't bear the look of colonials even from one as prosperous as Elysium. If they had any tattoos they too had been covered up or removed to be later reapplied.

"No ID, display of colors or distinctive marks on armor or weapons. They moved out swiftly and orderly. Pro-mercenaries," Shepard announced with a voice so unobtrusive and unassuming it was if she had been resigned that being attacked was a ubiquitous event and fact-of-life.

Liara knew differently. Inside, her lover was seething in barely contained rage, she could feel it welling up inside. A faint murmur of '_the shot was near Liara…it could have killed her…they will burn…they will burn_… echoed as loudly as any klaxon. The other two asari, having never fought along the Spectre, were taken slightly aback at the near clinical detachment of human's vocal comment.

"Could it be that Sanders woman?" Aleene asked, "A sleeper agent perhaps?" She doubted the shopkeeper would have anything to do with the sudden attack. The mere presence of the Spectre in the volus' store had drummed up more business in a single hour than she might have made all week.

Shepard shook her head. "No, Sanders had nothing to do with this. We were on the station long enough for agents to assemble here. They must have already been here in Elysium and sent an FTL call to their employer asking for orders. The rumor of us being in that shop had to have gained their attention and in such a convenient location they came stalking us."

"The question remains; why would they hunt you?" Liara asked.

Aleena gave the younger asari a carefully measured look and waited for the Spectre to answer. Before that happened however, the sounds of sirens and the roar of engines were on top of them.

"Elysium PD! The alleyway is blockaded, you have no way to run. Surrender now! We will not hesitate to open fire, we are authorized to use lethal force if necessary," came the booming voice of a man over a police loudspeaker.

"I think you will," Shepard said. "I'm Samantha Shepard of the Special Tactics and Recon Force." She walked out with her arms at her sides very slowly and carefully. "We were attacked by these men and we defended ourselves." Shepard took in the detective in charge. He stood near six feet tall and had the same boxy build as most security officers had.

Shepard concentrated her attention on his firearms and the strategic placement of the other officers. Six in visual range, no accounting of how many uniforms were behind them, though a good guess was another six. All of them were wearing the standard issue of Onyx light-armored hardsuits complete with the three-quartered visor helmets. Half were carrying assault rifles, the others shotguns.

The detective seemed to hesitate for a moment. "We will need to confirm your ID Ma'am. If you come with us…" He kept his pistol trained on the woman before him.

"No," Shepard said, giving the man the most calculating stare he had ever encountered. "You wish to confirm my ID, do it here. And for that matter I want your own ID, _Detective_, for my own confirmation purposes. Several mercenaries were sent to kill me and my team. Now here's a thought…a second team of mercs lies in wait, and while doing so pirates the comm-chatter of the police band-radio. The plan: intercept the real police on the notion that they will take us in for questioning all peaceful and quiet like so they can later neutralize us and collect on the contract. After all, the police are supposed to be the good guys, the safe guys, who would question known police procedure?" Shepard folded her arms over her chest and stared hard at the detective.

Again the man hesitated. Behind the Spectre three asari huntresses began to glow in an aura of blue light. The yet unnamed detective took a hesitant step back as the Spectre herself began to glow in the same eerie light of dark energy.

"Sir?" one of the junior officers asked, "What are your orders?" He didn't fancy trying to engage in combat with a woman who had stood against an entire platoon of raiders. He had been in school at the time here on Elysium. You had to be daft not to recognize Commander Samantha Shepard. His little sister even went to the high school named after her!

"Yes, just what are your orders, Detective I-haven't-identified-myself-to-a-Spectre?" Shepard took a step forward. Somewhere inside all of her jumbled emotions were being transmuted into anger. Hers was not an expression you wanted to see at the far end of a gun or biotic glow.

Behind the detective there were murmurs coming from the other officers who had recognized her and each of them standing down despite the fact they had not been given the orders to do so.

The detective must have sensed this and lowered his own weapon. "I am Lieutenant Christian Meier of the Elysium Police Department. We got a call about a disturbance in the area, Spectre. It is our duty and obligation to investigate all such events. And, might I say, you have an evil brain there Spectre to assume you were in a trap."

"It does the job," she said, "It's why I'm still alive." The Spectre sauntered past the police lieutenant and faced the young man who had spoken out. He swallowed hard as he came face to face with the Spectre. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down his neck like a ball on a string when he opened his mouth to speak but found he couldn't form a coherent word. She took the cue and gave the boy one of her most charming smiles and got the response she wanted, or at least hoped for. The lad went into an immediate blush, shuffled his feet and tried to smile in return while saluting and dropped his gun in the process.

The lieutenant shot the young man Shepard had smiled at a scornful look for his clumsiness. It was assumed it was for his clumsiness. There are times when a plan isn't suddenly going to work, when you're in the middle of it isn't the time to find this out. The kid had just managed to pick up his rifle, but dropped it again under the scrutiny of his CO. There were several chuckles from the crowd now milling around.

He picked it up only to drop it once more. "Secure that weapon lance-constable," the Spectre ordered.

"Ye…yes Ma'am." The young man locked his assault rifle back on the slot on his back and saluted once more. His Adam's apple bobbed.

"They're telling the truth." She tossed over her shoulder. "_These _coppers are not mercs. I believe it's a misunderstanding that _rose _between us, we should be very much aware of."

At once the three asari made a show of standing down and so the law enforcement officers followed suit. The lieutenant's smile gleamed. Liara, Shiala, and Aleena had maneuvered past the crowd and police to flank the Spectre. Liara turned ready to cast a lift on the lieutenant as she had with the rose bloom. The problem was the growing population of civilians; they were going to make things extremely difficult.

Shepard placed her hand on the man's shoulder and shifted a little away from Meier. "Tell me lance-constable…"

"Otto Stover," the kid eagerly supplied.

"Right, lance-constable Otto Stover," Shepard rolled the kid's name on her tongue which got a waxy and bright smile in return. She had him exactly where she wanted and he would spill everything she wanted to hear. "How long has your lieutenant been with you?"

"Only for a few months, ma'am, said he was once with ERCS on Noveria but was sick of the corporate world, or so he said. How did you know he wasn't from here?"

"It's a Spectre thing," Shepard commented. It was meant to be an off-handed reply but the kid looked at her with renewed awe. She ignored Stover's expression and pushed past the young man ready to confront the lieutenant, but he had disappeared into milling onlookers. In the distance their eyes met and the lieutenant gave a lazy salute and fled into the adjacent street.

_Damn, civilians._ You couldn't engage in mortal combat with a merc in a crowd of innocents. She couldn't blame Liara or the others for hesitating in engaging in a violent act with a crowd filled with childrenIf you didn't care about the people in your charge, about hostages, you're just a terrorist with a badge. Saren had been a terrorist with a badge. Do things right, not fast. That was the code the Spectre had lived by. The thing with mercs was, if they were very well-paid they didn't give up on their targets. Wrex never had. Shepard knew she would come face to face _Lieutenant Christian Meier_ again.


	12. Nothing Like It

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Twelve: Nothing Like It

"The bodies of the mercs have been removed from the alleyway to the municipal morgue. Closer examination revealed no further markings as to where they came from. It tells me they are professionally linked with something like the Cerberus mercenaries that killed Admiral Kahoku. But there are several merc-gangs following the same rule, the Syndicate for example." Shepard said addressing her senior staff, which consisted primarily of the 'golden' squad but also included Chief Engineer Adams and Captain Kirrahe and Shiala who happened to serve not only as Shepard and Liara's mentor as well a Prothean-technical consultant but as _Victory's _CAG or Captain of the Air Group.

"But I thought we neutralized them." Tali commented a little puzzled.

"The three main heads yes but that doesn't mean one of their little agents didn't slip away and are now attempting to reestablish a foothold." Williams answered.

"In the course of our mission to stop Saren, we have made several enemies that would want retribution. Administrator Anoleis is a prime example of a grudge holder. Certain members of ExoGeni would be another and certainly Cerberus as well as a few others who have an objection to justice interfering with their illegal and nefarious dealings," Liara said. "Not to mention - and forgive me for saying this - there were several bigoted members of the Terra Firma political party that frowned on interspecies relationships. They would think it a service to humanity to assassinate the human Spectre whom they believe is a race traitor." For a moment no one said a word. Liara's comment settled heavily on the minds gathered.

"What about the Shadow Broker? He wasn't happy that you turned him down to share the Intel on Cerberus." Garrus said. "The agent did say they would remember that the next time you wanted something from them."

"No. I doubt it. Technically the deal died with Admiral Kahoku. As far as remembering my reluctance to pass that information, I believe it will cost a lot of credits and possibly a great deal of Intel on a particular subject if I need something from them. The Shadow Broker might have been pissed about my decision but he or she respects integrity," Shepard said. She was in what had become her customary place leaning against the FTL comm system with her arms folded over her chest rather than in her seat. She looked at each face in turn gauging their reactions and words unsaid.

"Perhaps it would be prudent to do a bit of peace-making with the Shadow Broker and find out who sent those mercenaries." Liara offered in her sage way.

"You mean grovel." Ashley snorted.

Shepard gave her XO a reproachful look. "Sometimes being humbled isn't a bad thing. Especially when you are caught in something that could quickly rise over your head and you no longer have a way out."

Williams cast her eyes to the floor. "Yes ma'am that's a good point," she mumbled.

"Right now I don't think going to the Shadow Broker is the priority nor is finding out who sent the mercenaries. We can't forget our true mission, the Reapers. The information we need is about _them_ not some thick-headed dull stone wanting paybacks. However, I won't dismiss the importance of who sent the assassins. They sought us… me… out on Elysium they won't stop now. They will keep coming; however I'm not going to stop my mission because someone somewhere wants my blood."

"Shouldn't we be concerned how they learned about us being on Elysium?" Tali pushed the issue as far as she dared. "It's not like it was broadcast. Of course once you were groundside you created quite a stir, Commander. But… but no one knew we were going there. Councilor Anderson, the crew and Dr. Sanders did of course, but no one who would betray you. Right?"

Shepard gave another small look to Williams who still wouldn't look her CO in the eyes. "I have a theory on that but no proof and I will have to let it play out its course. Right now no one is to voice their speculations in public. That's spreading discordance and I won't have it on my ship. As you said my appearance on Elysium caused a stir and the news spread quickly. The mercs might have already been there on another job and decided to take the opportunity when it presented itself. We don't know they were there for me specifically. We only know they were there."

"With all due respect to the Shadow Broker's net of informants, my infiltration team is well trained in espionage and better suited for your needs. While I respect your decisions Commander, this hidden enemy could prove to be a greater threat if only because it serves as a distraction. We need to find out who put a bounty on you, Spectre." Captain Kirrahe spoke for the first time since the briefing had begun.

There was a heavy silence in the room that lasted several heartbeats.

"Do it. " Was all Shepard said and then added. "Report only to me what you've discovered. Make sure your STG team is extremely discreet. I say this here and now no one is to speak of this to anyone or of their speculations as who they might think is behind it. I don't want paranoia spreading like a case of the flu. That's an order people. Now we have other matters that need our primary attention." The Spectre turned to her head of sciences. "Dr. T'Soni, have you found anything?"

Despite the fact they were married both Shepard and Liara reverted back into the more formal and professional relationship when in front of the crew. It reinforced the idea that this Commander wasn't slip-shod or lax on protocols.

"Commander," Liara said after the long pause. "My team and I came up with several possibilities for gathering intelligence on the Reapers by following the lead of the Protheans. Whilst we feel Ilos should be our starting point there are other locations that need further investigation, including the Dis system where Sovereign was found."

Several voices rose at once and most in questions. In the excitement of informing her senior staff of the assassination attempt no one had spoken about what they had discovered from Dr. Sanders. It took several moments for Liara to explain but she had clearly and distinctly laid it all out.

During the debriefing the Spectre found her seat in-between her XO and her wife, and sat back with her eyes closed listening rather intently and a bit indulgently to her wife's lyrically soft voice. She enjoyed listening to Liara speak even if it was what Shepard dubbed as techno-babble.

Liara had gone on to list the various places where there were significant finds of Prothean ruins according to the data her team had compiled.

First on her list was a small rocky ice-planet known as Klencoy in the Knossus System of the Artemis Tau Cluster. Jahleed, one of their four volus scientists, had told them of his uncle Kumum Shol apparently a billionaire of some eccentricities who had bought Klencoy after he had apparently had visions of a higher being telling him to seek out the 'Lost crypts of the Beings of Light'. The entities were supposedly created at the time of the dawn of time to protect organic life from synthetic 'machine devils'

Unfortunately the planet was unsuitable for any non-volus for long because of its very low gravity and chlorine and argon atmosphere. Still it was well worth a shot to investigate because 'machine devils' sounded an awful lot like Reapers. Beings of Light might be the Protheans or a civilization pre-dating them, considering the Thorian predated the Protheans.

Secondly, there was Quana in the Attican Beta cluster which was in the same system as Faros, Liara was eager to re-investigate its still intact necropolises which had the distinct possibility of containing still hidden secrets that could only be revealed by someone who held the cipher.

There was also Junthor in the Gagary System of the Armstrong Cluster. Here there were ruins of a technical civilization near the equator - apparently a colony of an ancient space faring race. The ruins had subsided to almost nothing, merely wind-hollowed husks of megastructures. However in the center of the ruins was a column with inscriptions that had defied translation for centuries until asari linguists finally managed to elaborate on the relief. In her search for a science crew Liara had drafted a linguist who had actually been on the site when it had been translated.

"The 'official' inscription, if you like translated as 'Walk among these works and know our greatness'; however on the reverse side of the column in a more crude and shaky hand there was another inscription: 'Beware the monsters of Id'. There were also pictograms of what looked like a great dragon." The skull had a striking similarity to one the crew had found on a previous Spectre mission. The question was: were the 'monsters of Id' these dragons or were they the Reapers?

On top of that there was Zaherux, a planet the intrepid crew of the Normandy had found in the Grissom system when they were hunting the Geth incursion in the Armstrong Nebula. The theory was that the reason for the numerous unmanned satellites and probes to have gone missing was that the entire planet was composed of dormant nanotechnology. Scans would misread nanotechnology for fine silica dust. The tiny robots would awaken to defend themselves against invasion and go back into hibernation. This technology was apparently more advanced than the Protheans. Shepard might have completely dismissed this as extranet hooey if not for the fact the theory was published by the asari sensationalistic author Delsae Drthysa.

There was Solcrum which had been the source of a number of geth transmissions and thanks to Tali's ingenious decryption software they had managed to decode those transmissions. The planet had gone quiet since the fall of Sovereign but it was worth a second look.

And apparently Ontaheter in the Colombia System in the Voyager Cluster had a crashed Prothean ship in its core which would explain its unusually high mass. This was still being debated however because of careful mapping done by several scientific groups had revealed the core was normal.

And of course there were the prothean pyramids dotting several systems, the orb on Eletania which had unlocked with the key from the Consort and the identical platform with its orb missing on Antibaar.

"Klencory, Quana, Jartar, Junthor and Ilos," Shepard said. "These are the five primary planets we need to investigate and bear the heavier importance. As far as the others are concerned I would like to return to both Eletania and Antibaar but for the moment I want our full concentration on the primary five. I believe Ilos should be first. Expect heavy opposition from mercs, pirates, batarians and any number of thugs, we are after all going into the Terminus Systems. Our slipping in could be seen as an act of war, which is why we will be cloaked most of the time. We will need to move as shadow operatives, stay clear of places like Omega Station. Once we're on Ilos, I want two full ground teams on the picket and a sky patrol. We have a squad of turian vipers and raptors, I want to use them. Ilos will be a good test for them. I have no doubt there will be geth still there."

"My squad will be ready, Commander." Shiala said smartly. "Anti-synthetic armaments will be installed on both the gunships and the fighters.

Shepard nodded approvingly. "Liara pick your teams accordingly. Last time we were there we didn't have a full chance to look around now's our chance. Each team of scientists will have a six-person strike-team with them. Williams - as XO this is now your division. I want at least one tech, one sharpshooter, and a couple of tanks as well as guerrilla fighters to round it all out in each of the guarding squads. Those in the M36-makos will do the heavy patrol. The M35s will remain on patrol with the science teams to form a better defense. I'll be taking one of the M36 makos. Tali you, Wrex and Garrus will be with me and I haven't decided on who will fill the other two chairs. Commander Kirrahe your STG unit will be on a scouting patrol and report back to Lieutenant Williams at hourly intervals.

"I will want a seven day window…" she held her hand up feeling a protest building up in Liara. "Look I know it's not a great deal of time, but I will remind you we are going into hostile territory behind enemy lines. I don't believe I have to explain further. I'm sorry Dr. T'soni" again the formal use of title rather than the personal reminded everyone of their stations. Not even the Commander's beloved wife was exempt from regulations. "This isn't going to be sniper's work your team of scientists will have to hit this like an assault rifle." She looked at each face. "If there are no further questions go and debrief your departments. Dismissed."

As one organism the occupants of the room rose and started to file out of the door one by one. The others had been growing aware of the mounting tension building up within the Commander and her relationship with not only Liara but with Williams as well. Now was the time to make one's self scarce because somewhere in the gut it said: this isn't going to be pretty.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Williams had been telling the truth when she bared her soul to Shepard all those months ago. Words that now haunted her more and more as each hour turned into a day that passed.

"_Skipper, I spent my whole life trying to get what I wanted. To get it done I had to bury a lot of things. During that whole time not even once did I feel I was worth what I was fighting for. You make me feel good enough.'_ The truth was Shepard had made her feel good enough, that she was worth something, worth what she was fighting for.

The words that haunted more than her own were those of Samantha Shepard - they became a soul-wrenching echo. '_You are one of the most remarkable people I've ever met. I meant what I said before. If I need an opinion from the heart I go to you. You keep me grounded, human. I love Liara - she is my soul mate and we will have a life together. But you, Ashley Williams are my closest friend.'_

Ash took a good hard look at her quarters. More like a closet really but still they were hers and they were private. On her computer desk were pictures of her family she carried with her all the time. There was one with her and her father both in uniform, another of her granddad in his own uniform hugging a six year old Ashley who happened to be wearing the old general's cap. And another of Ash and Shepard in their mess dress uniforms at the Spectre's wedding reception. It had been a candid shot taken by Liara. But in it the two were arm in arm laughing over a private joke. Another picture showed Ashley getting her Lieutenant's bars from Shepard who was beaming with pride to be the one that had promoted her. Her first official act had been to promote Ashley to a full commissioned officer.

"I've destroyed everything." Williams murmured to the pictures her eyes unable to meet those of the blue eyes in the photo of the woman she had come to idolize, love even. "I betrayed your trust Skipper. I've betrayed everything between us… nothing can go back the way it was. Not now. Not ever…"

Another scornful look at the computer or more specifically the OSD lying besides it. That infernal message… the thoughts, the act itself… all of it… there was only one thing for it. It was time to face the wrath of the Spectre; Williams owed that to the woman who once called her her closest friend at the very least.

"I have to make it right. Whatever the cost I have to make it right."

EMEMEMEMEMEME

"The plan failed because you underestimated her." The reverberated voice said to the one who called himself Lieutenant Christian Meier. "You won't be able to get _that_ close to her again."

Meier sat alone in his VIP quarters aft of the Cord-Hislop Aeorospace starship. "I won't have to. We have other agents who can get close. I'm not out yet. This Spectre has greater enemies than you _sir._" The last words were a hiss of contempt at having to at least make a show of respect to a man to Meier felt deserved none.

"I'm well aware of Cerberus' thoughts on the woman." The voice growled. "She was instrumental in shutting down several facilities and imprisoning several operatives at the will of the aliens. She is at their beck and call and turned from humanity. This is a sin unforgivable. But more unforgivable is the sin of being a race traitor by accepting a union with the space-whores. It is one of the reasons we agreed to end that wench's miserable life."

There were those who would call what Cerberus did criminal. Unethical. Amoral. But the Illusive Man was right; history would vindicate them all, but until it did Cerberus were forced to live in hiding, working towards their goal in secret.

"Speaking of miserable lives what of _your_ informant on her ship any more news? It was a close call on Elysium and shorter notice that she was even going to be there at all. Your informant isn't that reliable, but you can never trust a traitor can you? If they are willing to betray their CO, they would easily turn again. If it hadn't been for our agent on Grissom Station we might have missed our chance."

"Might have been better if you had. Now the Spectre is aware of being hunted, her protective nature over that… that… concubine of hers will be ten-fold now."

"We have our methods, renege on the deal you made with Cerberus and you will find out how effective those can be." He cut the communications off before his client could utter another word. He needed time to relax after the close encounter with the Spectre. She was quick he'd give her that. Saw right through the ruse. If it wasn't for that bloody-babbling idiot of a lance-constable it might have gone far differently. At least his meddling gave Meier time to slip away.

The room he was in bore no resemblance to the simple often crowded sleeping-rooms of long-distance masstransit shuttles. Now he had at his disposal a luxurious bed, state-of-the-art vid screen, private shower and hot tub, full wet bar, and just about every other conceivable amenity, comparable to the most opulent suites in high-end hotels, including an on-site-call-girl.

The look in the Spectre's blue eyes had been terrifying Meier was loath to admit. He hated himself for feeling such weakness in the presence of a race-traitor. It was as if beyond the blue eyes there were flames of rage burning beyond red into white heat. He had to calm down.

He opened a baggie and carefully poured out a small pile of fine dust. Enough to take off the edge that was all. Just to take the edge off. Besides he deserved to have a moment of peace. He sealed the plastic bag, tossing it on the tabletop. He then took the blade from the antique cut-throat razor and with the edge he divided the pile of red sand into two long, thin lines. Plugging one nostril he bent down and inhaled first one line, switched one side of his nose for the other and repeated the move.

He wouldn't have to wait long for the drug to enter his system. In a matter of seconds the world blurred into a haze of red mist. He no longer felt the waves of terror the Spectre had filled his veins with. Red Sand - there was nothing like it.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Shepard leaned on her elbows staring at the computer monitor. Five planets, just like before in the war with Sovereign. Five planets each one crucial to the quest, how ironic most of them were graves, crypts, necropolises, lands of the dead and gone. "Look to the dead to save the living," she whispered to the empty room.

Klencory, Quana, Jartar, Junthor and Ilos. Or rather Ilos, Klencory, Quana, Jartar, Junthor: Lost city of the Protheans, Crypts of the Beings of Light, Prothean Necropolis, Sovereign's hibernation spot and the ruins that warned of the Monsters of Id.

Monsters. It seemed they were always chasing after monsters. If not monsters of the enemy, monsters of rumor speculation and discord. There was a traitor on board, the Spectre was sure of it. But who? Ashley lied to her, Liara was keeping something from her, Joker was brooding and sulking over his lack of control over the comm-systems. But these in and of themselves were not acts of betrayal or treason. Perhaps one of the new crew members had slipped in as a mole - a sleeper agent. How deep did the treachery run? How thin had the list of allies become that they were now turning to… to… what?

Blood money? Petty revenge? Politics? … A mixture of all three probably. Why did everything have to come down to politics? By the Goddess Shepard hated politics. Politics always bred deceit, war and idiocy. On the other hand politics made the military necessary. Made being a Spectre necessary. Without politics, Shepard wouldn't have a career and without her career Commander Samantha Shepard first human Spectre knew she would never have met her beloved sweet Liara. Liara who she would protect until her dying breath.

Shepard closed her eyes and saw the flashes of death, war, destruction, the wrath of the Reapers coming down upon the Protheans. These were the images that haunted her nightmares. The cries never left the back of her mind. Flesh being torn open, worlds burning…dying… obliterated. The words, the terror of the Protheans became the Spectre's own. The peril of the Reapers belonged to all organic beings and yet greed, lust for power would be their undoing. The lives of all organics stood on the brink of destruction; they were united by one fate, one doom, one great enemy. They will unite or they will fall. Voices cried out from a distance, "Doom is near at hand! The Bane of Organics comes from the Dark! The evil in the Dark Space does not sleep. It hunts, it comes - it comes…it destroys! The citadel…the keepers, close shut the gates to Oblivion."

Samantha jumped awake at the buzzing of her door chime so quickly that she had knocked over her chair upon rising. She had fallen asleep but she didn't recall closing her eyes. "Come." She snapped without meaning to as she picked up her chair and set it to rights.

The door swooshed open with the pneumatic hiss, a heartbeat later Lieutenant Ashley Williams stepped forward. She knew that her skipper had been dozing; you could see it in her blue eyes.

Still dazed from the dreams Shepard tried to shake the fog of the Prothean's presence from her mind. "We're bound to the fate of the Ancestors if we cannot defeat this petty evil festering in the hearts of those who wield the power to move the masses. I will not let that happen. I can not."

Ashley frowned. There were times when she heard her skipper murmur to herself on waking when they had to make camp groundside. But the words were so hushed she never made them out and Liara always was there to soothe the terrors from the deep places of nightmare and forced prothean memory. Ashley knew that the dreams had grown worse since the skipper gained the cipher. She also knew that only Liara helped ease those dark dreams. Now the Spectre sounded like an asari or like Vigil the prothean AI. It scared Williams to the core.

"I wonder if it is only shadow and thought."

"Skipper?" Ash took a hesitant step forward. Was it always like this for her Commander?

"Oath keeping, loyalty, duty, dedication - are they meant only to be bits of heroic fictions, stories of old? It is a thing unheard of to rely on a krogan battleoath and know it true and unshakable and mistrust the heart of one called…friend." Shepard shook her head and walked back into the shadows of the room.

The fog of the nightmare finally let loose its hold her as did the heavy presence of the Protheans. They were always a constant in her mind but never as loud as when she woke from the nightmares given to her by the beacons and cipher. It wasn't as if she were indoctrinated for the meaning behind the words were her own, but not the delivery. She was never as eloquent as an asari; she was far too blunt for that. She wasn't crass or uncouth but Shepard was never one for poetry when she spoke. It was one of the reasons she enjoyed listening to the asari speak, their words were always… so… so… Shakespearean if not that at least Tolkien-ish.

"Skipper?" Ashley asked again wondering if she should summon Liara. 'Don't be a fool, Miss Prothean Expert probably already knows about the Skipper.'

In the dim light Williams saw the Spectre pick up some sort of rectangular package from the small dining table in the center of the room. She tossed it to Ashley who managed to catch it albeit clumsily. "When we were groundside I was given a couple of these as gifts. Funny isn't it that we've become toys?"

Ash looked at the package in her hand and saw that it contained six, seven inch action figures all of them molded in the black and red Colossus armor. She took a few steps forward so now she stood near the dining table.

"Look at our models. Your figure is at my miniature's right hand. I wonder if that is just an accident of packaging or is it indicative of anything, a metaphor perhaps. Thoughts?"

Williams took a second to look at the toys. The Spectre was dead center. To the doll's right hand the newly minted Lieutenant Ashley Williams, to the Spectre's left Dr. Liara T'Soni. Tali and Garrus filed after Liara and following Ashley was Kaiden and Wrex.

"I thought it was very interesting they chose your figure to be at my right hand."

Ash set the box set of action figures on the table almost reverently. "Skipper…"

"You wish to speak to me?" Shepard folded her arms over her chest in her lazy relaxed mode as she had so often did when they had their one on one chats. "You know I keep an open door policy for all my officers. That hasn't changed even if we are on a bigger ship with more officers and crew."

Williams winced at the Spectre's lazy smile that once was filled with warmth and camaraderie they had shared only a week ago. Now the expression was nothing but a mask. Without a word Ashley placed an OSD on table next to the toys. Just as silently the Spectre picked up the small data stick and placed it into her computer.

The voice of a very familiar male started to speak: 'Chief Gunnery or should I say Lieutenant Ashley Williams. Congratulations you're the first Williams since Shanxi to become a commissioned officer. That can be remedied for future generations. I can insure it does. In fact I have the authority to push through actions the family Williams have been struggling for, for decades. Your grandfather's exoneration is in your grasp, more so than you can ever imagine. I simply need in exchange a bit of information on Shepard.

'I do not speak of treason my young Lieutenant. Simple common knowledge that only shipmates might know, might have heard. Gossip for your grandfather's exoneration, he will be raised up from the shadows of Shanxi for surrendering his garrison, to be recognized as a man who did the only thing he could to save countless lives. I will ensure that the public, the people that matter understand this. Exoneration for a few little words, what do you say? If I were you I would weigh in everything, your family, your legacy, consider the offer very carefully before you make a knee-jerk reaction you will regret if it isn't the one that benefits us both.'

"Get out." Shepard said slamming the computer off.

Ashley shook her head, "No Ma'am."

"I said get out." the Spectre hissed. She raised her hand as to wave off a fly and sent Ashley biotically slamming into the bulkhead near the door. There was grunt of pain, a woof of air and a thunk of a body tumbling to the floor. "If you don't leave… now… Williams…"

Ashley found her feet and managed to stand. Her voice shaken. "No. I won't leave. You have to know… I never betrayed you! I never…"

Again she was slammed into the wall with a mere wave of the hand. "Is this how you will exonerate the Williams' name by following the path of Arnold and Quisling? A path you said you would never let happen, that you'd never let the Williams name go down? I am sure your father will be happy to hear his beloved daughter fell to the siren's song where Ulysses did not. What's the matter didn't stop up your ears fast enough?" Shepard growled, advancing on her prey, her teeth locked together in a sneer.

"I said no! I told Udina no!" Ashley tried again. "I told him no."

Another wave and again Williams was picked up biotically and slammed once more against the bulkhead. Ashley struggled to catch her wind which was robbed from her lungs. Anger had taken her Commander but she knew she had to suffer it. She deserved it, they both did. The Spectre needed the release of her anger, her pain at the thoughts of betrayal. "Why couldn't you just have been having an affair with another officer? Why couldn't it be as easy as breaking regs and fraternizing? I made myself believe that's why you lied to me. I wanted to believe that was what it was. Why couldn't it have been that?

"I trusted you Ash! You were my fucking _Trusted_ at my wedding. I trust you with Liara's life! I called you _friend_!" Anger had poisoned the Spectre's mind, overcome her senses, her reason. Her hand clutched Ashley by the throat, dragged her against the floor and using the wall near the door as leverage she hoisted the other woman into the air.

White flashed before her eyes and she saw Ashley's wounded body near the mushroom shaped nuke, her leg broken her body bleeding. Saren dragging Shepard's own body through the water of the aqueduct. She was being savagely strangled by Saren; she could feel her life draining from her…

Ashley fell to the floor coughing and gasping for air, Shepard stumbled back, tripped over her own feet and crab-walked backwards shocked and disgusted by what she had just done. On the threshold of their quarters was Liara, pity and sadness awash in her ever expressive sapphire eyes. '_Oh my Love, Melethril, silence your rage_. _Dark have been your thoughts of late, do not let them poison your heart. Let your storm be stilled, Melethril.'_

"You have no enemies here in our quarters my Love. There are no traitors in this room. None that you have ever called friend betray us here and now. Hear the truth of my words." Liara whispered soothingly. She touched Ashley's back to ensure she wasn't too seriously damaged before she moved to her beloved. She was the calm to the storm. Only now did Liara understand what that purpose was, and why it was so very vital that role was played out. Liara T'Soni had done what Matriarch Benezia meant to do with Saren. She tempered the river and changed its course.

"Oh Goddess, Liara what did I do? Ash…" Tears clouded in Samantha's blue eyes. "I killed her!"

"I'm okay Skipper." Ash croaked out her hand rubbing the welt now forming at her throat. She crawled to her Commander. "I never betrayed you. I lied but I never betrayed. I could never, would never do that to you…to us. You mean too much to me, you both do. I lied…but I didn't betray. I swear it."

For a long moment Shepard could only stare at the younger woman.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Moments ago

"One standard week? That's preposterous. There is no way we can compile a full study of the site in just seven days. She asks the impossible!" Palon, the former toxicologist for Binary Helix spluttered.

"He's right." echoed Schells. "She expects the impossible. What can she possibly know about the delicate art of science?"

Liara ground her teeth and pushed back the oncoming headache. She thought she had rebuffed the attitudes of her team but apparently it was going to be an ever-present battle of wills. She had to prove to them who was in command, who lead. By the Goddess She was suddenly very appreciative of Shiala making young maidens run laps or having seen Williams bellow out soldiers and making them give her fifty knuckle push-ups for an inappropriate remark or insubordinate attitude. Right now Liara was tempted to make the whole lot do both.

"You will address '_her_' by rank. She is Commander Shepard, or Spectre. Do not make the mistake again. And yes the Spectre is a military woman and thus sees things in another light. Perhaps you have forgotten the geth very likely have a foothold on the planet, and there will be the very high probability of raiders from the Terminus System. We are going into hot territory.

"To insure our safety she has gone to great lengths, the _Victory _will be minus most of it's military might as she will have several assault teams engaging in battle with all geth, any raiders so that we can do what we need to do. She herself will be at the head of the assault teams to ensure we have these seven days. I suggest we make the most of what we can. This is why I want several teams engaging in several divisions of research to maximize our efforts."

Shiala watched in silence as her pupil leaned against the bulkhead attempting in vain to ward off a wave of dizziness. Something must be off with Shepard the older huntress thought. The expression in the young T'Soni's eyes was one of compassion and regret. It was fleeting but it had been there, the older asari was sure of it.

"Doctors Lizbeth Boyaham, Williams, Palon and Leda will be one team concentrating on exobiology, toxicology, geology and the Protheans.

"Doctors Juliana Boyaham, Shi'ar and Mr. Jahleed will form the second team which will include myself. We will handle investigations into the Prothean archives and Vigil.

"Doctors Ororo, Remlap, Misters. Schells and Chorban will investigate other found Prothean technologies.

"Doctors Margali, Lehnsherr, Translan, McCoy, will head the last team you will…" Liara wavered unsteady on her feet. She moaned as if in pain.

Instantly Shiala was at her side holding onto the young huntress. "Liara?"

"Samantha…the storm…" she shook her head trying to clear the images of red waves crashing over entire worlds Without making an excuse or explanation Liara bolted from the laboratories out into the corridors nearly bowling over Aleena who was on her way to med-bay in the hopes to reach the elevator in time.

The Progenitor be damned-the lift never took so long to reach the upper desks where her quarters were. Liara swore she could have climbed the maintenance- tube faster! Once on deck three she sprinted past other crew members going in one direction or the other without a word of apology.

Tapping in the code to her shared quarters with her wife she bounded in and saw Samantha had Ashley by the throat up against the wall. All Liara could feel was inconsolable sorrow, pain, and rage. Unquenchable rage.

There was no way to do this kindly. No sugar coated words could break the barriers of storm filled rage. Liara pulled in the depths of memory of their shared Unions and focused a memory into her lover's mind. She was not so gentle but she was loving in her intentions. She forced the memory of Saren strangling her lover in the viaduct.

It worked, better than Liara could have hoped for. Ashley was immediately dropped, Samantha all but bolted to the other side of the room terrified no horrified at what she had almost done to Ashley.

Now was the time for calm. The rage passed, guilt was setting in. Ever the calm center, ever the soothing dulcet toned Liara slipped into her wife's mind and cooed the words that needed to be heard. She repeated them aloud for all to hear, for Ashley needed to hear them as surely as Samantha.

Ash had regained some of her strength and managed to convince her skipper that she wasn't dead.

No one said a word.

The three of them sat on the floor emotionally and physically exhausted.

"I need a drink." Shepard said suddenly rising to her feet. Still silent the remaining two women found their feet and for the lack of a better thing to do sat around the table.

Feeling the need to fill the uncomfortable silence, Liara spoke picking up the set of action figures. "It's a good likeness to all of us." She peered closer at the central figure. "The modeler's even managed to depict with some accuracy the crescent shaped scar under your eye."

Shepard with her back turned to the table only shrugged. She opened a small footlocker and took out a rather dusty looking hand blown brown bottle filled with what was probably twenty-year old scotch. She placed three glasses on the table but Liara placed her hand over her glass.

"I think I would prefer tea. I'll get it." She rose from her spot just was the Spectre sat. Her blue hands trailed a line along the human's shoulders before she headed for the synthesizer.

The first shot was downed so quickly it made Shepard hack a deep chest cough and caused her eyes to water. The second went down smoothly. At the third she raised the decanter and saluted Williams with it. "To one hell of a fucking day."

This time Ashley joined her in the drink. "Yeah. That's….yeah…one hell of a fucking day."

A fourth shot.

""What now?" The Spectre asked watching as Liara reclaimed her chair with a small pot of tea and a saucer as well as a tray of ready-made sandwiches, soup and sprigs of grapes and cheese wedges.

"We eat." The asari commented. "We expelled a great deal of energy while groundside and …recently. That amount of exertion topped with the way you are drinking is a formula for disaster."

Three women started to eat their meals in silence, the tension being redirected as the food was going mechanically hand to mouth.

"How badly are you hurt?" Shepard said looking to Williams.

"Not bad."

"Why don't I believe you? I slammed you up against that wall. I heard your pain."

"Skipper…it was nothing. Really."

Shepard started at Williams hard.

The other woman sighed. "It's not some martyr crap. It's the truth. I took harder throws from you on the matt during PT if you want to know the truth. You were holding back, Skipper. I've seen what you can do with a biotic throw. Hell I saw the effects on that one mother of a shark. You more or less did the mamma bear thing to me."

Liara cocked her head to one side the expression of puzzlement on her face evident. "Mamma bear thing?"

"Err…yeah. Guess you haven't seen any Earth wildlife documentaries. Bears are about twice the size of a varren or around the same size as an alpha male kath hound. Anyway the mamma bear will punish her cubs by giving them a swat with her massive paw which happens to have three inch claws." Ashley stretched out her hands to indicate the size of a grizzly bear's paw. "Now she can smash a tree in two, gut a deer and tear a human in half with her claws and the force of her blows can snap a spine of a horse like a dried out twig. But when she wallops her cub, all he does is go for a tumble. There is barely any force used at all. She pulls all her strength but the cub knows he's been thwacked for doing some dumb ass thing mamma bear doesn't like. What happened here was a bit like that. I sure as hell knew I was hit. I lost my wind a couple of times, but there was no real force in it. None. Like I said it was more like being tossed in a throw in martial arts drills."

The Spectre wanted to believe her friend, but she knew the extent of her anger, she had been blind to it. In that fury how could she have been conscious enough to pull her punches as it were?

'_Because you had no true desire to harm Ashley my love. You were angered, hurt and disappointed. You lashed out, but you did not intend to kill'_

"Yeah? Then explain why I had her up against the wall ready to snap her neck just as…Saren was going to do to me?" Samantha challenged her wife's theory vocally. Shepard pointed with her sixth glass of scotch at the reddened mark on Ashley's neck. "Explain that."

"You already have," Liara said firmly, "which is why I stopped you Samantha. I made you see Saren, so that you would not become as he. The rest you did. You are no monster, Samantha. The reaction you had when you thought you might have killed _our_ friend proves as much. Perhaps this martial action had to be played out between the two of you and now it is over and let it be done with." There was an authoritative finality to Liara's words.

For a moment no one uttered a word. What was there to say, to add?

Shepard picked up the box-set of action figures. "It really is a good likeness of all of us. They even got your cocky grin when you're holding that 'boom-stick' of yours Ash."

Silent tears fell down the lieutenant's heart shaped face. She had been forgiven! "Nothing like nice stroll on the beach shooting the bad guys with it ma'am."

"Nothing like it." The Spectre repeated.


	13. Shadow and Thought

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Thirteen: Shadow and Thought

"What remains is we still have a traitor on my ship." The Spectre said into her scotch. She had by this time lost count of how many drinks she had as did Ashley. But the bottle was near empty and it had been full before Shepard brought it the table. Liara had not touched a drop, her connection to Samantha was close enough to where she felt she had what might have been termed as a contact high…or rather 'buzz'.

They were even on their second round of sandwiches, brownies and bananas. Rather Liara and Shepard were. Being biotics burned a great deal of energy, in fact all biotics had a very high metabolism; they simply needed to eat more food than other people.

Ashley sat munching on a bit of 'zapped' popcorn. "All due respect to what you said in the briefing," she said trying to throw a kernel into her mouth but misjudged the trajectory and ended up hitting her nose instead. The kernel rebounded off her face and bounced onto the table. She picked up a second kernel, "Er…the briefing thing about not concentrating on the traitor and who sent them. I think we need to." The second kernel missed like the first. "I mean… it's like you said they won't give up." So did the third.

Both Samantha and Liara watched as Ash tried again and again to toss a popped kernel into her mouth without success. "You said you had a theory but no proof." Liara prompted her wife. "You were not simply inferring Ashley were you?"

The Spectre shook her dark head. "No. Not completely."

Williams nearly choked on the kernel that had managed to make it into her mouth. She didn't say anything nor did she look up. For her the pain of her lies and betrayal of friendship was still too fresh.

"Ash, I said before you have a great reverence for guilt. I played on that knowing you would come forward about… what happened." Shepard moved her hand slowly as not to startle the younger woman when she reached under Ashley's chin with long fingers and raised the head to that their eyes met. "It's done and over with. You hear me Lieutenant?" She gave a lazy smile and this time the comradely thing that had been missing before was back. "As for my theory, that's something all together different."

"You do not believe it is one of the new crewmembers do you?" Liara said. "They came over from the _Normandy_, or were a part of her crew and not new."

"What about Pressly?" Williams suggested. "He might have a bone to pick having been ousted from his position as XO."

"He's a stick-in-the-mud-wooden man but he is honorable. No, it isn't him. Hell he nearly wet himself with excitement when we stole the _Normandy_. I'd bet my next paycheck the last thing he stole was a cookie when his mother's back was turned when he was a rug rat. No the guy makes a terrible XO, no command potential; he just doesn't have it in him. On the plus side however, he is one hell of a navigator. You need someone to chart a course through an explosive asteroid field he's the go-to-guy, he could get a ship through with little damage. It was why Anderson chose him, and why we found the closest drop point on Ilos despite the risk in the first place. Like Anderson I trust his talents in navigation. Hell it was his skills as a navigator that got the fleet to Elysium in time… before… he got them there in time.

"Look, before you criticize me Ash for singing his praises I know he's a diehard Terra Firma party member, but he is also dependable. The military is his life, the chain of command sacrosanct. He won't betray it or me. I made sure he received a commission and anytime he needs a recommendation from me he has it because I believe in his skills as an officer and navigator. He simply wasn't the material for the second in command. He's good with a human crew and even he admitted he would not serve well in an integrated crew. He's honest I'll give him that. Like I said it wasn't him to turn on me… on us."

Williams frowned. "How do you know that for certain. Maybe by turning he believes he is serving the military, his Party?"

"Because Udina came to you Ash with your greatest desire - your grandfather's exoneration for a bit of 'gossip' or so says the man. If Pressly gave Udina anything the backstabbing bastard would never have tried to tempt you. I'm betting you weren't the only one to be tempted either. Udina more than likely approached others with their fondest wish, something grand for something seemly so inconsequential like a tasty bit of gossip."

"That's another thing that puzzles me." Williams shook her head "That makes no since at all. Gossip? All that rat-bastard has to do is tune into that bitch Al-Jilani's show and he's got all the gossip he could hope for."

"Ambassador Udina is not looking for a simple kill nor rumor-mongering and speculations from Miss Al-Jilani. He wants to destroy Samantha or rather the image of Samantha Shepard first human Spectre. He said it himself. 'Once you were useful. Now you are more trouble than you are worth.' If he makes you incriminate yourself, my love then your recommendation for Councilor Anderson is brought into question, your fitness to command and even your commitment to duty can and will be brought into question."

"He wants me to destroy myself from inside out." The Spectre agreed remorsefully.

"To push you, all your buttons, all they would have to do is make a hit on Liara." Ashley said. "That's kinda' obvious. I mean you're super protective over your girl, Skipper. Anything happens to her and you go high and to the right."

No one said anything. They were all thinking the same thing. The shot fired in that Elysium back alley wasn't for the Spectre; it was an attempt on Liara's life. In that alleyway all Shepard had felt was rage, the desire to burn those who had dared tried to bring harm to her beloved. She felt again here in this room in that last moment when the held Ashley up against the wall by the throat.

Glasses were refilled; a handful of popcorn that littered the surface of the table was scooped up in the hand and shoved into the waiting mouth.

"So what now, Skipper? If we go on a witch hunt it will blow morale out the airlock. You have to have some idea who's the mole."

Shepard nodded. "Yes I do. Like I said I doubt it's one of the new crewmembers. It has to be someone that transferred from the _Normandy_. I know it's not Wrex, not with the battle oath in place and Udina wouldn't approach him anyway. The man's too much of coward to even talk to a battlemaster with anything approaching civility. Garrus is a cop, he was rough, rash and trigger happy but he is hundred percent law. And Tali is well Tali. She's too much in love with the ship's technology to even be tempted away from it."

"She is also rather found of you, Samantha." Liara added with a smile. "Other than Ashley there is no other I trust with your life and mine. She was after all my Trusted."

Shepard reached for her wife and cupped her chin tenderly. "Indeed. I know for a fact it isn't you." She placed a tender kiss on Liara's lips before she pulled back into the contemplation of who on the ship was the traitor. "That leaves the humans, and I'd wager it's an officer, maybe a non-com but an officer nonetheless. Kadien's dead, that's him out."

"The Ell-Tee wouldn't have…would he?" Ash frowned not liking the idea that Lt. Alenko would have turned on the Skipper.

Shepard didn't want to admit it was in the realm of possibilities. He had after all thought there had been more to their friendship than there was. Samantha hadn't thought that she had treated Kaiden any differently than she had treated Ash when they were off-duty. He and Liara had confronted Shepard in the comm-room and he demanded she choose who it was that she was interested in romantically. Apparently the lieutenant didn't know the Spectre was a lesbian. He might not have thought anything of passing on a bit of scuttlebutt if asked; he might not have even thought it was treachery. Officers gossip it's a fact of military life especially when they are wounded over romance. He was hurt, and said he'd get over the rejection, but doing and saying are two different things.

Shepard's silence was enough to tell both women her unspoken answer to the question. "Adams is out. He's like Tali too much in love with the ship's drive core to even lift his head out of the grease long enough to spread scuttlebutt and that was when he was looking after one, now he has three Tantalus drive cores to baby."

"That leaves Joker, Chakwas and…and the rec-officer…Merkerson." Ashley said.

"I do not believe Dr. Chakwas would betray a confidence. As much as the chain of command is sacrosanct to military personal, patient / doctor confidence is to her. And she is both military and physician." Liara pointed out.

"But she is privy to some highly confidential material and people speak openly to her." Shepard commented. "As much as I dislike the idea we must keep her on the list of possible suspects. The same goes for Joker, before now he had an open invitation to all security cameras and comm-systems. He could listen in on private conversations. He no longer has access to the security systems though he still has the comm-systems but he can't unlock the secure channels anymore. Given the right incentive he might pass on a bit of 'harmless' scuttlebutt. The same goes for Merkerson. Which reminds me he was a bit odd before the Elysium drop. It's mere speculation but he was on the planet when we were targeted in the alley. It might be a coincidence or he made contact with the agents hunting us. We need to keep our eyes open and watch them, see if we can't fish anything out of them or if they are acting a bit out of character."

"Skipper, I just thought of this but what about Chakwas's nursing staff? I mean they hear what the ol'doc hears and they are privy to records, charts and all sorts of confidential stuff. One of them might have said something to someone they shouldn't have. And what about Doc S'thasa she had access to all that stuff to."

Shepard and Liara looked at one another and back to Shepard's threat of going rouge if anything happened to Liara. There were two other people in that room. One was Chakwas the other was Private Marina Stevenson. The later had been in the lab/store room at the time and the door had been open. She could have heard everything during Shepard's check-up. The young nurse had actually requested to remain on the _Normandy _and her new crew when everyone else had transferred to the _Victory._

"Perhaps we're not looking for an officer at all but an enlisted nurse. That Marina chic has no love loss for aliens and she's a diehard supporter in Terra Firma. Hell I even rebuked and chastised for her bigoted views when she was drawing my blood for you, Skipper." Williams shrugged sheepishly. "Kinda ironic when you think about it, but there it is."

"That is very distinctly possible and it clears Chakwas. However we still have a traitor on board this ship…a collaborator. The very fact you were approached Ash, supports this theory. If Stevenson is the culprit she had someone on this ship acting as a middleman between her Udina and who he's working with. That person _is_ an officer. Someone who knows how to work the system and around them: in my books it's either Joker or Merkerson. I wouldn't be surprised if Terra Firma has their hands in this quagmire too; both Udina and Stevenson are affiliated with that Party." Shepard said her voice growing colder.

"This stays between the three of us and Shiala." Blue eyes looked to a second set of blue eyes and then to a set of brown. "We watch, we listen then act. Get close to Joker, Ash see if he slips up. Use your rank and position as XO as a cover. Besides I think it's time you started to learn the other systems on this ship, you're the XO now and you you'll have to do it sooner or later. Better now than latter. Liara keep your eyes open for Chakwas and S'thasa for that matter. I'll handle Merkerson. He wanted newer more elite licenses so I have my perfect cover."

"And when we do find this mole?" Williams asked.

"I'm a Spectre. I'll do what need to do to insure the safety of the mission and my crew. If I have to I will terminate them but not before I use them to follow the path to the source. This whole thing could be petty revenge or it could be bigger than we suspect, until I have answers I will not act precipitously."

"There is far more to this than we are seeing. If a human political party is involved this will not bode well for the infancy of humanity's role in the Council. Should we not inform Councilor Anderson?" Liara asked.

"And tell him what? Right now all we have is that we were attacked by mercenaries on Elysium. Until we have hard evidence all we have is speculations, nothing more not even circumstantial evidence. We need to know who sent them if the attack was indeed related to Udina or just an opportune time, don't forget Cerberus has no love for us. This incident and Udina's agendas could very well be independent of each other."

"It's that's the case then maybe we should take a closer look at some of our new crew members. Schells wasn't happy about his casino-rigging went bust. And both Chorban and Jahleed admitted to stealing technology from their former work in medical-tech development to build that scanner to take readings of the keepers. And they both lied to you about their motives and tried to off the other by lying to you. Who's to say they wouldn't do the same now to you.

"Personally Skipper, I don't see why you hired any of them. One's a hacker and the other two are self-admitting thieves even if what they did was pretty remarkable what with the keepers and all. And then there is that asari woman Mallene Calis. She wasn't very happy to have her industrial espionage opened up by you with Binary Helix. I mean she didn't seem to hold a grudge while we were on Novaria but not all asari are like Liara here-all noble and honest almost to a fault. Mallene might be looking for payback. She did say you have a devious mind."

"You gave yourself the answer to that question. Jahleed and Chorban developed a tool to do what no one since the Citadel was re-discovered by the asari could do-they managed to scan the unscanable. They have compiled a great deal of data on the keepers. I need that data; I need their skills to do similar things with other found Reaper technology we come across. We now know thanks to their data the keepers are cyberneticly enhanced organics. Jahleed and Chorban are too eager in their thirst for the science of the keepers and thusly the Reapers to try anything as stupid as to turn on me even if they have a history of doing to each other.

"As for Schells, that salarian might have been pissed about me turning over his device to Doran but he's not the type to hire mercenaries. He was eager to land this stint with us, putting his skills to good work, besides it was either that or be prosecuted by C-Sec for hacking into quasar machines in the casinos. Doran was going to sue him into the next spiral arm, but Detective Chellick gave him a choice: serve with me in _Victory_'s science corps or serve time in the clink. Schells wouldn't screw with his meal ticket and get-of-jail-free card.

"Right now we have two possible viable suspects, Udina with or without the Terra Firma Party's involvement and Cerberus. No we proceed as planned. Keep your eyes and ears open for others, but I don't want to start jumping at shadows and making enemies where there are none. That includes Mallene. She isn't a suspect in this. Her actions might have been underhanded but she not going to hold a grudge over what happened.

"She asked me during her interview if BH had approached me as she had done would I have done the same thing to them as I had done with her and out their agenda despite they are a human company? I said yes, of course. The law is the law, it's blind and binding. What she wanted me to do was against the law, I even gave her the opportunity to back out when I asked her did she know who I was. Instead of acknowledging me as an officer of the law she called me a dull stone. I think that was a pretty dumb-arse thing to do, she could have walked away free and clear right then and there. Hell she could have found another to do her dirty work and get the information she wanted. She even admitted that, and said she botched handling me as much as she did that BH guy.

"I have no love lose for Binary Helix; I think their scientific ethics are highly suspect. We know BH had doing very questionable things with the rachni queen and when we shut that runaway project down the execs and investors couldn't have been very happy. My report did lend to them being sanctioned by the Council for it. Of course anything Saren had a part in now is being carefully scrutinized by other Spectres.

"Mallene and the Armali Trade Guild are not out for my blood or Liara's, BH might be because of the sanctions on their corporation but the Guild isn't. Mallene told me she respects my ethics which was why she said she'd help us out when we have to play hardball with corporations and politics. Like I said we stick to the plan. If we start suspecting everyone pretty soon paranoia springs up and runs rampant and then you believe everyone has an agenda against you and conspiring. I won't live like that and I won't run my ship that way."

MEMEMEMEEMMEME

Running out as she had on her staff Liara had made things a bit more difficult with the other scientists. They all had their ideas why she dashed out as she had; some had even gone as far as to question amongst themselves her fitness to lead them. She was very young relatively speaking, and some thought she was head of the Science cores only because she was married to the Commander. Yes the young woman was very intelligent, and an expert archeologist on the Protheans but did that merit her role as leader of the division?

Sheila could see a very rough road ahead for Benezia's daughter. Young T'Soni not only had to prove herself in the eyes of her counterparts but in her own abilities when dealing with other people. Liara was introverted not because she lacked self-confidence it was simply she was more attuned to scientific theory than other sentients. Liara was a genius even to asari standards. It was her mental gifts that made it awkward when dealing with others because she didn't articulate well when not compiling theses on the Protheans and other ancient space-faring civilizations. Simply put Liara wasn't a people person, not like her mother who could dominate a room by simply walking into it.

Liara was very self reliant, a powerful-biotic and a survivalist, she had to be. Where other young huntresses lived in communal areas as they trained or served the Asari Republic, Liara lived alone for fifty years in the most remote locations known to asari…to Citadel Space. Her half-century exile into archeology was broken not by other asari, but by a krogan battlemaster and a squad of geth trying to kill her. No, Shiala thought not by them…in truth it had been broken by a Spectre-a human female, who later became the love of young T'Soni's heart.

They made an odd pairing and as Shiala thought about it, a perfect match. Shepard was a pure warrior. She knew war, she knew battle. Her mind raced with unconventional ideas and yet stuck to idealized notions of right and wrong and justice and duty. Liara was very much the same. And yet they were vastly differently Shepard was a brooding quaking storm; Liara was the serenity of a clam sea and the majesty icebergs. No matter how fierce the storm it could not demolish the great icebergs. Nothing is as soft as water, but no one can withstand the raging flood. They were both the elements of water: one calm, one turbulent together they made a whole.

Whatever storm brooded in Shepard in the past hours had been pacified by Liara's presence, her influence. Shiala worried for both of them. She did not have a matriarch's words, wisdom or strengths, but she had been at Benezia's side learning from her for more a more than two centuries. She hoped she could pass on such gained wisdom to the daughter now denied them. She prayed to the Goddess, her words, her guidance was enough not only for her two young charges but herself as well.

What she had suffered in the bowels of Sovereign and the Thorian had made long lasting marks upon her body and soul. Being close to Shepard and even Liara had eased the torment in Shiala's own wounded physique and in her soul. There times when she felt lost inside herself. Being close to Shepard helped to ease that disorientation, that fragmented self that floated in the either of being everywhere and nowhere. It had been more the Thorian than Sovereign that left Shiala broken as she was. Its omnisentient presence all over the planet of Faros had leached into Shiala when she was in its thrall in its chrysalis. It was old, so very old, so filled with memory and anger. Everyday was a long as a life's age on the world of the Thorian. It filled Shiala and in it was the cipher: the fullness of understanding the Prothean mind. It haunted her mind just as it now haunted Shepard.

Shiala watched the milling scientists with an almost contemptible air. "You all have been given your orders and little time to prepare for planet fall. Yet you have not disbanded to carry out those orders. You will do so now."

Remlap one of the volus astrophysicists looked to his counterparts then back to the violet skinned asari. "Can you tell us why Dr. T'Soni fled as she did?" his vacillator clicking and hissing as he spoke. "It seems very peculiar."

"If you are to know such things you will be told. It is reasonable to believe she received a private and emergency hail from our Commander which she answered without hesitation. Now you must carry out our division leader's orders with that same swiftness and no hesitation, do as you were ordered." Shiala turned and headed for the door.

"Huntress Shiala where do you go?" asked Chorban his large red almond shaped eyes blinking several times.

"To carry out my own orders given to me by the Commander, I am after all the CAG. I need to see to my crew. Also do not forget your standing orders to report for basic defense training tomorrow morning, our Division Leader, Dr. T'Soni will be most displeased if you do."

Shiala left but she did not immediately take the lift to the hanger deck but rather up several decks to where she knew to find Shepard and Liara. Something had indeed caused great distress in Liara, something affecting the Spectre deeply.

Walking the halls the huntress Shiala first disciple of Benezia witnessed the other asari commandos turning to her, questions reflecting in their eyes. Yes they had felt the storm rising around them, threatening to take the ship and drown it. Then as suddenly as it rose the storm was silenced where not even a whisper of that terrible force remained. Only the asari knew the cause: biotic emotional projection. They had felt it before though at the time it was a far different emotion running amok. Then it was deep love and desire, it took four priestesses to calm and settle the waves and tides of emotions. Fortunately for all aboard the _Victory_ the tide was dealt with swiftly. Still the echoes of what happened in that moment remained lingering in the crew of the _Victory_. Had she not seen it in the labs just now?

When she arrived at the Spectre and Liara's private chambers Ashley was just leaving on rather water legs and listing to the wall. Shiala noticed the welt around the girl's neck but made no comment on it. So there was the source such a powerful reaction in the Spectre that had transferred itself into Liara and the crew. Shiala's quick mind deduced the events on Elysium, the storm of emotions and the welt on William's throat were closely related. As guide and mentor Shiala's prime concern lay with Shepard's growing influence on those around her and more specifically the influence on Liara. It was time to strengthen the meditation exercises.

From the appearance of Victory's XO there had been a fair amount of drinking of hard alcohol. It would make meditation a bit more trying but not impossible. Tomorrow's biotic lessons would prove interesting if the Spectre was sporting a hangover.

Liara answered the door the expression on her face one of worry, tiredness and concern. "Samantha is in the shower." She said as she moved aside to allow her mentor into the quarters. "It has been…a long day."

"I know." Shiala said gently. "It has affected you very deeply, Little Wing and in many different ways. I am concerned for you, and for Samantha." She was here as an age long friend, and companion—a confidant. Shiala was the only one other than Benezia who ever called Liara by the pet name she had gained when she was four years old. "What has happened, child?"

Liara shook her head "Words cannot describe what haunts my spirit."

"Then Join minds with me."

The younger asari nodded and closed her eyes; she could feel Shiala stepping closer to her. "Relax Little Wing, slow deep breaths. Let go of your physical shell. Reach out to grasp the threads that bind us one to the others. Every action sends ripples across the galaxy. Every idea must touch another mind to live. Each emotion must mark another's spirit. We are all connected, every living being united in a single glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe. Embrace Eternity."

Two sets of eyes one blue, one green went complexly black.

Their minds touched molding together with Shiala's touch being maternal and guiding as it always had been when Liara was a youngling.

In their joined minds a landscape of mist, great crystal formations and ocean flowed in a blur of forgetfulness. From that mist rose a great bird of pray; a raptor of fire and shadow. Her cry went out as a swan's song though this was no death knell. It was the song of war, of battle. In her claws lay the dead: human, turian, salarian, asari, volus, rachni, Reaper; all who dare to strike against the one life she treasured above all others, one she found pure, innocent, one she beloved more than her own mortal soul.

'_They strike against Liara. They will burn. They will burn_!'

In flash of mist and lighting they saw Ashley being tossed about the room, held by her throat by great red flames by the phoenix and suddenly dropped. Sea mist, blue fog coiled around the phoenix.

'_Calm my love. Let this storm pass, there are no enemies here_.'

'_They will mean to hurt you. They will burn_…'

The memories drifted as the matron took hold and converted the meld into deeper thoughts, deeper emotions. Her voice wafted into Liara's mind as if she were speaking aloud.

"_You fear this Little Wing."_

"_If I should fall in battle she will turn from the light to the dark. She will become more than rogue, more than a renegade. Her rage will consume her Shiala. How do I protect a protector? I can not always be there to calm her storm."_

"_She will learn this, and she will trust in you. Her rage comes from the images left behind by the Prothean beacons. In you, she sees all that represents all that is good and pure in life. She clings to this as she clings to hope the Reapers can be stopped. _

"_There is an echo I feel that surrounds her and you. It is not a natural thing. It speaks of great pain, not of the body but of the spirit. It is as if you both once felt the essence of the all creations, of all that binds us flow through you then it was torn away, brutally and quickly. The echoes comes from the hollows were it once flowed through you both, it is an unusual wound my Samantha carries and it touches you as well. Mistress Shiala I feel her suffering even as I feel yours now. If fills my senses with such intensity. It is a plant's worth of pain I do not know how she endures, how you do."_

"_It is because she has no choice nor do I. Samantha has touched the minds of the Protheans, she felt whole worlds die and she carries that echo within her. The pain—the galactic death is too much for anyone soul to endure and it is a wonder she did not die when she felt billions parish. She felt all their deaths, more than that, through the cipher she felt as if she had fought along side them, struggled with them until the end. Those ancient battles would have deafened her but through the cipher she how hears. She was broken and now made whole, she was blinded and now made to see. She had come to finely understand the fullness of the cipher. Now she carries all their deaths from the Reapers within her and it has left a hole, a hurt that can not be filled. _

"_This wound is my own as well. It has changed us. It is as if we can feel the ebb of all life and yet can not feel ourselves. We have become a cipher. Samantha more than I can form bonds, siphoning the will of others dominating them; she had become symptomatic of the wound created by the Reapers. She has felt the terrible burning of the Reapers cleansing of the worlds, their fears, their sleepless malice, of all tragedies that scream across the galaxy. _

"_By the prothean beacons she has seen the galaxy through their eyes, from the bacons she has walked the dark places of the galaxy and faced death on such a scale and has traveled further than any before her. Saren waited for the echo to reach him, and so he was taken by Sovereign's fear mongering. Samantha rebels against it, rushing to protect, clinging to the hope. You have become the symbol of that hope. A great burden you bare, Liara but one you must. This is why she seeks to destroy those who bring harm to you, she knows you are her lifeline to the light, to hope and to life and to love. In her there is a great love for you, I have felt and touched its bounty when I melded with her. _

"_In Samantha I see my own hope that I can endure, I can survive and overcome what Sovereign and the Thorian did to me. The clones actions are my sins to bare, their deaths had been my own, their creation my own again and again. I will never be completely whole again, but I can endure as Samantha does because I have no choice. She lends me strength in continuing battle of the Dark-unknowing and in her ability to survive, even as you lend her peace, serenity and undying love. From the ashes of fire shall be woken, from light a shadow shall spring, renewed the life that was broken."_

The images drifted as two minds separated. And Liara understood.

She was a lifeline to Samantha in more ways then one, she was yes her wife's personal icon of hope and all that is the goodness in the universe. But Liara was Samantha's link to herself lest she lose herself in the echo of that great wound in creation. Liara was not only the clam to the storm, but the soothing healing touch against such great pain that was now apart of the Spectre.

Liara knew more of her mentor as well. The Thorian had left her with more than scares, memories and nightmares. The link between the two had been so very strong, so unified the matron's nervous system had interpreted that link as a Union.

"You are with daughter!" Liara uttered in an astounded whisper.

"Yes."

"But the thorian is unlike any lifeform…how…I don't understand."

"It was sentient, its mental capacities vast, and its memory far older than ancient starlight. The conception was not of my willingness or wants but an aftereffect the thorian linking to me to create the clones."

"What are you going to do?"

Termination of a pregnancy was something an asari would never think of doing because of the very nature of how they procreated. It was not unheard of, but there had been no chosen terminations in the last five thousand years. Yes there were times when the body suffered such great damage that it naturally aborted the fetus in miscarriage in protecting itself.

"I will give birth and raise my daughter. I will pray to the Goddess that she suffers not the pains of my wounds or the nightmares of the cipher. I will tell Samantha in due course as will you. I have already seen Doctor S'thasa about my pregnancy. I have also spoken with Priestess Kerubiel. Perhaps it is something you should consider before too long, Little Wing." She held up a purple hand to silence the younger asari. "I understand your fears daughter of Benezia and I will respect your silence as you will mine. Are we in accord?"

"We are, Matron."

It was at this time that Shepard came out of the ensuite rubbing a towel over her black hair to dry it but wearing nothing. One of the few luxuries the asari ships had were the hydro showers as the sonic variety irritated their very sharp hearing inflicting terrible migraines on most. Shepard simply took advantage of the luxury of the hot steaming water; of course she tended to enjoy it more when sharing it with her wife.

"Beloved we have a guest." Liara announced grateful for the distraction.

Samantha shifted the towel that was over head to take a look and saw it was Shiala. She didn't move the towel to cover her nudity, she was comfortable in own skin. This was not because the matron had seen her naked form before but being linked to an asari wife; the Spectre was adapting more and more of their instinctual nature. Whether this new comfortableness with her sexuality was by a strange form of osmosis or simple adaptation it was hard to say.

Samantha padded slowly to the alcove where the bed was and took from a chair a simple robe. "No doubt you've come to check up on us." She said slipping the garment over her muscular frame.

"I have, yes. Samantha, Liara cannot alone be expected to always calm the storm within you. You must learn to do this for yourself I will guide your way. We will meditate and center ourselves. Tomorrow instead of during your typical PT we will begin proper training in the asari forms of biotic martial arts to further your control."

The three sat on the floor palms almost touching each other as they linked and allowed the energies of the universe to flow one from the other.

MEMEMEMMEMEMEMEME

"This exercise is more about control and awareness." Shiala said as she stood facing Shepard in the middle of one of _Victory'_s three training gyms. "It is not as remedial as the rose petals but it is a foundation exercise that even the most talented of asari commandos continue to utilize as it can be very challenging. It's called the Echo game."

The Spectre, Shiala and Liara stood in a ring of twelve drums which were suspended in the air by a long narrow pole that towered just over two meters. Each drum had an asari minder who held the drum in place. There was a small gap between the two ends of the circle were a pile of tumbling mats had been staked and upon that a small ceramic bowl filled with what looked like dried kidney beans. A second circle ran around the first and here twelve more asari commandos sat lotus style each with what looked distinctly like Japanese taiko drums.

Like the Japanese back on earth the Asari practiced their own version of Kodo. These ancient instruments covey a duel meaning for the asari, the first is the 'heartbeat'—the sound of the mother's heart-beat as _felt_ in the womb. The second was a reflection of the asari's desire to play their drums simply, with the heart of a child. In the echo game the drums served as a diversion as one might expect in the battlefield turning the huntress away from her true target. The trick was to concentrate on the one sound and tune out the distractions.

Shepard looked to Liara who was smirking playful. "I've always enjoyed this game. Matron Shiala is correct when she says it is _most _challenging. The object of the game is to echo the bean as it hits one of the drum heads using a very mild biotic strike. You must hit the same drum using a biotic pulse wave without destroying the drum or hitting its minder."

"_Huntress _Liara, you will demonstrate." Shiala ordered. "Spectre you are with me." She looked over her student to the milling crowds now gathered intrigued by this new development. Amongst them were the sisters Williams and the science cores. 'Perfect. Now let them see the true power of the T'Soni command over biotics that has gone undimmed before the braking of the words. Let them question her strength now.'

Instinct and old habit caused Liara to cup her hands touch her forehead and then turn them palm side before her chest as gave a slight bow of her head to her mentor in the form of respect a student offers their mistress. The gesture was symbolic of filling one's sprit and mind with the knowledge of an elder with open hands and open mind.

It was only a moment's hesitation but Shepard mimicked the bow of respect to Shiala for now she wasn't the Commander of the ship she was in fact a student of a grandmaster of martial arts.

Taking the blindfold from Shelia's hand Liara wrapped it around her eyes and tied it at the back of her head. She stood in a near aikido/viper-style Kung-fu battle stance: her left arm stretched out before her, her hand forming a knife's edge. Her right arm was bent and raised to the level of her jaw parallel to her chest and again the hand was in a knife's edge though palm side up. All her weight was placed on her bent right leg while her left was nearly parallel with her left arm albeit at a slight angle. The stance could instantly be switched to the left side as it was one of the more perfect offensive and yet defensive stances in the asari or for that matter any martial art forms. Her head was cocked to the side to catch the sound of a drum being hit by a bean and not a drumstick.

Shiala took a bean from the bowl and flicked it at a drum; it bounced off with a dull thud and landed on the floor. The taiko drums thundered, Liara spun on the balls of her feet and struck the exact same drum that the bean had struck.

Shiala picked anther bean and made it bounce off of three drums adjacent to each other. The distractions sounded but were gone unnoticed by Liara. She spun into an aerial butterfly kick sending a plus into to the first drum, flipped backwards into a back walkover to hit the second and third drum. She circled around to land once more into viper stance. Cheers erupted the loudest was Samantha's voice that caused the young asari to smile.

Take note of the distraction govern by the Spectre, Shiala took hold of the bowl and flung its entire contents, more than one hundred beans at the circle of drums. They bounced off each other, off each of the dozen drums multiple times before raining down. Liara snapped into battle readiness. Shepard's pride in her, the taiko drums thumping could not distract Liara from her course from displaying her quality. Her body flipped from cartwheels, butterfly twists, aerials front and back walkovers, side flips, body punches with leaps of feline grace, avian elegance, and the swiftness of the firaxon shark. They were hers to command she slipped from one maneuver into the next seamlessly. Each technique lent itself into the next. Her hands, her fingers shifting from knife hand blows to cocked punches each sending out a pulse of biotic power into the drumheads, not a single drum in sequence was missed. She landed as she had begun in the viper stance.

The whole of the training room erupted in applause and cheers. She felt her body being picked up and twirled around, her lips soundly kissed.

"That was brilliant!" Shepard proclaimed hugging her tightly, her libidinous desire filling Liara in waves.

"Set Liara back to the ground Spectre, for now is your turn." Shiala's voice was firm, but she was glowing in pride over her student's accomplishment. Liara had always been masterful at the echo game. The fact Liara overcame Shepard's presence—the distraction she offered was a coup d'état.

"Wow, Dr. T'Soni that was something!" Abby Williams said amazed at what she had witnessed. "I've never seen anything like that."

Liara was breathing heavily, the smile on her face filled with inner-pride. "It has been sometime since I've played the game."

"Well you certainly didn't lose your touch, Liara. I knew you kicked ass with your biotics but damn girl!" Ashley echoed her sister's sentiments. "So Skipper you're going to give it a go." It was not a question necessarily. Williams knew her Commander was a powerful biotic but power and sheer eloquence were far and apart from each other.

"I won't be any where near Liara's skills. But yes I am going to."

Liara turned to Shepard with support and confidence. In the Spectre's eyes she saw desire still reflected in her dilated eyes. '_Later my dearest_.' She sent her promise. "Concentrate on the single sound that matters, shut all else out, all thoughts, all distractions, concentrate only on the target, on your goal. Use finesse, stealth; bind the raw power coursing in you into a subtle strike. Sometimes the smallest cut can cause the greater damage then the mightiest reckless of blows."

Liara tied the blindfold around her beloved's eyes but before she pulled away she placed a soft kiss on the lightly tanned skin. Shepard took the stance she had seen her lover take and waited.

The beans had been recovered and replaced back into the bowl which was handed to Liara. She took her place on the stacked tumbling mats and chucked the first bean making it ricochet once. The drums sounded, Shepard spun and sent a biotic pulse to it. And missed. The pulse hit the edge of the drum spinning it 360 degrees twice and went right passed its minder and slammed into the far wall.

"Center yourself." Shiala commanded. "Do it again."

The Spectre took in a slow deep breath, and reclaimed her stance. The bean bounced hitting a single drum, the taiko drums thundered, this time Shepard's strike was true. And it was so with the second bean as it hit two drums and the third as it rebounded off of three drums. Shepard spun into back flips and butterfly kicks, aerials just to keep up with the echoes. Her movements clumsier than Liara's but her strikes were true. By the time she was up to twenty-five beans thrown at the same time she was breathing harder and harder, her muscles moaned as she moved from one flip to the next. Liara had made it seem so effortless; Shepard longed to move as her beloved had. Concentrating on the gracefulness of Liara she played the game, Shepard pulled into herself the actions, the moves, and the memory of it all. She willed herself to perform them precisely as Liara had. Drawing in on herself the Spectre pulled on the energy of those around her siphoning it into her own body fuelling her needs.

Shiala gasped as she felt a wave of dizziness hit her as she felt energies being leached from her. Twenty-five asari commandos turned their attention to the matron all of them with questioning eyes. Shiala tuned back to Liara who was glowing a radiant blue with biotic power sending it into Shepard through their bond almost unaware she was doing so.

"Hold! That is quite enough for today."

Shepard spun out of a butterfly twist to land near the matron. Still blindfolded she spoke: "Why? I've gotten my second wind."

"That is all for today, Spectre." Shiala said again. "You and the Matriarch Council bade me to teach you and so I am. In this you must heed my commands or the teaching will not be successful."

Shepard reached up and took the blindfold from her face and bowed her head slightly in respect to her mentor. "As you wish Matron."

Only a matriarch held the kind of power to draw from others to empower herself. Granted she generally did it from enemies faced in battle and she in turn sent that wave of power into her commando squad. There were times however when a matriarch would pull the energy force from others-allies to fuel herself. Benezia had done this during her last confrontation with the human Spectre. A human no mater how powerful a biotic has ever been recoded to have this ability. Yes the Spectre had siphoned her will into others, now she drew from others strength in a symbiotic link.

Before she could speak of this to the Spectre, Shiala needed time to ponder it. Perhaps even to seek the wisdom the Matriarchs. One thing was certain in the matron's mind this ability Shepard possessed was tied to the protheans, to the gestalt that bound Liara and Samantha so completely.

The room roared with the cheers of those watching the Spectre perform the echo game. Liara hugged her beloved pride in her own eyes reflecting deeply in blue eyes. Reflected there also was her own wanton desire for her wife. Their hands touched sharing in the moment between heartbeats the shared want of each other.

Stepping up to Shiala were a few of the commandos in her flight crew, their eyes following the Spectre as she moved past the others in the training room.

"She has an amazing command of biotics for a human." Naga'sadow said. "For a moment I thought I felt her touch upon my mind. It was the touch not of a human but of an asari."

"It was as the touch of Matriarch Benezia in battle." Spoke Odan-urr candidly. "The Spectre's biotics are not the clumsy attempts of non-asari but those of a young maiden in her first years of training to become a Huntress. That touch we felt was as our lost Lady's before the fall. You know that touch better than any of us Matron Shiala. Where comes this ability in the Spectre?"

"Awakened by the protheans and enhanced by her bond to Liara T'Soni. The link they share that joins their minds is like that of Matriarch Dantius to her bondmate Rakata in ages past. They have shared more than memories and experiences; they can trade them between each other knowledge. How else do you think the Spectre speaks our tongue as if she was born to it, it is because it was transferred into her during their Unions. More than this I can not say." She looked away from the Spectre to her flight crew. "Come we have matters of greater importance we must attend. There is much to do before Ilos and not a great deal of time to do it in."


	14. Planetfall and Return to Ilos

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Fourteen: Planet Fall the return to Ilos

In the black void of space the _Victory _was all but invisible to the naked eye. Surrounded by a self-generated mass effect field and traveling nearly eighty times faster than the speed of light, it was little more than a flickering blur, a slight wavering in the fabric of the continuum of time and space. A few minor course adjustments sent the ship hurtling toward the Mu mass relay, nearly five billion kilometers away.

"Approach vector just under fifteen-hundred kay." Joker announced, pleased with himself. The _Victory_ had three times the speed and power of the _Normandy_ but the controls were nearly identical, which made piloting her easier. She was a sensitive touch, and very responsive, indeed she took all of Joker's skills to keep her under control. There only a few other pilots on board that matched him in skill and talent. Still Joker felt that the _Victory _favored him. She _liked_ him.

Where the _Normandy_ had been the best and the fastest warship in the Systems Alliance fleet, _Victory_ was so with the Citadel Fleet. It was speed and stealth that gave the ship all the advantages. Anything larger would undermine the Spectre's need to be clandestine. Shadow operatives needed stealth, speed and maneuverability.

While the _Victory _was the flagship of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance unit other agents would have access to their own Wavecrest-class ships as soon as they were made available. Like the _Normandy_, the _Victory_ was a test ship. Yes Spectres worked alone or in very small units, however access to Wavecrests could only be an asset to the Citadel Council's shadow operatives.

It wouldn't take long now before the _Victory's_ destination was in range. When they were ten thousand kilometers out from their target Joker would take the three Tantalus element-zero drive cores off-line to disengage the mass effect fields.

Blue-shifted energy waves radiated off the ship as it dropped out of FTL, igniting the darkness of space like a flare. The illumination of the blazing ship reflected off the mass relays growing steadily larger on the horizon.

"Fifteen-hundred. That's good. Go in silent Joker, I fully expect hostiles on the other end; I do not want to engage if we can slip by. Make sure we do." Shepard said staring out at the porthole on the bridge before she turned her back on Joker and headed down the corridor to the CIC.

Joker turned to Ashley who had taken a seat in the co-pilot's chair. As the _Victory_'s executive officer she was required to have a working knowledge of all the systems and thus was getting a crash course in astronavigation and piloting.

"Is it just me or is she getting to be more and more like Nillus and Captain Anderson?" the man shook his head.

"Never met the late Spectre Nillus. And it's _Councilor _Anderson." Williams corrected. "Besides the skipper just paid you a compliment and you're bitching because it wasn't all gushing and gooey? Your ego in that much of a need of a stroke Joker?"

"It's not that." Joker said. "It's just a weird déjà vu. Before we touched down in Eden Prime, Nillus said exactly the same thing to me. And the Commander sounds more and more like… well… she sounds more Spectrey than before."

"'Spectrey' isn't even a word." Williams gave the pilot a reproachful glance.

"You know what I mean, Williams. Shepard is really getting into it. It's like she's changed from the commander. It has nothing to do with the hype from the media and all but… I don't know she's really embraced the Spectre thing wholeheartedly. I always kinda thought her becoming a Spectre was just a bone tossed to humanity and she was playing along, like she was just a shill. "

"She's not a shill and it isn't for show, they made her a Spectre for a reason, Joker. She has everything they look for in a Spectre: ingenuity, self-reliance, courage, cunning, integrity, intelligence, wisdom, strength. If she sounds more… _Spectrey_ it's because that what she is - a Spectre."

"I guess. I figured she'd always be _our _commander. But you know what I mean. It's like she gave up on the military for the Council. She's an N-Seven for crying out loud! She beat even Anderson's records when she went to Arcturus for special ops training. And he held it for like twenty odd years before she same along and busted all of em'… well by a hair but she still beat him out. Top of her class… and now she's … well the Council's attack dog it's like a step down… er… well it feels like it anyway. They made her a commander again. She could have made admiral if she hadn't given up her commission."

Ashley stood up so quickly Joker flinched assuming he was going to get slugged. "That's insubordination, _Lieutenant _Monroe. Commander Shepard is loyal to the Systems Alliance! But now her call is to a higher service. She serves to protect all of us. That means the entire galaxy numb-nuts, not just humans. Why the hell do you think we're chasing after any scrap of intelligence that will help us stop the Reapers? For humanity? We're out here with _our _Spectre to save all organic life, because right now we're the only ones who can.

"We're the only ones who fully know the truth of what Sovereign is. Fuck, the Systems Alliance Intelligence are not fully convinced Sovereign was sentient for crying out loud. They think it's only an advanced AI and once more the thick-heads think they can get their hands on one of them just like Saren did and repurpose it to control the geth. Shit, ExoGeni is probably spilling out propaganda they can do just that. The only threat the Alliance sees is the geth. We know the truth. More than any of us the skipper knows the truth! If I hear one more word of your whining about her being too 'Spectrey' you'll be on KP duty for the entity of the mission! You get me soldier?"

"Loud and clear Ma'am." Joker saluted crisply. Ever since Shepard and Williams got over their row, the Lieutenant was more protective of their Commander. Williams always pushed herself hard before but now… just as Shepard was becoming more 'Spectrey' Williams was becoming more '_Military_'. She'd make one hell of a drill instructor.

Over the comm-system the voice of the very woman they had been discussing was heard. "Flight crew to stations for pre-flight preps, once we enter the Refuge System, I want all birds ready to be dropped. We'll be cloaked but our presence will not go unnoticed once we hit Ilos. When we are in orbit you will be deployed, your mission is not cover fire for _Victory_ but the mako drops. Once we have secured the area _Victory_ will deploy the assault teams first. Mako crews and assault teams will scout and secure; then and only then will the science crews disembark. All personnel will be expected to be in hard suits, no exceptions. Let's get to work people, there's a galaxy to be saved."

To the Spectre the mass relays always looked a tuning fork with a gyroscope at its spherical center. The twin concentric rings in the center of the mass relay spun around a single axis. Each ring was nearly five kilometers across, and two fifteen-kilometer arms protruded out from the end of the constantly rotating middle. The entire super-structure sparked and flashed with white bursts of crackling energy.

The _Victory_ was less than five hundred kilometers away when the Mu relay fired. A discharge of dark energy swept out from the spinning rings like a wave, engulfing the ship. It shimmered momentarily, then vanished like a whiff of smoke or cloud-mist. Instantaneously, the ship winked back into existence from the apparent void with a bright white-blue kawoosh in the vicinity of a completely different relay in the Terminus systems.

The three Tantalus drive cores of the _Victory_ roared to life and it jumped to FTL, vanishing into the darkness with a red-shifted burst of heat and radiation. Behind them the relay's rings at the center were already decelerating as the relay was powering down.

"We've cleared the mass relay." Joker's voice came over the intercom, "Engaging drive cores. ETA to Ilos twenty-three minutes."

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

The cargo hold was a hive of organized activity though it might have to the untrained eye looked like chaos. Shiala was barking orders for her flight crew to scramble into their ships. The four raptor-class gunships had a crew of three and could squeeze in a squad up to six personnel. For this mission however it was crew only - with heavy ordnance designed to take out geth drop ships and orbitals.

Each of the wedged-shaped V-wing: viper-class fighters were primed and ready for the pilots, one of which was Shiala. She was yes a priestess, a disciple, and scientist but she had been the captain of Benezia's commandos thus a skilled fighter-pilot. Indeed all of Benezia's former disciples were fighter-pilots, the Matriarch had insisted upon it. No doubt a throwback to what happened 106 years ago.

Shepard was going over the final pre-drop checks on her mako when she was approached by Liara. The Spectre didn't even have to turn to know her wife was behind her. "Be safe, my love." Liara said softly.

Shepard turned, her hand cupping the asari's blue cheek. Her gloved thumb going over the soft lilac lips before she leaned in and kissed Liara. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. This time we know what to expect and we're not up against the clock, not like before."

Liara gave a look to the crew assembling near the Spectre's mako. Garrus, Wrex, Tali, and two asari commandos whose names had escaped the archeologist's memory. Liara knew only they were once amongst Benezia's disciples who had opted to stay behind when their matriarch went after Saren. Since Samantha had gone to great lengths to restore the Matriarch's honor, the remaining disciples vowed to aid the Spectre in her quest in the name of their beloved Benezia's memory.

"Ashley is not amongst your crew." The observation seemed to trouble the young asari.

"Nope." Reading the worry in her wife's eyes, Shepard explained. "Matters between us are settled, this has nothing to do with that. I need to spread my people out in the most efficient and effective formations. That means putting Ash on the other M36 with a squad of humans and turians of her own. She's a tank and I need her on the field of battle.

"Captain Kirrahe and Commander Rentola along with the rest of the salarian STGs will spread out and scout ahead in the M-thirty-fives. And you my brilliant Prothean Expert will wait until we give the all clear."

Liara looked indignant. "You know what I am capable of in a fire-fight."

"Exactly the reason you're staying back with the scientists. They may be the heads of their fields and team leaders but in battle they're still green. And I don't trust their skills in a stand-up fight let alone one fought in the shadows. You were there when Lizbeth took a shot at us on Faros. She can't tell the difference between an organic biped, a varren or a geth. I don't know what the others can or cannot do in a firefight, that wasn't why they were drafted. I rather you be at my side love, but I have to be pragmatic. I need someone with battle-skills I trust without hesitation to stay with the scientists _and _keep them under control. I can assign any number of assault-troopers to protect them, but they will not be able to keep a leash on them, you can. Besides, the bookworms need to understand the chain of command both in and out of the labs and the ship. You are their CO and they as well as you need to keep a firm hold on that realization."

Liara smirked. "The bookworms? Not the most aesthetic term I've been compared to."

"You know me, I go for the bookish sort." The Spectre winked. "By the way have I told you lately how sexy you are in red and black armor?"

Liara flashed Samantha a demure smile. "Not lately no."

"Consider it done." Samantha kissed the tip of her wife's nose. "Speaking of armor - make sure your people are wearing armor and not their lab-gear. I don't care if you have to kick their collective arses to make them do it, just make sure they do. I don't want scientist guts all over the ruins because someone doesn't like to be encumbered. We have more than enough Onyx, Guardian, and Phoenix light-armor hardsuits to go around. I had Williams install medical and environmental weaves in all of them. Don't worry she didn't muck around with yours, she knows what you like.

"Oh and make sure each of your crew have those upgraded pistols with improved sighting scopes. They shine a little red light; all the bookworms have to do is aim the beam of light at their target and fire. No more misfires. Williams also put recoil dampers in each of them so they won't get startled by the kick-back. If they whine about armor and guns they don't get off _Victory_. Understood Dr. T'Soni?" Just like that the Spectre had stepped out of the shadow of Liara's wife and taken command.

"It will be so Commander." Liara responded in kind. They had such a natural way of slipping between the_ happily married couple_ to commander and subordinate they never had to think about it. It was as natural as blinking or taking a breath of air. "I'll see to it now."

Those who saw the transformation respected it. One to have just witnessed it was Aleena. Under her alias as Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa she was accompanying the science teams on the planet. After all one of her merits that got her her station was experience in field-medicine. As it was she had been kitting up when she happened to witness the exchange between Samantha and Liara go to Commander Shepard and Dr. T'Soni. They made a formidable couple. It was no wonder that Aleena's employer feared them. There was something, the huntress couldn't quite put her finger on it, about the bond between the Spectre and Prothean expert. It was old… ancient and completely binding. Kill one and you have killed the other. She was sure of it. But what would happen if one died naturally? Had Liara given up nine-hundred years for her human partner or was Shepard going to live as long as an asari? Or was it more philosophical than physical? Killing one would kill the other yes, but was it a physical death and not the death of the heart, the spirit?

"S'thasa, there you are, I wanted to speak to you." the shout from the Spectre made Aleena jump in her own skin. "Sorry didn't mean to give you a start." The human smiled apologetically.

"Quite all right I was lost in meditations. I may look as if…"

"You're standing idle I know believe I've seen it before."

"Dr. T'Soni of course."

"Actually I was referring to Dr. Alestria Iallis. She was in the same state when I first encountered her on Novaria. She's dead now. Turned out she was an indoctrinated sleeper agent for the late Matriarch Benezia. Alestria was sent to assassinate me. Or at least she and her geth sidekicks made the attempt. "

Aleena's green skin paled to a near yellow, her mind racing to discover how had she outed herself to the Spectre? "A sleeper agent for Matriarch Benezia?"

"Yes, but that's in the past. What I wanted to talk to you about is something a little different. Liara is brilliant in her field and nearly as powerful as her mother in biotics. She has command of the science team but no practical training in - well - the commanding of troops. You're a matron who's been a part of commando squads before, even took younglings on their Great Hunt, twice. I don't want you to take over, but guide Liara in shaping up your fellow scientists to hold their own in a fire-fight if it comes down to it."

Shepard placed a hand on the emerald skinned older woman. The asari were a very tactile people, the touch would be fully accepted for what it was; a touch from a superior officer to her junior. But right now the touch conveyed so much more, it said: '_I have the power, you don't and I'm watching.' _

"I don't want to hear my wife was shot because of some friendly-fire from a bookworm idiot who didn't check their line of sight. I don't want to hear any of the scientists coming to harm for that matter, but I'd be more than pissed if I found out some dull stone genius was responsible for friendly-fire. I can rely on you to be discreet?"

Aleena was utterly confused. Had the Spectre discovered her motive for her being on the _Victory_ or was this a straight up request? Was this a warning because the Spectre knew Aleena was a bounty hunter, or a warning on a different level?

Her perplexity must have been evident on the asari's face. "Watch over Liara's command but don't look like you are watching over her. Act as you have been around her, you know casually." And there again was that strange enigmatic smile. What the hell did it mean?! Did the Spectre know or didn't she? Did she suspect and was now fishing for clues to confirm her suspicions or…or was this on the level?

"Believe me, Commander I know how to be discreet." The bounty-hunter-cum-doctor said neutrally.

"Yes, I am sure you do."

This paranoia was going to drive Aleena to distraction, make her do something stupid such as out her alias. If she did the Spectre needed no further proof to act, hell the Spectre could rightful execute Aleena on the spot.

There was nothing else that was said by the Spectre who now moved back towards the crew pits and the squad leaders to collect reports on their progress, which left Aleena to contemplate her new role as Liara T'Soni's second in command forced upon her by the Spectre.

MEMEMEMEMMEME

"_Approaching Ilos, we are clocked_." crackled the intercom. "Some geth chatter, they have not detected _Victory_." The word 'yet' clung to the air. "_Scans show two bayships."_

Geth. That was grim news even if it was expected. Bayships were geth dreadnoughts. They were perhaps in a way more efficient than any ship in any organic fleet. For attached to their keels like a tick on a hound were two dropships that would unclamp themselves from their moorings, drop into the orbit of any given planet and deploy their troopers. The bayships would remain in orbit ether taking out heavier ships of any organic foe or wait until the dropships returned having completed their mission objective. Even if the dropships were destroyed groundside the bayships had many more troopers available, more than that the bayships contained at least three squadrons of raiders in the geth version of a one person fighter.

It was going to be a tough battle all around.

At least they were going in hard, if not hot. Shepard slammed the visor down to shield her face, and the rest of the crew followed suit. A minute later, they felt the turbulence as the ship entered the planet's atmosphere. At a nod from the Spectre her team made a final weapons, com and shields check. They were all secured in the restraints of the newer larger mako.

The air group had already been deployed, the quick darting vipers making sweeps along with both _Victory_ and raptors so far their reports on enemy visuals were in the negative. That was a good sign as they had yet be discovered. Again the word 'yet' sat there in the sentence heavily.

A few seconds after the fly-by reports there was a heavy thump as the mako touched down. The drops always made Shepard feel a bit nauseous; as if her teeth had been jarred from her skull before the inertial dampers came on line and compensated.

As soon as the makos were dropped _Victory_ ascended once more, the geth alerted to their presence by the mako planetfall. Nothing could be done about that save enter the dogfight with guns blazing and shields fully up.

"Two bayships that means two dropships each," Shepard said. "Expect heavy ground reinforcements. All squads ready for hard battle, dig in. First priority destroy the dropships, we can't allow them to get a foothold."

Maneuverability in the ancient ruin with the larger eight-wheeled M-36 mako was difficult but not impossible. Garrus who was slightly better at negotiating the terrain had the driver's seat, leaving the Spectre and Wrex manning the turrets. Tali and Nual had the comm-systems scanning for enemy movements, ready to jam any signal not compliant with Council technology. That meant anyone not from the _Victory_. Morwen had the co-pilot's chair ready to take over any station as needed.

"I smell trouble!" Tali called out her eyes never leaving the holo-imager. For a moment the scanners blipped then were silent then blipped once more. "Hostiles spotted. Bearing three-three mark four."

"I read them! All makos at the ready!" Shepard ordered.

MEMEMEMEMEMMEME

"_Watch it, here they come_." Odan-urr of the asari commandos warned. "_Coming in at eleven' o'clock. It's the bayships. They are deploying two squads of raiders_."

"Maintain visual scanning." Shiala's voice came over the headset. "Remember, they can jam every instrument on your raider except your eyes."

"_I see them."_ Naga'sadow said. "_Goddess look at them all!_" The gleeful smile of the young asari pilot vanished instantly as she looked around her. The raiders swarmed towards them like nest of wasps. Raiders were to one-person fighters - what armatures and colossuses were to RAVs and tanks. They had no geth pilot inside the cockpit, they were geth!

Shiala turned again and this time saw a geth raider already pursing Naga'sadow's ship. "Naga'sadow!" She shouted, "You've picked one up on your tail…watch it!"

"_I cannot see it_," came the young huntress's panicked response.

Shiala watched helplessly as Naga'sadow's ship shot away from her flight path closely followed by the geth. The enemy vessel fired steadily at her, each successive bolt seeming to pass a little closer to Naga'sadow's hull.

"_It's on me tight_," said the voice in Shiala's cockpit, "_I cannot shake it_." Twisting and spinning into a split-dive maneuver Naga'sadow looped back toward the dogfights, but the pilot trailing her was persistent and showed no sign of relinquishing pursuit.

"Hang on, Lieutenant," Shiala called, wrenching her ship into a roll out turn so sharply and so steeply that straining gyros whined, "I'm coming in."

So absorbed in its pursuit of Naga'sadow was the geth raider that it didn't see Shiala, who barrel-rolled her own ship, flipped, and dropped in behind it. Electronic crosshairs lined up according to the computer-readout instructions and Shiala fired repeatedly. There was a small explosion and the raider was vaporized.

"We've got to get them away from our ground troops." Shiala said. "Let's do some flying. _Victory_, raptors concentrate on the bayships, all vipers hit the raiders." She shot a ray of energy over the hull of the lead ship, challenging him. She banked a hard right veering for the cannons the _Victory. _The three geth raiders roared into the cannons.

Shiala made a daring banking maneuver that brought her ship skirling out of the narrow gap between two geth bayships her wingmen copied exactly.

As asari pilots darted in and out of the larger ships, they were followed closely by three squadrons of the geth fighters that veered through the geth bayships in hot pursuit. Suddenly, one of the raiders was fatally scraped by a shapeless chunk of detritus and spun off in another direction, hopelessly out of control. The other two in the wing continued their chase, accompanied by the last two squadrons.

Shiala glimpsed the pursing ships through the windows of her cockpit as she spun her craft around, speeding under a bayship, then bringing the viper back to its right side up position. With expert precision, the commander steered her ship toward still another giant formation, summoning all the skill that had made her reputation known throughout the asari commandos, she maneuvered the viper so that other only object between it and the other fighter was the hull of a geth bayship.

There was only a brief, brilliant flare of light, then nothing the shattered remains of the two riders spiraled into space in an inorganic bloom.

MEMEMEMEMMEMEME

Garrus floored the accelerator down hard, all eight wheels of the M36 mako spun, kicking out dirt, rocks and foliage as it gunned down the ravine leading to Vigil's alcove. Its shields disintegrating shrapnel and bouncing away laser fire.

Three geth armatures dead ahead, Shepard and Wrex opened fire as soon as the targets came into their crosshairs. One armature sprayed a fan of white-hot sparks as it tore across the skyway for the mako. Rockets slammed into the geth's shielding into the core, forcing it to a shuddering skidding halt that showered the skyway with molten durasteel.

The remaining geth's answer to the attack was a shriek of tortured gyros that wrenched past the prone armature, and a metal-on-metal scream of blades ripping into the skyramp's deckplates. Their gangly momentum shot them straight towards the mako, their own pulse cannons firing, causing the mako to buck and rock against the kinetic force.

"The shields are holding but not for long. We're taking minor damage." Tali called out.

"Nual can you dampen and overload their guns from here? Tali hack into their systems shut them down!" ordered the Spectre.

Asari and quarian worked quickly to heed their orders. Hacking into the geth systems was slightly easier than Nual's task of dampening their weaponry from inside the mako. She had never done such a procedure before from inside a vehicle. She didn't know if it was possible, the best she could hope for was to jam their targeting systems. They would be shooting blind and after all the geth didn't have true eyes to see only photoreceptors and they could be disabled and broken.

Geth and mako raced through the battle, roaring down corridors, shooting through tunnels, skidding and thruster-leaping, springing where the way was clear and screeching into high-powered serpentines where it was not, whipping around knots of geth troopers and bounding over ancient barricades.

"Let's try this a little closer!" the Spectre ordered. "At the next right take it for seven clicks then turn left sharply!"

Garrus gained steadily. The geth colossuses had the edge in raw power, but the mako could out turn them and out maneuver them with astonishing speed. Garrus had an uncanny instinct for where Shepard desired to go. The Spectre had a seemingly comprehensive knowledge of useful shortcuts through side tunnels, along sheer walls and over chasms studded with deactivated cryogenic chambers. At times she would cry out for the turian driver to take a turn suddenly bank here or there, drop here or climb there.

The geth tanks roared into a tunnel that seemed to lead straight into the rock of a plateau. The spectre recognized this ravine instantly it would soon lead to the now deactivated conduit. They had taken a labyrinth bypass of Vigil, who was apparently still working, for the impenetrable amber shields were in place. Somehow Shepard knew how to go around. Unfortunately the tunnels were jammed with geth troops, armatures and colossuses, and all manner of detritus, odd groundcars and airspeeders that hadn't been there during their first visit to Ilos. Someone had been busy. Very busy.

Shepard and Wrex blasted right into them, the high-powered cannons chewing through geth and splashing the tunnels walls with chunks of shredded synthetics. Garrus raced along the corridors ramming into anything else that stood in their way. The mako bucked, rocked and turned on the side wheels even at times turning a complete side summersault before the groaning gyroscopes righted the beast back onto all eight wheels.

"Shielding down seventy-six percent!" Tali cried out. "Taking heavy damage. Commander, our scopes are jammed, our guns overloaded."

"Noticed the scopes. Do what you can to repair it; we can't stop, not now." Shepard called back. "Morwen take over." The Spectre jumped from the gunnery station heading for the hatch in the ceiling. In the same fluid movement the violet-skinned asari commando took her place at the gun turrets.

"Where the hell are you going Shepard?" Wrex barked watching the Spectre sprint for the middle of the mako.

"Up. I'm going to do something about those fracking geth hackers. Keep her steady Garrus."

"Commander, your plan is insane!" protested Morwen realizing what the Spectre meant to do. One simply didn't bound from a moving vehicle onto the back of a geth colossus to take its head off! It was a thing unheard of!

"Which is why it's going to work." Shepard shouted as she flung open the ceiling hatchway of the mako.

An open archway showed daylight ahead, Garrus barely made the turn, and they raced side by side along the empty darkened way joined by the spark-spitting weapons of the geth. Shepard clung onto the rails running the length and breadth of the mako, trying to keep her balance as a surfer might with both legs slightly bent and firmly planted. Waiting to pounce, her muscles coiled and twitched in anticipation.

As they cleared the archway to a small, concealed loading deck deep in a private sinkhole, the Spectre summoned her biotic powers, leapt from the top of the mako onto the back of the colossus. She rammed her HMWP-X pistol into the side of the geth's duranium 'withers' and pulled the trigger.

The geth's internal gyros screamed at the sudden impact and shifted off balance. Their shrieks cycled up to bursts of smoke and fragments in a white-hot cascade of sparks. Securing her pistol the Spectre leapt again, her biotics lifting her free of the crash to the other side of the skyway.

The remaining geth's' electronic reflexes sent them out of the out of the blast zone in the opposite direction.

The crippled colossus flipped over the edge of the skyway and into the shadowy abyss of the sinkhole. It trailed smoke all the way down to a distant, delayed and very final crash.

Behind Shepard the mako screamed to a halt with the colossus down they were free of the jamming signal. The mako's turrets unloaded a barrage of firepower on the oncoming troops of white, red and black geth troopers.

"Systems restored! Keelah! We've got more trouble," Tali announced over the headset. "About five hundred more troubles. Not all of them geth!"

"Shepard, get your tail back in here!" barked a nervous krogan. He hated it when his CO took risks he couldn't follow. She'd turn his shell black before the mission was over! By the Great Dragon's clutch she aged him so. Why in the name of that same Mother Dragon did he fret over her as if he were her sire and she naught but a hatchling? Bloody stupid mammals…"Now Shepard!"

MEMEMEMEMEMMEME

New bursts of flak bracketed her path. Shiala reached out with the essence of her biotics, feeling for a safe channel through the swarms of shrapnel and sizzling nets of particle beams. There wasn't one. She locked a snarl behind her teeth, twisting her viper around another explosion that could peel the armor off the backside of a krogan battlemaster's shell.

"Progenitor devour them all!" she cursed.

"_Commander_?"

"Sorry Lieutenant was that out loud?" She looked up through the cockpit canopy to find another asari commando flying inverted, mirroring her so closely that but for the transparisteel between them, they might have touched finger tips.

She took a hand from the viper's control yoke to direct her upside-down compatriot's attention forward, dead ahead, a blue-white light splintered into four distinct ion trails.

"_Break-right!"_

Shiala banked to the right. Her junior did the same. But they were inverted to each other: braking right shot her one way while the lieutenant whipped the other way. The geth-raiders' cannons ripped space between them, tracking faster than their vipers could slip.

Her onboard threat display chimed a warning: two of the raiders had remote sensor locks on her the others must have hit her wingman. "Vipers: slip-jaws!" she ordered. "Raptors: razzle-dazzle."

"_Copy that_." seven other voices chorused.

They blew past the geth-raiders, looping in evasive spirals. The synthetic ships wrenched themselves into pursuit maneuvers that would have killed any living pilot.

The slip-jaws maneuver was named for the scissor like mandibles of the Palaven slasher-spider. Geth closing rapidly on their tails, cannonfire stitching space on all sides, the four asari viper pilots pulled their ships though perfectly mirrored rolls that sent them streaking head-on for each other at opposite ends of the _Victory_.

No one but a natural biotic could pull the maneuver off, it would have been suicide. By the time you could see your wingman viper streaking toward you at respectable fraction of lightspeed it was already too late for non-biotic reflexes to react.

Natural biotic harmony nudged the hands on control yokes and the asari viper pilots twisted and slashed past each other belly-to-belly, close enough to scorch each other's paint. Geth-raiders were the synthetics' latest space-worthy creation. But even the electronic reflexes of the raider's posotronic brain were too slow for this: one of Shiala's pursuers met one of the wingman's head-on. Both vanished in a blossom of flame.

The shockwave of detritus and expanding gas rocked Shiala: she fought the control yoke, barely keeping her viper out of a tumble that would have smeared her across the Victory's hull. Before she could straighten out, her threat display chimed again.

The lieutenant's surviving pursuer had switched targets.

"_Commander, you've got two on your tail!"_

"Marvelous sense of perception there Lieutenant!" she snapped sardonically. "We have to break them up."

"_Commander, bank left_." Came Russan's turian voice from a nearby raptor. "_Victory's turbolaser off your port bow: thread its guns. I'll take things from there."_

"Easy for you to say." Shiala whipped sideways along _Victory's_ superstructure. Fire from the pursing raiders blasted chunks onto the frigate's barriers but did no other damage. "I really do hate being the bait."

"_I'm right behind you." _Ruusan said. "_Gunner, lock on_."

Shiala spun her viper between the recoiling turbocannons enough that the energy-scatter made her cockpit thunder like a bass drum, but still the cannonfire flashed past her from the raiders behind.

"They are all over me. If you're going to do something do it now!"

"_Dead ahead. Move to the right to clear my shot. Now!"_

Shiala flared her port jets and the viper kicked to the right. One of the raiders behind her decided it couldn't follow and went for a ventral slip that took it directly into the blasts of Russan's cannons. It vanished in a boil of superheated gas.

"_Good shooing, Gunner_."

Clearing the _Victory_ put Shiala on course for the curving hull of one of the geth bayships; space between the two battleships blazed with turbolaser exchanges. Some of those flashing energy blasts were as big around as her entire ship; the merest graze would blow her to into atoms.

Shiala dived right in.

Two raiders pursued Odan-urr chasing after her trying to mimic her every move as they fired their deadly cannons.

"Watch your back Odan-urr," Shiala's voice sounded over the speakers, "fighters above you, coming in. I've got your wing."

Odan-urr continued her dive even as she looked back and spotted the object of Shiala's concern close on her tail. Reluctantly she pulled up and away from her flight path, abandoning her target. Her tormentor was good, however, and continued closing on her. Shiala closed in like a fraxon shark. Odan-urr didn't have to wait for very long. Shiala's gunnery was precise, and the raider vanished brightly shortly thereafter.

"_Thank you, Commander_." Odan-urr murmured, breathing a little more easily.

Unexpectedly two geth dropped out of the cover of the bayship. One of them even sparked as it grazed the hull with its metal hull. Twisting and banking and turning her ship, Shiala pressed through the narrow gorge between the bayship and _Victory_. She glanced backward as she spotted a geth fighter slipping in behind her. She tried losing the enemy ship by going into a steep dive to avoid a burst of offensive fire from yet another ship below her. Neither maneuver shook the pursuit.

"_I see you."_ came a reassuring call from Naga'sadow.

Shiala looked up above, below and to the sides, but there was no sign of her wingman. Meanwhile energy bolts from her trailing assailant were passing uncomfortably close.

"Lieutenant where the hell are you?"

Something appeared not to the sides or behind, but almost directly in front of her. It was bright and moving incredibly fast, and then it was firing just above her. Taken completely by surprise, the geth fighter came apart just as the synthetic realized what had happened.

"Good move Lieutenant. Fooled me too." Shiala praised her wingman even as she leveled off, let go of full weaponry as she descended upon another wing of geth fighters. A series of sequential explosions hopscotched across from one ship to the next as the fuselage of the middle ship mushroomed.

"_I am just getting started_," her junior officer announced as she twisted her ship violently to avoid the fire from below. She hovered into view over Shiala's shoulder and executed a victory roll. "_Just point me at the next target."_ She torqued her ship up finding a new target…her glee turned to terror as she realized she couldn't swerve her craft in time to avoid laser fire striking her hull.

"Naga'sadow, pull up! Pull up!" Shiala bellowed over the comm-unit.

But despite commands to shift course, the automatic pressures wouldn't allow the necessary centrifugal force, her fighter was stalling, plunging into the planet's upper atmosphere.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Shepard's head popped through the hatch in the roof of the rover, "What'd you pick up?"

"The signatures aren't geth; the signals match those of Alliance technology." Tali said.

Shepard still upside down took hold of the topmost rung of the ladder and flipped her legs over head in a summersault and landed inside the mako. "Military?"

"Could be, they don't match _Victory_ coding" Tali answered.

Shepard leaned over the young quarian's shoulder looking at the holo-imager's radar. "So not ours. Bet they belong to the same lot who own those airspeeders and groundcars we saw a few clicks back."

"Do we hail them?"

"No, not yet. Open a secure channel to our other operatives and apprise them of the new arrivals. Just because they have military quality armaments doesn't make them military. If they are raiders let them fight it out with the geth. The enemy of my enemy isn't necessarily my friend; they could simply prove to be a very good and convenient distraction." The Spectre said taking the now vacant co-pilot's chair.

A blast hit the side of the mako rocking her slightly. Fortuitously Tali had managed to restore shields to full power while Shepard had played bronco-rider with the geth. There were still two barely functioning armatures out there.

The mako repaid the assault in kind, unleashing a stream of blaster bolts as fast as a forefinger could pull a trigger on the turret controls. Garrus plowed ahead ramming into the bodies of geth troopers their bodies flung wildly in the air, the shields catching every bolt. Not even slowing down the mako roared down the long corridors to Vigils' alcove.

The mako jolted sideways, Garrus fought the controls to right the beast. He had to use the forward attitude jets to kick the rover into a skew-turn: facing backward to blast the last of the geth armatures on their tail. Now there were only geth troopers and unknown organics to worry about.

A _lot_ of geth and unknown organics.

"Commander, we have a drop ship coming in." Tali announced, "There is no way we can take them all out."

Shepard ignored her, though she did hear the words for she smiled at them. "Garrus lead them through the eye of the needle." Shepard called out as she laid in a course in the navcomputer. "Right through there."

"Lead them where? What needle?" Tail asked as the mako bucked again under enemy fire. She was having difficulties maintaining her lock on the geth as she hacked through system after system.

"Commander! The coordinates you laid in…it is in the thick of it!" Nual protested. "That is not the first rule of combat survival!"

"No choice we have to thin them out. Garrus do it." Shepard snapped.

Whatever expletive Garrus made died on his tongue. He trusted the Spectre. He slipped the mako through the storm of cannonfire. Morwen and Wrex continued to man the turrets, their fire fixed on the geth. They sped through the clouds of glowing plasma on a direct route the Spectre had laid in. Right for the dropship.

"Oh… tell me this is a bad human joke. We're not going through that?" Garrus's reverberating voice almost squeaked like a youngling. His mandibles flared outward in despair, disbelief and a little fear.

The mako slid only meters below the dropship's dorsal hull. Cannon misses from the geth troopers rushing towards them blasted chucks out of the battleship's armor. The battleship wasn't configured for fine point firing as many times it tried to hit the mako it was neutralizing whole squads of it own soldiers. Shepard had manipulated the perfect crossfire.

"That should slow them down!" Shepard smirked pleased her idea worked. She turned from the orange holoscreen to see five stunned faces all staring at her in astonishment. "What?"

Another strike at the mako ruptured the integrity of the shields once more. They were down to sixty-percent. Cannonfire blazed past them, impacting on the support struts of the dropship. Too late to change her mind now: they were committed. They would have to bring the mako through or they would die.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Odan-urr spiraled in her lasers locked on target, finding the gun solution hunting the ship behind Naga'sadow.

Then she was through and clear on the other side. "_I'm hit. Not too bad_." A rapid check of her controls caused her to frown. "_I've got a bad malfunction_…" She uttered trying to sound cool-headed.

"Lieutenant, listen to me." Shiala had to calm her down. Her mind raced desperately. "You fed too much fuel from the stall; the engines cannot handle all that power at once. Pull back on the yoke, ratchet the switches to the feeder dump and clear the lines, then seal them anew."

Sweat beaded on her forehead as Naga'sadow tried to comply with her CO's orders. A quick glance at the main and sublevel control panels revealed that all the indicators lights were still red. The systems were overheated. She jammed the yoke back, to cut the power, jettisoned the stabilizer, and switched to an auxiliary mount, pushed the ignition causing the straining ion engines to whine as it zipped up in time to avoid becoming a part of the floating junk yard. She pulled back hard on the yoke causing her ship to level out.

"_It worked!" _

There was a new set of signals coming in hard and fast.

"_Commander there are more of them_. _Goddess, where are they all coming from_?" Odan-urr banked a hard left trying to entice the geth hunters to go after her. She plunged her ship into the fracas, firing all cannons after the enemy squadron. She started her attack run—staying low and waiting until she was right on top of the squadron. What she was trying to do would not be easy. Going in full throttle, she might not have enough time to pull out of the chasm between the larger ships.

Her maneuver avoided most of the volley of attack of the geth assault. She took a direct hit on her main power cell; black, hateful smoke billowed from the ion engines a millimeter closer and her fuselage would have blown. "_My ship is losing power. I have to abandon course." _

"_I have her Commander_." Joker said, then all at once the _Victory_ diving for Odan-urr's dying ship. "_We have a firing solution, taking out the bayship as soon as we have our lost bird."_

Shiala saw the young commando's crippled ship caught up in _Victory'_s tractorbeam, she was safe. Shiala smiled slowly to herself; maybe there really was hope for them all.

In the next instant, a slew of pulsing light swept past her. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a new swarm of raiders bearing down on her. "Here they come!"

"Oh Goddess! They're coming in too fast! I can't get a fix!"

Shiala flew past Naga'sadow, slightly to port side. Ion energy bolts from the pursuing geth began to streak close about them. Both women crossed in rolling scissors repeatedly, striving to present as confusing a target as possible. Naga'sadow was fighting with her controls when several small flares and sparks lit her control bard. One small panel exploded, leaving molten slag behind. Somehow she managed to retain control of the ship.

_Victory_ streaked along the curve of the geth battleship's dorsal hull. Anti-fighter flak burst on all sides as the cruiser's guns tried to pick her off. _Victory _rolled a right wingover into the lee of the ship's service trench that stretched the length of the cruiser's hull. _Victory _opened with all her guns to bear, tearing through the barrier-shields of the geth bayship, ripping apart her hull. The geth ship couldn't depress their angle of fire enough to get a shot. _Victory_ continued her assault: shimmering canopies of ion trails, turbolaser busts streaked along the hull's surface showers of sparks flared and quickly died in the vacuum of space.

_Victory_ pitched hard astern, away from the crippled vessel. They had landed critical damage not only to the geth's shields but compromised her hull integrity considerably. Raptors bore done on the coordinates offered up by the _Victory'_s gunners. She arched swiftly and came about once more, again unloading her turbocannons and lasers.

The holographic imager on the _Victory _flared with light at such a magnitude that Joker was forced to shut his eyes. Even then, the brightness was painful and when he opened them again, the yellow afterimage left him partially blinded for a few seconds.

But he could see enough to know the geth bayship had dissolved into hurling debris beneath the combined firepower of the Spectre's fleet. It careened wildly directly into is sister ship. The explosion caused the deck beneath his feet to shudder.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

The mako snapped into a spin and scraped through the crashing dropship and the sinkhole below with only centimeters to spare. The geth troopers tried to follow but they were not swift enough. When the first two impacted, Wrex triggered his cannons in a downward sweep. The evasion maneuvers preprogrammed into the geth's posotronic brains sent them diving away from the mako's lasers - straight into the fireball expanding from the front of the struts.

The mako landed with a horrible metallic crunch. They had landed several meters below the upper sky ramp of the structure, still far from Vigil's alcove but further from the remaining geth and the raiders.

"Commander we can't continue to fight, we have to retreat. I can fix the damage to the mako, but not in the open." Tali lamented, giving her Spectre the news.

She nodded, "Garrus, five clicks there will be a left hand turn into a dead alleyway, take it. We can recover there."

The turian C-sec officer nodded obeying without question. Nual the younger of the two asari on her squad did ask: "How do you know all this, Spectre? I thought the last time you were here you didn't have time to explore."

"The cipher." Shepard answered and would not extrapolate further.

Garrus found the alleyway Shepard had indicated and brought the mako to a halt. Tali with her omni-tool was the first out of the hatch, followed closely by the Spectre and then the rest of the team.

"Tali, Garrus see to the Mako, Nual keep the picket line. Wrex take point, Morwen you and I will patrol the wings. We won't have a great deal of time to move once the Geth have discovered where we went. When in doubt surprise them. I want thermite charges set along the south and east perimeters." She got a chorus of aye ayes from her troops as each of them broke apart to fill their various orders.

Morwen moved to the left of the embankment drop off as Shepard had gone to the right. Purple eyes watched the human with a new found respect. This human had indeed faced off against Matriarch Benezia but prior she had suffered the force of Morwen's sister commandos and survived to battle the Matriarch! Academically, Morwen knew her Lady Benezia had committed suicide by Spectre, but to stand up against a unit of commandos and a squad of geth assassins was no small feat.

"Something on your mind, Lieutenant?" Shepard broke Morwen's speculative thoughts.

"I don't think I have ever met anyone quite like you Spectre." The violet skinned asari said.

"You wouldn't believe how often I hear that." There was a strange lazy smile twitching the corners of the human's rosy lips. She continued to lay down the thermite landmines. Of course the idea of laying the charges down wasn't unique. There wasn't a military unit in all of galactic history including the geth who hadn't used such tactics. It was amazing after all this time that the trick still worked.

'I can see Dr. T'Soni's attraction.' Morwen thought to herself. 'She is unique for a human - almost asari in her quality.' "I meant to say… when you leapt from the mako you gave no thought to your own safety, you simply did so, almost out of instinct. You were so sure your plan was going to work. There was no doubt in you at all, no hesitation."

"Yeah well… going on the Great Hunt put a lot of things in perspective for me. Hesitate and you're chum for a shark." She smiled again. "Think your battle plan through thoroughly and quickly and implement it."

Morwen hadn't been present during the Spectre's foray into the asari rites of passage but she had heard of it. At first her mind reeled at the sacrilege but Matriarch Lidanya was so sure of the Spectre that the young huntress felt her uncertainty fade into the fog and dissipate completely. All is one. Why shouldn't the Spectre embrace the ways of Athame if she felt the call? It was only right then that she under go the Great Hunt, to finalize her baptism into asari ways and customs.

The huntress opened her mouth to say something further but the click of a transceiver stilled her tongue.

"_Victory to Commander Shepard, Victory to Commander Shepard_."

Shepard activated her com-unit inside her helmet. "Shepard here, go ahead Joker."

"_The bayships are destroyed, only one of them managed to deploy their dropships we got the others Commander. Two vipers took heavy damage; their pilots are okay but a bit baked. Victory's shields held Commander we took only minor damage_."

Shepard was more than pleased. "Pass along my congratulations to the air group. Good work everyone. Lieutenant, what's the butcher's bill?" her words took on a more somber tone in the last sentence.

"_No casualties Commander_." Joker knew better than to use levity when it came to the butcher's bill. No one could be jocular when reporting about the wounded or dead. "_Two pilots have minor second degree burns from slag, several bumps and bruises but nothing serious. The rest of the airgroup have hit planet fall, we're coming in the drop zone."_

"Understood. We're five by five for now. We've encountered a group of civilians with Systems Alliance military armaments. I want full details by the time we return to base camp. Joker, as soon as the scientist are deployed return to orbit and remain cloaked around Ilos' moon."

"_I copy that, Victory out."_


	15. Keepking Vigil

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Fifteen: Keeping Vigil

The blast mushroomed into the air quaking the ground underfoot.

Liara snapped her head up from where she had been setting up the support struts for one of the habitats; she spun around and could only stare at the black hateful cloud rising in the sky.

Near her Ashley and Aleena both raised their guns as soon as the explosion was heard. The former turned to see the terrified expression on the blue face of the young asari scientist. "I…I'm sure the Skipper wasn't near that…that whatever that was. Might have caused it but she's good at dodging explosions."

This brought the bounty hunter's attention to the younger asari. Her expression unreadable, but her mind calculating: if at such a great distance Liara T'Soni could feel the Spectre, no doubt the reverse was true. So just what was their response time between thought and action?

The expression changed upon Liara's face to one of relief. "She is safe as are those with her."

Ashley holstered her weapon. "Well that's good. Very good. So she told you in that bond right? She's safe?"

"She is Ashley."

Aleena holstered her own pistol slowly, her eyes fixed on the horizon where the explosion had come from. No smoke billowed from the labyrinth ruins but this wasn't unsurprising considering the decrepit towers hid much of the sky.

"Yeah well good, she had no business worrying me…er…you like that."

'This is a new development. The XO has feelings for our Commander. Deep ones if I read her expression correctly.' Aleena mused.

A grin crossed the archeologist's purple lips as she stepped closer to her friend and whispered in her ear. "She has a message for you. I am to tell the mother-hen there is nothing wrong a pack of medi-gel couldn't handle."

"Mother hen! Mother hen! Phagh!" Ashley stomped away muttering under her breath that she in no way resembled a mother hen or its habits. Mother hen indeed! She's a friend – I was only concerned. As a friend. Nothing wrong with that, nothing at all. "I am not a mother hen."

Aleena said nothing and watched as the young human walk away barking at her crew to broaden their patrols and keep a watchful eye out for enemy movements. Her actions became a repository for words she could not utter aloud.

Liara smiled and returned to placing the stakes of the habitat in the ground. '_Tell me again my love you are not hurt.'_

'_A little singed nothing serious. Though I think I startled our young asari commandos by a few of the more unorthodox methods we took in neutralizing the geth and their drop ship.'_

'_Young? Morwen is twice my age and Nual has a decade upon me!' _

'_Yeah well…Nual must have spent most of her time in the cloisters of the cathedral or the library at the T'Soni bastion. She's as green as any newly graduated ensign from basic -still quoting regs and strategies she learned from her instructors.'_

'_It is true she is more scholar than warrior but her skills are as mine my love, do not doubt her.'_

'_None hold the skills you possess my heart. Still I don't doubt her skills only her ability to think on a wing and a prayer and take the gamble when all odds are against you.'_

'_Keep her on your squad and she will learn, just as I have - just as all who serve at your side have so learned.'_

'_Yes, I suppose she will. We will talk more once I return to base camp. For now we have a window of peace but I don't know how long it will last. There are more geth no doubt lurking and we have unknowns as well. I don't think they are with the Alliance military, or we would have been told if not by the Council and Anderson, then by Hackett. We need to know more about them, of their purpose here and if they pose a threat to the mission. The enemy is moving, Liara. Their masses are forming here on Ilos, the Reapers' eyes are fixed on all organic life. And now we have traitors within the ranks on the Victory. The treachery of Udina, of Terra Firma may run deeper than we know.'_

'_This evil can not be concealed for long, Samantha.'_

'_We don't have the strength to fight both the synthetics and this new hidden terror. This peril belongs to all organics; it is not my place to decide how to end it, we all must. The time of segregation of races is over. Where do we look to if we cannot stand united?'_

'_In ourselves, in the allies we have gathered. Trust in the Council, Samantha they will decide how to end it.'_

'_The Council is weak, Liara. Their power is fading. Their pride and dignity forgotten their strength all but spent. They would not listen when I warned them of Saren's betrayal, of the geth hordes or worse of the threat of the Reapers. It is because of the Council's unwillingness to listen that Saren and your mother are dead instead of redeemed, why the Reapers come so close to penetrating the vale of Dark Space._

"_You were there with me as was Ashley when the strength of the Council failed. You said it yourself before we came here that first time, they took all, stripped all and sent all of us to galactic doom. They should have acted on that day but evil was allowed to endure. The power of their wisdom is broken. There is no strength left in the Council. Their logic, their wisdom is scattered and drifting. My faith in the Council fades Liara. I will not turn from them, or my oath. I gave my word and my word I shall keep until my dying breath. _

"_I swore, as all Spectres do, to protect the galaxy and protect it I will, but do not ask me to have faith in the Council. They are deaf, blind and do not fully understand what the Reapers will do. The echo of what came before lingers in me. I will heed the orders of the Council and will always follow them but I have no faith in them.'_

'_The Council and you have a common purpose Samantha, do not forget this. Do not bind yourself to Saren's fate by turning from them completely.'_

'_The same images flow through my mind that did in his - the end of all organic life. The same weakness haunts me. Saren lost hope, lost faith in the Council because he knew they would not listen. They never LISTEN, they only hear, it's not the same!'_

'_The time will come and we will face this same evil and we will defeat it. The shadow does not yet hold sway. Not over you… not over me. You are not Saren and I am not my mother. That weakness you speak of came from his exposure to Sovereign's indoctrination long before he touched the Prothean beacons. He had fear and discord coursing through him for he had forsaken all hope not because of the Council but for Sovereign's subtle machinations. He saw no other recourse but to bend to the Reaper's will. You are not bound for that fate unless you make it yourself. As you said we must stand united and take what allies and help comes to us. Does this not also mean the Council?'_

'_Yes…you're right of course.'_

MEMEMEMEMEEMME

Saren had believed that against the Reapers there could be no victory. In a sense he was right they were bound to one doom unless all organics stood united.

One doom. And yet so many refused to accept this, so many were ignorant of such doom. And for a moment, just a moment Shepard herself had fallen to the oncoming dark of the Reapers tempted to forsake the words of the Council but for the reason of her beloved Liara. Her wisdom brought the Spectre's course back to the light, back to where it belonged to the path of hope.

"That explosion will not go unnoticed by geth or those unknown paramilitary forces." Nual said shaking the Spectre from her thoughts. "If you meant to keep this mission silent then you have failed, Commander. We will no doubt be attacked by one and investigated by the other. Perhaps attacked by them as well."

"Yes that was the whole point." The Spectre said.

"You mean to cause a distraction so our science teams can deploy and carry out their mission parameters while we and the other assault teams take the brunt of any offense." Morwen commented, "A sound strategy."

Shepard smirked. "I have my moments."

The Spectre had indeed devised a strategy of small battles to gain time for the science crews to investigate and unveil all they could in the time they had. While Liara and her teams secretly hunted the data caches of Protheans, the assault teams were being trained in sabotage and guerrilla warfare and to do everything to destabilize the geth and possibly the agents of Cerberus. This was to the Spectre a perfect opportunity to bring together her crew in a single fighting force.

Nual was a prime example, she was raised in the temple of Athame and thus used to sticking to the rules and following the ways of old battles in the writings of long gone matriarchs. The young huntress was now learning that a huntress has to improvise because not everyone plays by the same rule book.

Morwen on the other hand had an innate capacity for patience and perception and audacity, a talent she had learned in all her long years at Benezia's side. A talent she was teaching the other huntresses within the Spectre's crew. As a matron she had developed a wide variety of skills ranging from diplomacy and psychology to military strategy and of course hand-to-hand combat. She had to be ready for anything on her field assignments. Morwen was wise, kind and courageous with a wry sense of humor. The last the matron suspected she would need most of all working along side the human Spectre. No doubt it would sustain her in the dangerous situations to come. The Spectre was at times impetuous and as seen through the asari matron's eyes, reckless. But those traits served her well. Those traits had brought down the traitor Saren and destroyed Sovereign and in the past saved the entire Elysium colony from being wiped out and enslaved.

MEMEMEMEMEME

Aleena aided Liara very little, save for her constant reliable presence. At least she was not as were many of the others, troubled by the mere existence of the ruins. Voices of the scientists, soldiers muttered about the place being an unwelcoming site, that it was haunted, they could hear the voices of dead, secrets were meant to be secret. The ruins of Ilos were vast and intricate beyond imagination, beyond even the matron's experience. To Liara the memories of her prior journey months before were now of little help, but even in the golden glow of the world and despite all windings of the path she knew whither she wished to go, and she did not falter, as long as there was a path that led towards her goal.

Vigil.

That was their ultimate goal: Vigil.

She wished she had the implanted memories of the Protheans as her wife did. She would be able to lead them exactly where they needed to be without any difficulties. Her memory was keen enough to lead her team towards Vigil without leading them astray or into danger. It was well that the scientists had such a guide.

Aleena watched carefully. Young T'Soni was completely drawn into the very history of the ruins. No doubt the young maiden would have preferred to be alone or with her partner studying the ruins, but as it was she was saddled with scientists. Frightened scientists who gave the impression that they would have rather been in a geth factory than a fifty thousand year old city.

The overgrowth clung to everything. Thick large green bushes that had a distinct appearance of giant cabbages, vines of unnamed plants roped along the walls, the seated Prothean statues and the floors. It gave the geometric construction of the ruins a wholly organic appearance; it was even more unsettling to most once several habitat shelters were now set up along a sheltered alcove.

Dusting her hands off, Liara looked into the ochre sky of Ilos drawing deep breaths of ancient air. She could feel the history in each lungful. It filled her with a sense of awe, wonder and euphoria. She closed her eyes and opened her mind and her other senses to the world around her. Oh if they could only be here longer than the seven days. Her blue eyes opened staring at the misaligned skyline.

The towers soared overhead resembled those found on Faros, Citadel Station and other places where Liara had found ruins of that ancient civilizations. There were more than a dozen towers some of them intact others nothing but rubble. Idly the young woman wondered if they like the archive corridors leading to Vigil were filled with the crypts of cryogenic capsules of Protheans.

"Where do we start, Dr. T'Soni?" Aleena asked watching her keenly. Archeology wasn't her field and she didn't even know where one would even start to look for the much sought after data caches in such a place as Ilos. She supposed it started with digging. Perhaps in that respect archeology was similar to bounty hunting, one had to know where to dig and do so carefully so not to undermine the final objective.

"Vigil. We need to investigate if it is still functional. The VI has a great deal of information that would not be available anywhere else. Previously it had purposely erected a forcefield in the archives to divert our course so it would have a chance to speak with the Commander. It had desired to impart knowledge to the Spectre—information that would help us break the Reapers' vicious cycle of galactic extermination. Indeed it had. Hopefully it is still active, even if it is not, whatever information still locked inside its core will aid us."

Having for the moment secured the area Ashley walked forward towards Liara's team, gesturing over her shoulder with her thumb indicating the M36 mako. "It's all set if you're ready, Doc. Just give your word and we'll head for Vigil. The Skipper's given the all clear. She and her squad will try and divert geth attention away from Vigil's locale; she's even given me a new route to that thing far from any geth activity. She sent out Kirrahe's STG team to see what they can find out about those paramilitaries she spotted."

"Excellent Lieutenant, thank you." Liara nodded. "We are ready now."

The passage they had been given by the Spectre's innate knowledge of the city wound steadily downwards. As far as they could judge it went in great mounting curves, and as it sank it grew loftier and wider. These were no openings to the other galleries or turns on either side, and the floor was level and sound without pits or cracks. Evidently they had struck what once had been an important road; and in this way they advanced fifteen miles, measured in a direct line west. Though they must have actually driven twenty miles or more. As the road climbed downwards Liara's spirits rose higher and higher. Her excitement was almost palpable.

They held their course for the next hour before they came across a road familiar to both Liara and Ashley from having been here before though under graver and more pressing times. Before the clock was waxing against them, now time was more lenient in its passing.

"Here! Stop the rover here!" Liara called out to Williams. "This is the avenue our Commander spoke of." Her excitement so overwhelming her senses Liara leapt for the ladder leading to the top hatch and had it opened long before Williams pulled the M36-mako to a complete stop.

Even as it stopped, Liara was already out and prowling the avenue for the hidden doorway that lead to Vigil

"Doc, are you out of your head?" Williams growled coming up behind the archeologist. "God you're worse than a kid on Christmas morning, I swear! Jumping out of a moving vehicle, anyone tell you that's a very bad idea? I thought you asari were supposed to be the smart ones."

Aleena frowned at what she might have considered a racial slur until she saw the smile on young T'Soni's lips.

"I am sorry to worry you, Ashley. That was not my intent but we are so very close, it is difficult to contain my enthusiasm."

"Tell that to the Skipper once you're laid up in med bay." Williams looked to Aleena, "at least we have you near by Dr. S'thasa to patch her up in case anything goes wrong."

"Indeed." The bounty hunter gave a slight smile. "Let us pray to the Goddess that will not be necessary."

Williams guffawed, "Yeah right. Just wait a while. Give the doc here and the skipper some time and they'll put your skills as a healer to the test. No wonder Dr. Chakwas called in for reinforcements, caring for those two became a near full time task, always doing the death defying stunts that would kill any normal person."

"You are not without your own defiance of death in following your course of duty Lieutenant." chided Liara. "Come we have tarried here long enough, Vigil waits just beyond that causeway.

Unlike the gap in the ravine where last they found the Prothean VI this path wound around a narrow bridge, so narrow in fact that only by foot could they pass. It gave the opportunity for the companions to see the ruined Prothean city in the plunging depths below it. It hinted to be a bottomless cavern, though bottom there was but so far down it might not have existed at all. For that depth there were a few that suffered a minor bout of vertigo from staring too long down. Liara was not counted amongst that number, her excitement too close to her heart to allow the sheer plunging depths to afflict her.

The crevasse that pretended to be a door into Vigil's chamber was narrower than the bridge that led Liara and her team to it. So narrow was the gap in the wall that one had to slip in sideways just to get past. Jahleed had a bit of a rough start fearing he might get stuck but a gentle biotic push from Shi'ar sent the spherical volas tumbling and bouncing forward.

"No one tosses a volas, Thessia Clan!" he grumbled once he came to a stop and found his feet albeit dizzily.

"Would you have preferred to remain wedged in that gap? I can arrange that," the asari scientist snapped back.

Jahleed grumbled something unintelligible through his environmental suit's communicator and tottered off on unsteady feet into the antechamber proper.

This was the archive of Vigil. Yet they could go no further than ten paces before being blockaded by a great amber barrier.

"Well that's a good sign that suggests Vigil's still operational." Ashley said staring at the orange-gold energy curtain. "Right?" she directed her question to T'Soni but still did not take her eyes off the barrier.

"I presume so." Liara said. One could not mistake the hope in the young asari's voice.

"How did you get it down before?" Shi'ar asked her own eyes studying the glowing curtain.

"Maybe they tossed a Thessia Clan into it." Jahleed muttered grumpily, his pride still wounded for being, to put it indelicately, bounced into room's antechamber. All the women turned to him and frowned. They did not find his comment remotely humorous.

Liara rubbed the brow of her forehead with her fingertips, "As I said before, Vigil placed the barrier curtain up behind and in front of us to funnel us into this chamber and to keep both Saren and the geth at bay. I believe the same can be said now. Vigil was degrading before, thus it may take it time to scan our bio-readings and confirm at least mine and Lt. Williams from our previous encounter and make a comparable match before it will shut down the barrier and allow us to pass.

"In my studies of the protheans, most systems within their cities were designed to be self-regulating or could be operated with a push of button. Such technology despite being fifty thousand years old reactivates and functions with astounding power and efficiency as was the case on Therum." Liara gave a sheepish look to Ashley who was smirking over the memory of finding the doctor suspended in a stasis bubble behind a very effective barrier curtain. "Vigil on the other hand is a prime example of the prior, as it is self regulating. I do not think it will take long to recognize us and allow us entry into the inner sanctum of the Archives."

Liara's prediction was correct: it did not take long for the curtain to fluctuate and finally fall. "Dr. LiaraT'Soni, Gunnery-Chief AshleyWilliams, your return presence along with Spectre-commander SamanthaShepard is proof that you were successful in stopping the one called Sovereign from opening up the Citadel Mass Relay to Dark Space." Vigil's mechanical voice rose in salutation.

"Indeed we were. We are in great gratitude to you and the protheans for the programs you granted us. It allowed us to take the station's power into our full control. Sovereign was destroyed as was Saren. Yet the threat of the Reapers lingers still. We eliminated their vanguard but the rest remain just beyond that vale, they haunt the borders between Dark Space and ours it will not be long before they find a way through. Vigil - once more we come here for aid in arresting this threat to all organic life. We need the store of knowledge the protheans left behind to stop the Reapers."

"Dr. LiaraT'Soni what aid I can give I will. My systems are sorely compromised, some files corrupted beyond recovery, what remains is I freely give to you and your company for your purpose is that of my makers. I regret most of what you will recover will not be relevant to our tasks."

"You can not know that for certain, Vigil. Organic minds have an immense capacity for leaps of imaginative innovation that sometimes defy logic in leaps and bounds. With the smallest information ideas can be birthed, whole technologies developed. Whatever remains in your core even if its only literature and historical documents will be beyond value!"

"I think he gets the idea, Doc." Williams said touching the asari on her arm. "Slow down a bit and take a breath," she chided good naturedly.

"Dr. LiaraT'Soni I will attempt to siphon the data into your OSDs, I fear thought that the sheer amount of collected historical documents might very well create an overload within your devices and crash the system. It will take a positronic computer core to fully integrate the volumes of data caches without compromising the contents."

For a moment all were silent.

"The geth have positronic brains." Jahleed said suddenly. "Perhaps if we acquire one of their processors…"

"One simply does not acquire a geth positronic brain, volus." Shi'ar scoffed. "What do you expect to do, go up to one of them and ask it to hand over its CPU?"

"Tali was able to acquire a CPU from a geth drone, I do not think this is beyond the realm of possibilities. Samantha and Tali can neutralize one of them; remove the comm-system that links the drone to the hive consciousness and adapt its programming to suit our needs." Liara said. "Tali did it once. I see no reason why she can not do so again."

"Will one of the drones be suitable?" Shi'ar asked.

"A Prime might be more so." Jahleed added.

"A Prime? No way. First we don't even know if this crazy idea is going to work. Secondly we have to sell the Commander on it and that's going to be hard as it is. She won't like the idea of a prime; those fuckers can dampen biotic amps. Liara, I know you and your sister asari are natural biotics but if you recall, the skipper's powers were cut off when those things were active." Williams pointed out.

"Do not fear this aspect in the geth prime. My programming will over-write its own programming and prime directives." Vigil commented.

"You mean to take it over? What - like body-snatching?"

"More like possession." Aleena said to Williams. "Vigil, if you download your matrix into the geth prime's computer core can you guarantee its autonomy from the collective hive consciousness."

"Affirmative, Dr. Mal'dictaS'thasa."

"Will you be fully interactive as you are now or will you be limited to the geth speech? Because I gotta tell you that isn't so user friendly."

"My interactive programming will be as it is now, only I will have the freedom of movement and no longer be bound to a terminal."

"Tali can hack into a geth's systems, what will prevent someone from doing the same to you once you've downloaded yourself into the geth's brain?" Williams asked pointedly. "We've got a bunch of mercs hunting us, some shadow operative and of course there is Cerberus. All we need is for one of them to get a hold of all of that data."

"I can initiate safety protocols, firewalls that will give access to a select authorization. Not even the geth will be able to bypass those protocols. Duel-lock bio-readings will act as a tertiary pass code. I will become inert should anyone attempt to hack into my CPU memory core, the positronic cortical node or other systems."

"Can't bio-readings be faked by very ingenious if not insidious individuals?" Shi'ar asked pondering the validity of such measures. She knew voice recognition, palm prints; DNA and retina scans all could be forged. Bio-readings were not as secure as one would hope.

"Not if it is a joined mind." Liara said. "From what I gleaned out of Samantha's memories by the Prothean beacons from our numerous Unions, I know that the Protheans had measures of security that required the presence of two with a joined-mind to unlock."

"That is correct Dr. LiaraT'Soni, though uncommon joined-mind bilateral locks were not unheard of."

"Such hormonal and chemical readings would be difficult indeed to forge." Aleena said. "It needs an active mind and body of two individuals to activate. However this measure also means that should something happen to either partner the systems will remain locked does it not? There are also chemical and hormonal changes within the body that will occur naturally or due to outside influences that could alter the effectiveness of the pass-code."

"Said changes are pedestrian, as long as the beta brain-waves, heartbeats and bio-chemical readings are consistent this tertiary lock will be effective. This measure may not need to be active only when deemed necessary, at such times I will interact with only those who ignited the bio-reading lock-down. As an added measure I will revert to using my primary linguistics, only those who speak the Prothean's language will comprehend." Vigil explained.

"Given this new information I believe we can convince our Commander to capitulate to this novel request." Liara said sounding hopeful. "She tasked us with recovering all the Prothean data we could, and we have. We have more than we could have hoped for, she must acquiesce."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Their plan was working.

Shepard and her team attacked the geth troops from behind. Ahead Major Urwen of the turian second assault unit could be seen far ahead cutting down every geth in their way. Shepard battled their way through the geth working their way towards Urwen's unit from the back. The second unit continued from the front, steadily moving towards Shepard. Eventually they met in the middle, surrounded by the bodies of the geth they had destroyed. None remained.

"Excellent work." Shepard complemented the major once he climbed out of the last remaining M-36 mako.

"It will take some time to re-mass their numbers into an effective force. Our own scouting parties should be enough to cut off stragglers, Commander," the large turian said. "Orders?"

"Continue the patrols…we need to keep our science teams safe. Kirrahe's STG team have yet to report on the paramilitary presence here save to say they seem to be consolidated in the northern courtyard of the upper ruins. They haven't yet acted on our presence here; Kirrahe believes they are unaware of us at the present as the geth is a distraction to them. Once we uncover who they are and their purpose we will act accordingly, until then we concentrate on the geth and the safety of our scientists"

"As you order, Commander." the turian major saluted in his people's fashion by pressing a closed three talon fist over his heart and bowing his head slightly.

Shepard was midway back to her team when she faulted slightly at the unexpected touch of her wife's mind upon her mind.

'_Liara? What is it_?' at first she thought something was wrong but the sheer excitement wafting into her from Liara was almost palpable.

From the mako's side the others watched expressions flitter across their Commander's face.

"She seems troubled." Nual observed. "Her eyes…are distant."

"Dr. T'Soni must be talking to her through their bond." Tali said. "It's kinda spooky when they do that. It's like they are aware of everything going on around them but they are in their own world too."

Morwen as with all the other asari on board the _Victory_ knew of the deep connection between the Spectre and archeologist's minds. She and Nual had seen the connection first hand during the echo game but to see it still so strong when Shepard and young T'Soni were so distant was something altogether different. It was a powerful bond indeed.

Again the Spectre's expression changed. '_Liara babe you're insane you know that?' _The Spectre sent her thoughts after Liara had given her a full briefing on the plan of using a geth prime to house the VI. Liara had also told her of the measures that would be taken to safeguard it.

'_Samantha, I know you hesitate but trust in this plan, in me.'_

'_Li, I do trust you. I trust you with my soul, what I don't trust is the geth.'_

'_This is a chance we can not allow to pass us by. Your instincts allowed you to trust the rachni queen and free her which could spell doom for our children's children. But you set her free and trusted her oath she would fade into the shadows and teach her young the races of the Citadel are not the enemy. _

'_You trusted Major Kyle to surrender in his own time. He could have in that hour leeway massed his biotics and assaulted not only us but those of the Fifth fleet sent to take him into custody. _

'_You trusted me on Therum when I told you I was Benezia's daughter but I was nothing like her. The turian councilor wanted me under very heavy security and a neuro-suppression collar place around my neck so I could not use my biotics. Your entire crew of the Normandy looked at me with suspicion and did not trust me. They wanted me to be locked in that storage room under heavy guard. And again on Virmire when we passed security and we knew her to be on Peak Fifteen. Yet you trusted me without hesitation and it was not because we felt something for one another. You trusted in your instincts and they have not failed you. _

'_I ask you trust in mine now. I know this will work. Samantha it is an opportunity that may never come to us again. Think of all we can learn! Vigil is more than confident this plan will be a full success. We will have a prothean VI with us just think of it! Please Samantha give the go-ahead for this.'_

'_Let me consult Tali.'_

'_Then you will order it?'_

'_It is in the distinct realm of possibility, but I'm not saying yes. Not yet. I need Tali's input. You forget all those times I trusted my instinct, I didn't do it blindly. I asked a lot of questions before hand. If anyone knows about the geth it's her at least she knows more than us. She was able to remove the memory core of a geth, if she thinks it's doable, I'll give this plan very serious thought. Liara, I know what this could mean but you have to think if ever the enemy should get a hold of this modified prime it will be end of all things.'_

'_It will work, Samantha. I know it will.'_

'_In the meantime I want you to download copies of the data into available ODS as well as your hardsuit's computer as a contingency.' _

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Tali sat and listened to the plan about capturing and neutralizing a geth prime and downloading Vigil's core into its positronic brain. When the Spectre had first heard it she was skeptical, to hear herself explain it, and Shepard was beginning to believe the viability of it all.

"So is it possible?" the Spectre asked of the quarrian.

"As you know geth memory cores are designed to fry their data banks once disabled and like I said if you are quick, careful and lucky you can extract one. Once you do you can also extract the CPU chip as well. I don't know about completely overwriting the memory core, but theoretically it is possible, yes."

"The Council is going to just love this." Garrus commented sardonically.

"Yeah I know. I can practically hear Councilor Sparatus condemnation right now." Shepard said. "No doubt he will question my methods yet again and all likelihood my sanity. He wouldn't be far off in that department. I've got to be crazy to even consider doing this. But if it works…if it works the gain is beyond scope. I think we have to try. Tali are you positive a disabled geth no longer transmits or is connected to the collective?"

"Yes, Commander. The other geth will terminate their connection to it, removing the memory core and CPU will also sever all ties. If Vigil can completely rewrite its systems the prime will not be acknowledged even on visual identification by the other geth. Those connections will be completely inert, and they can't be rebooted or reconfigured because those circuits will have been fried. It's a safeguard so enemies can't backdoor the collective's core and install viruses that might otherwise run rampant through the hive connection."

"If we are going to do this, best we find one of them hunters. Primes are too big and they regen faster than a krogan." Wrex's baritone voice broke out. "Time to hunt some more geth."

"Couldn't one of the hunters we already neutralized work?" Nual asked. "Or are their cores too badly corrupted?"

"Tali?" Shepard said wondering the same thing. Back at the dropship location there were three of the blasted primes already downed, if they could use one of them so much the better.

"Not if you want a functioning memory core to download Vigil in, then no. I suspect it will need one just as it needs the positronic brain."

"Damn. Alright. Garrus contact the other teams tell them to look for a prime but do not destroy it, we need Tali there to recover the memory core. As soon as a team spots one, they are to shadow it, and contact us." The Spectre commanded. "We're going to make this happen."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

At the same time Liara and her squad were making their descent into the bowels of the ruins, Captain Kirrahe and his STG team stalked and shadowed the unknown paramilitary group.

Kirrahe had started out where Shepard reported first seeing the airspeeders and groundcars on one of the skyway. Of course said skyway was now a path of mangled metal detritus and charred remains of stone and overgrowth.

Commander Rentola bent down examining the marks scorched into the stone of the plaza. "Human - male, I'd say. Some of them are a little too large to be asari. The treads are not dissimilar to those created by Alliance hardsuits."

"The Spectre said she had not expected to see the Alliance here. There were no reports from their military that such an operation was in motion." Kirrahe said looking at the turned over still smoldering wreck of a six-wheeled rover. "However that does not discount that there could be. The humans are known for their duplicity when it comes to their dealings with militant sciences.

"ExoGeni, Binary Helix and that Cerberus group may be working independently or conjunction with Alliance Military, this knowledge would not come to Commander Shepard. In fact the Alliance military may deliberately be keeping her in the dark, for her loyalty now lies with the Council. They may believe she would carry out her duties as a Spectre and put a halt to whatever it is they are doing in the name of galactic law and they would be right in thinking it so. Shepard has proven as all Spectres before her that she places her duties as Spectre above those of her species."

"ExoGeni was experimenting with that thorian creature; Binary Helix stupidly hatched a rachni queen and started to manipulate the drones." Rentola nodded, "If they are here… it could cause a great deal of problems for humanity's new Councilor and their first Spectre."

"Then we will arm her with the best weapon a warrior or a Spectre can possess - knowledge."

The STG team tracked the retreating trail of the paramilitary back to the northern courtyard of the upper ruins. In the cover of darkness in the lee of a broken tower seven agents of espionage watched, studied and gathered a wealth of knowledge. Using the HUD display in their helmets Kirrahe's squad were able to get a definitive look at the people below. They knew now the number of the enemy: nine scientists, three squads of heavily armed troopers—six within each squad.

"Take a look at the patches on the mercs, what do you see?" the salarian Commander asked Rentola who was at her left.

The commander magnified the HUD display. The patches on a mercenary's shoulder revealed twin gold and black elongated diamonds.

Cerberus was on Ilos.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"What are those bastards doing here?" Wrex growled after the Spectre repeated the information Kirrahe had passed onto her.

"Something they shouldn't be." Tali said. "We'll have to tell the Council."

"We need to stop them first." Shepard said. "And do so quickly before they do something very stupid."

"What the rachni and creeper cloning wasn't stupid enough?" Wrex grumbled. "It never ceases to surprise me how stupid people can be in the name of science."

"You just said a mouthful, Wrex." Shepard muttered under her breath.

"Would it not be wise to watch and discover just what it is these humans are doing before we shut them down?" Morwen asked watching the group of scientists investigate one of several Prothean cryogenic chambers. "The greater understanding of our enemy, the easier to defeat them."

"Oh we've faced this lot before." Tali said "Best way to hit them is hard and fast, right Commander?"

"It is, but Morwen is right, we need to know exactly what it is they are doing here. When we do move, we will have to be very swift. Expect heavily armed commandos who can sling biotics with the best of them."

"I doubt they have faced an asari commando squad, Spectre." Nual retorted. "They may have power and aggression on their side but not the full extent of asari efficacy or experience. Order the asari teams in Spectre and we will neutralize them far more quickly than they will be able to retaliate."

"Confidence is good Nual, just be mindful not to be overly confident. I walked away from a confrontation with an asari commando squad before." Shepard pointed out. Granted she took one hell of a beating but she still managed to walk away from her battle with Benezia's unit.

"With all due respect, Spectre it was because you were allowed to walk away. Besides Cerberus does not have a T'Soni on their side as you had."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Cerberus is on Ilos." Liara said to her teammates: Dr. Juliana Boyaham, Shi'ar and Jahleed. Shepard had relayed the information via the comm as well as telepathically to her wife.

The other scientific teams had all been given the same troubling information. They acted as predicted with nervousness and accusations that they would not be kept safe. Many of the salarians became more and more suspicious of the humans within their own teams and amongst the crew itself. What right did the humans of Cerberus have to be here on Ilos doing whatever it was they were doing? Would the Spectre do anything against them? There were some who knew that Shepard had kept knowledge of Cerberus from the Shadow Broker and now here in this shadowed tomb of the Protheans that secret organization lingered.

"No doubt the Spectre will pull this mission now that Cerberus is here." Jahleed said, his rebreather clicking and hissing as he spoke. "Not that I mind, this place is all together wrong." He was a firm belief like so many others that some secrets were meant to stay secret. Ilos unnerved him as it had others. Only Liara and Shepard were at peace in the city of the dead.

"She will not." Liara answered confidently. "She will keep them from us so we can perform our duties. Fortunately Vigil is still functional enough to keep itself concealed from both geth and Cerberus. Our teams need to concentrate on our mission."

Exobiology, toxicology, geology and the technology of protheans were systematically being harvested by Victory's science crews only now their window of seven days had the added difficulty racing against the scientists of Cerberus.

"Do we know what Cerberus is doing here?" Juliana asked the young asari at her side.

"The Commander said they seemed to be harvesting the cryogenic capsules."

"For what purpose?" Jahleed asked wringing his hands. "Surely not the simple study of pathology? It has to be more than that."

"Indeed. As much as you and Chorban studied the keepers, I suspect Cerberus will study the remains of the protheans, perhaps with cloning in mind. It was what they were doing with samples of rachni, creepers and thresher maws. It would not be a far stretch of the imagination to assume this is their plan for the protheans." Liara explained.

"If that is true we have to stop them." Juliana said. "ExoGeni obviously has their hand in this as well. Dr. T'Soni you were there with the thorian, you know what it was capable of. And you know how easily people became indoctrinated to it. If they were able to extract the enzymes the thorian used to control the colony and the creepers and implanted in Prothean clones… it will be disastrous."

"Our mission has not changed." Liara's voice was resolute. "We will perform our duty. We must insure now more than ever Vigil comes with us. Trust in our Commander and our assault teams to handle Cerberus. Commander Shepard is relying on us to find whatever information we can to stop the Reapers. They are the greater threat. She will deal with the agents of Cerberus."

"You put a great deal of faith in on one person." Shi'ar said softly.

Liara turned to the asari next to her. She and the Shi'ar were of age and had been in many of the same training courses back in her mother's bastion. Both had been trained by Shiara who was in actuality the aunt of young Shi'ar hence the similarities in their names. It was here the shared history and experiences ended between Liara and Shi'ar. Where Liara went into archeology and anthropology of the Protheans, Shi'ar had delved in to fields of microbiology and oddly enough cybernetics. Odd because one did not generally pair the two fields of sciences up but Shi'ar had furthered her study into nanotechnology, this was why she was drafted in the first place.

"It is not one person but the entirety of the commando squads I have my faith in and so should you. We have work to do and not much time to do it in. Our warriors may be buying time for us with their very lives, this discussion is over."

Ashley didn't take the news of Cerberus being on Ilos any better than anyone else. It would be fair to say she was down right pissed about it. Humanity was working hard to maintain their place newly granted to them by the Council. And in one move Cerberus could take it all away.

When the Council found out about this little excursion no doubt humanity would face heavy repercussions not only from the Council races but others as well. Trade sanctions could easily be placed upon humanity as a whole for the actions of this rogue operative group.

'_Idiots.'_ Williams grumbled '_fucking stupid idiots_,'


	16. Small Wonders

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Sixteen: Small Wonders and Trojan Horses

"This is going to be more problematic than hitting all those geth bases in the Armstrong Cluster." Shepard said as she scanned the mako's HUD for geth movements. "Keeping one functioning as opposed to neutralizing them isn't on my list of fun activities. The only way we will be able to pull this off is if we tag-team it.

"We'll have to move quickly, the other strike teams will keep the other geth off of us but we are far from clear. Primes can dampen biotic implants but considering asari don't have them it can't touch either you Morwen or you Nual. As soon as you are able hit it with a stasis field, strike hard and fast, Wrex will cover your six. Tali and Garrus you'll have to counterstrike with your own skills in hacking and dampening tech. Once we have trapped it, Tali move in quickly and work your quarian magic on it."

"And what will you be doing Shepard?" asked Wrex, though it seemed by the inflection of his voice he knew already what the human was going to do. T'Soni wouldn't like it one bit.

"I'm the bait. It needs something tempting to chase." She gave a cheeky grin. "I can move very fast when I need to."

They all looked at her - some holding the expressions of skepticism; others were not at all surprised the Spectre had offered herself up for 'sacrifice.'

"And if it happens to get lucky?" Nual asked. "You are not expendable, Commander."

"There is not a soul onboard _Victory_ who is." Shepard retorted. "Each of us has our role to play, and you have your orders. Let's see this thing done. Believe me if an alternative option to me being the bait reveals itself I'll consider it, until then we move out. "

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Finding a nest of geth in the ruined warren of the protheans was not as easy as it was first made out to be. The patrols had been very efficient in their duty to neutralize all threats of the mechanical menace; it had taken the better part of the day to locate a squad of geth with a prime within their ranks.

The 'garrison' was a well fortified location, a spot so isolated from the main area of the ruins it was easily overlooked. Shepard's team couldn't see more than a few meters ahead through the thick overgrowth of vegetation, but they knew they were close. Blips on the mako's HUD counted six of the synthetics. There was a secondary blip showing a high density electro-magnetic field. The high energy readings were identical to the orbed-obelisks the geth worshiped on Feros and a dozen scattered locations throughout the galaxy. Such things could turn organics into husks by a means the asari, salarian and human scientists were still attempting to discover without becoming husks themselves.

They parked the rover some meters back just out of the range of any perimeter sensors that would alert their presence from the only approach. The area the geth fortified themselves could be described as nothing short of a temple, though now in ruin and filled with detritus that was fifty millennia old. The structure rose nearly twenty-five meters into the sky, a monument of carved rock and stone. The only entrance was a broad archway at the peak of an enormous staircase carved into the outside wall of the Temple itself. Even in ruin the surface was intact, sullied only by moss and climbing ivy. The grounds surrounding it were barren but for a carpet of short, soft grass.

Upon the steps in blasphemous mockery of reverence of the prothean deities the geth had set up and opened their shrine to the reapers. Five of the geth, two juggernauts and three heavy troopers surrounded it. The prime was not amongst them but stood apart several meters away looking for all intents-and-purposes shutdown. Perhaps however it was in standby mode as it communicated with other primes either on the planet or somewhere still in orbit. It had to be the primary target if the plan was to succeed.

The immediate concern was the remaining five. Heavy troopers were meant to attack and wipe out entrenched troops; the juggernauts had antitank armaments that did short range heavy splash damage. There was no way to strike the geth prime without taking out its subordinates first.

"Those red-buggers have semi-automatic missile launchers with no AoE." Wrex said. "And the heavy troopers are close combat fighters. Heavy hitters and both of those damned units can resist biotics. This won't be an easy fight. And the prime… you know it can resist tech-skills, Shepard. Just how are we to capture one of them without them burning out their CPUs?"

"Just be grateful we don't have to deal with sappers, stalkers or ghosts." The Spectre said ignoring the krogan's question. "Tell you one thing I'd rather face a full garrison of juggernauts and heavy troopers than those sulking-jumping wall-crawlers. Trust me, I know exactly what will get those flashlight-heads' attention. I've got an idea." It was inevitable. Axiomatic. What the Spectre would do to make the geth give chase. If the geth were blaspheming the prothean gods then it was fair-play to do the same to the synthetics.

"Morwen, Nual position yourself and be ready hit the prime at its left and right flanks. Tali, Garrus you'll have to move quickly because things are going to get real hairy real quick."

"We stand ready, Commander." Tali said. "Just give us the sign." The young woman had long ago become accustomed to the Spectre's quick improvising and cunning if not unorthodox strategies. It never entered her mind to second guess Shepard. For his part so too was Garrus as was Wrex, they just followed along and enjoyed the ride.

"You're about to get it." Shepard said with an almost mischievous smirk on her lips. "Wrex ready your rifle and snipe that shrine down there. The orb inside gives off a hell of a lot of EM power, so much so that it will create a back-surge if disrupted, and it may just take a few of the geth out with it when it goes. We need one of the troopers mostly intact. Blow that prime back to the Veil."

Wrex barked out a great belly-laugh. "I like your flair Shepard. Gotta like a female who loves explosions, even if you are a mammal. Things are about to go boom, cover your ears!"

"More than that - suit up; make sure the visors are down." Shepard said hitting the twin pressure releases on her hardsuit's collar causing the retractable helmet to fold over her head. The visor became a full-face shield, protecting her eyes from what would no doubt be a blinding glare from the explosion. The others quickly emulated her example.

Wrex waited only for a moment as the others claimed their positions along the upper lip of the cavern's perimeter out of the blast's effective range. He raised the rifle, the crosshairs found their mark.

The shot was true.

In an instant everything froze. Incandescent light filled the ruins. The rumbling echo of the blast rolled down every tunnel, crevice and fissure leading out of the Temple cavern as the destructive wave of energy began to spread. Like a boulder catapulted into a deep lake, energy ripples of the blast struck hard against the worshiping geth sending their bodies this way and that haphazardly. Sheets of rubble fell from the temple, raining down upon the geth that still stood. They numbered only three and one at least were far from operating at full strength.

Wasting no time, Shepard and Wrex vaulted from their positions, slid down the embankment with the full fire power of their assault rifles raining down on the prime.

Distracted first by the blast then the assault on its troops, one of the juggernauts didn't acknowledge the asari or the techs creeping up behind it. Not that it could effectively move even if it chose to react to the barrage of tech and biotic assault, it was trapped in shower of wreckage.

All attempts to free itself failed, not for the detritus but for the biotic stasis field it found itself imprisoned in. Garrus and Tail struck just as swiftly with the prime momentarily immobilized. They used their Omni tools to hack into the geth's primary functions and started shutting down system after system: weapons, defenses and firewalls that would prevent it from self-destructing its CPU and memory core.

"Keelah! I can't get to it!" Tali bemoaned trying to climb over the mound of rubble and slipping down the loose scree in the attempt. "I can't do it fast eeeeeennnn….." The last word was cut off when the young quarian found herself suspended in the air by…by…by nothing!

"Trust me. I won't let you fall." Shepard said. The Spectre was using her biotics to hover Tali above the mounds of broken temple, albeit upside down directly over the prime.

"Don't drop me!" Tali said despite her Commander's reassurances to the contrary.

"Don't worry, I promise you I'll return you safely to the earth. Now work your magic."

Tali nodded her hooded head; she wasn't going to let her Spectre down, not after all of this. She concentrated not on the phantom presence of 'hands' around her waist holding her directly over the juggernaut's trapped form, but on what was asked of her. She tapped her Omni tool summoning the same hacking-program she had used when she had first gained custody of a geth's memory core almost a year ago.

With a slurking-skrik sound Tali used a sonic scalpel extension on the Omni tool and cut into the first layer of 'skin' on the geth's head. An equally onomatopoeic sound accompanied her peeling back the synthetic epidermis to reveal the durasteel cranium beneath. The Omni tool commandeered a small hatch on the side of the exoskeleton exposing the CPU. Working swiftly, without any hesitation the quarian extracted the chip and the memory core in one swift movement. Beneath the helmet she might have smiled though none could see the expression.

"We are in luck, Commander! It's intact. It's a small wonder that the EM field only fried some of the inner circuitry but it's fixable. Most of its kinetic barriers took the brunt of the assault and are down to minimal capacity, I don't know if they will ever be one hundred present. There are other minor functions that are no longer operable. The combat processors are damaged, inboard communications, networking all down."

"Girl, just tell us if it's a wash or does Doc Liara get her prothean plaything?" Wrex demanded.

Shepard scowled slightly at the wording; Liara doesn't do 'playthings' thank-you-very-much. Still she couldn't argue with the question.

"Yes, we can download Vigil into the core. It just won't be combat ready."

"Suits me just fine, that does." Wrex grunted. "Never did take to the idea of an AI running around the ship even if it is prothean. Could fry a circuit and go nuts just like the geth did to you lot."

"The geth were not true AI when they were first created!" Tali protested. She tired of this same battle, tired of the blame and accusations. It might be a different face each time but the words were all the same. _The quarians were to blame for the geth blight on the universe._ Only the synthetics hadn't ventured out of the Veil until the coming of Saren and the Reaper vanguard - their prophet and their god.

"Not when you people built them, but they sure as hell are now." Wrex grumbled. He didn't blame the girl personally but her people mucked the 'verse up good for the past three centuries. Hell he remembered the days long before the quarians even dreamt up the accursed geth, being 1,400 years old he remembered a lot of things before the 'verse got fracked up by rachni, the genophage and not least the bleeding synthetics.

Before Sovereign the quarians' synthetics were a quiet nuisance now they were a bloody rock in the craw. It never ceased to amaze the battlemaster how stupid mammals could be or how arrogant.

"I'm not going to argue with you upside down, krogan!" Tali snapped. She was beginning to feel light-headed as all the blood was rushing to her brain. It was not a very dignified position to be in trying to make a stand while hanging suspended upside down over a pile of rubble and a geth corpse.

"Sorry about that." Shepard quickly righted the young engineer while she was still in the air and gently lowered her back to solid ground. "Let's get the prime to our science team." The Spectre said in a voice that brooked no room for the extension of the earlier argument. "Good work all of you," she added moving towards the still buried body of the synthetic. Using a combined effort of biotics they had the body uncovered and reclaimed in no time at all.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEME

"Behold we bring gifts." Shepard announced as she passed through the threshold where once a prothean barrier curtain barred the way to Vigil. She winked at Williams and Baynham sr., rather than her wife knowing the other human women would understand the historical reference. "No worries there's no secret army lurking inside at least Tali reassures me there isn't."

"Secret armies?" Shi'ar asked. "I do not suppose you are referring to Cerberus?"

"She means a Trojan horse." Williams said. "Old Earth legend about two warring factions: one the Trojans the other the Greeks… and all over this chick named Helen. See she has a face so beautiful it's said a thousand ships were launched just so the Greek king could reclaim her from this guy named Paris who was a prince of the Trojans.

"See Helen ran away with the cute younger guy rather than be stuck to an old codger who only wanted to bang her for sons. But she was sweet on Paris and he her. So the old man threw a fit and went to war because of his bruised ego and he was super jealous. The war lasted days and days and the Greeks were losing…so they faked their deaths and retreated and built this massive wooden horse out of bits of their ships.

"Anyway…to get into the Trojan's impenetrable fortress the Greeks tricked them into accepting the wooden horse 'peace prize' as a token of 'good will'. But it was all a lie, see the horse was hollow and inside the Greeks hid waiting for the dead of night to roll around. Once it did they dropped out of the horse and assassinated most of the Trojans while they slept or were passed out from too much wine after the supposed victory celebration the Trojans threw for 'conquering the Greeks'."

"History lesson later, Lieutenant," Shepard cut her XO off. "The point of the reference is sometimes a thing is not as it seems and danger lurks in something seemingly benign or believed to be conquered, like our friend the geth juggernaut here." For a moment her eyes fell on Aleena before she turned to her wife. "You accept it as a gift and it hits you hard when you're not looking. Since Earth's twentieth century to the present the term _Trojan horse_ is used primarily in reference to computer viruses that can wipe out the hard-drives and whole computer cores before you have a chance to contain and neutralize it. After it hits you're left with more or less junk motherboards that need to be scrapped.

"Good if you are using it against an enemy, bad if you're the target of one. Of course there are other types of Trojan horses out there: bad guy makes something benign that you bring it into your base or on board ship then bang suddenly you have to deal with a frack load of trouble."

Once more her gaze fell on bounty hunter or was it the Prothean expert standing just behind her the Spectre was looking at? Before either of them could ask Shepard about her innuendo she focused on the geth body. "Tali, Jahleed, Shi'ar make triple sure we don't have a Trojan horse now. We need to be absolutely sure rewriting its core with another AI will even work and we won't end up with a schizophrenic geth who thinks is a prothean drone."

Liara was all smiles when she pushed past the 'medical doctor'. "It is truly happening! Goddess willing we will have such knowledge of the protheans!" she practically pounced on her wife in her jubilation. Her lips came crashing down on Shepard's so unexpectedly the Spectre gave out a rather undignified yip of surprise.

Blinding libidinous energy surged between them as the Spectre's arms wrapped themselves securely around her wife. She was about to say 'please honey not in front of the troops', but stopped when she realized half of the company were asari. And they wouldn't care if there was a little public display of affection from their Commander and her hand-fasted mate. Instead she uttered in a husky whisper, using Liara's comment during the echo game "Later my dearest."

Liara disentangled herself from Samantha's arms reluctantly; already her eyes were verging on going solid black. Apparently the very idea of having all the prothean historical records at her fingertips made the young woman rather randy.

It was late afternoon when the temple had been discovered, early evening when the Spectre's squad rendezvoused with Liara's scientists, bearing this in mind Shepard made the judgment call to camp in what was now named The Watcher's Chamber. After all it would take the tech-specialists the better part of the evening and long into the night to set up the transfer of Vigil into the prime's neuro-network. There was no point of returning to base camp just to turn right around in the early morning and come right back to chamber; besides the scientists needed protection. Add to that Liara wasn't about to leave Vigil: it would be insanity to even try and persuade her to do so and Shepard wasn't going to go far from her wife's side.

"We'll break out the emergency camping gear; we've got enough MRE rations for the night and morning. Wrex you get one of the makos to bunk in, the rest of us will sleep two to a tent as there are three tents per mako. Divide up into partners how you see fit." She gave a longing look to her wife. Of course there was no question who she'd be bunking with. "Williams, set up a watch-rotation for the picket line."

Deferring to her junior officer was not an indifference to her own obligations but another element in creating a commanding officer out of Ashley. The younger woman was after all _Victory'_s XO. Such duties fell into her role.

"Aye aye Commander. Each watch will be two hours. I'll take first watch, Garrus, Nual, Wrex, Doc S'thasa, Liara, Baynham, Morwen and then you Commander." The last name was said almost as a question until she saw the approving nod of the Spectre's head. Ash allowed herself a frivolously self-satisfied grin. Not that she quested for Shepard's approval but receiving it was always a gift however small. It proved to her, showed her that her hero, her idol not only respected her decisions but approved them.

Williams, Juliana Baynham and Nual entered the mako used by Liara's team to collect and disburse the emergency shelters, bedrolls and packs of MREs. Presumably Shepard and Liara were doing the same on the Spectre's mako but there wasn't a soul in the second encampment that believed that for one moment. And not a soul begrudged them a moment of intimacy.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMME

Samantha moved into the interior of the mako to the storage bay and was in the middle of collecting the camping gear when Liara commanded the stern-hatch to close. Before a question could form upon the Spectre's lips she was being soundly kissed by a very libidinous Prothean expert.

"I hunger for you." Liara uttered in a husky wanton voice. She all but slammed her wife against the bulkhead as she wedged her thigh between her wife's own legs. "I need you." Her kisses became more demanding, dominating and passionate. "Join with me, Samantha. Make love to me." She cooed. Her need, her lust pooled into Samantha's being. Her expressive doe's eyes had already shifted from ocean blue to space-deep black. All the excitement of having the prothean knowledge, their history, their culture, faith, philosophy, everything for which she had been hunting for the past fifty years was now at her finger tips. It overwhelmed the young archeologist. The very woman who made it possible was the one soul in all of creation she was deeply in love with. Both combined left Liara in an extremely heightened state of arousal.

"Liara…" Samantha swallowed hard. The passionate call of her beloved excited her beyond comprehension. Words became lost and needless. Samantha took hold of Liara claiming her, holding her fast to her own body. She met hungry kiss for hungry kiss. Their form-fitting hardsuits became a frustrating barrier that separated them from the unquenchable desire to feel flesh upon flesh. Seals were released quickly-clumsily, clothing all but torn away.

The one sleeping bag the Spectre had managed to free from the stores before Liara pounced on her became their bed. It had been hastily unrolled but unopened as Liara pushed her beloved down on to the quilted surface, her naked form crawling slowly up the human body as she had that very first night before Ilos. This time however she forbade her love from flipping her onto her back, instead Liara became the dominant one, the aggressor. Purple lips nipped light caramel skin as she kissed, explored, worshiped the woman of her heart, her soul. Blue fingers trailed along tanned hips, waist, and stomach until finally she came to Samantha's breasts, causing the human to moan out her own inflamed needs, her desires. Liara greedily—willingly answered that call. Samantha matched touch for touch, kiss for kiss, and worshipful release for worshipful release.

Their breaths became one, heartbeats pounded in rhythm, spirits Joined, merged becoming one even as their bodies did. Passion rippled through them, claiming them, sating them.

MEMEMEMEEMEMEME

"Look, all I'm saying is that they've been in there awhile and we need the other tents and rations. Someone has to go in and retrieve them." Garrus said to Williams. "You're the XO not to mention you are Shepard's Trusted, it should be you that goes in and collects them."

"Yeah like I want to interrupt the skipper and Miss Prothean Expert during their…er…matrimonial-recreation-time. You go; she can't strip you of your rank." Williams demanded.

"She can strip me of my hide, you've seen what the Commander did to that firaxon shark; never mind what Liara can do! Anyone who can move like she did during the echo game isn't someone I desire to be angry with me. You go," the turian shot back.

"Why don't you send in one of the asari?" Wrex asked. "Shepard doesn't mind their company."

Williams looked to all the other asari around her before she rested her gaze upon one individual she believed to be the best option. Aleena. "Yeah…um you're a doc, Doc. You can get clinical minded and asari don't seem to mind um…private moments…not exactly taboo with you guys. You go in and get the gear, Dr. S'thasa."

Aleena's dark green skin turned pale yellow. She knew that during the heightened awareness of Joining, the Spectre's mind as well as Liara would be open to any biotic-sensitive mind that intruded upon their Union. They would know in an instant _Doctor Mal'dicta S'thasa_ was indeed a 'Trojan horse' for Aleena the bounty hunter. She'd never make it back out of the mako alive if she went in.

"I do not believe that is the best option." The bounty hunter shook her head. "As Garrus said you were the Commander's Trusted during their Hand-Fasting, you are the best option for this task, Lieutenant. You are also second-in-command so it falls into your hands to do so."

"Um…yeah. Okay then. You know…I think we'll give them a couple of more minutes. There's enough MREs to pass around for the moment and hell we can hot bunk it in the tents if need be. Yeah just a few more minutes…then…then I'll go and um…get the gear." Ashley looked towards the mako. She sure as hell didn't want to interrupt what was no doubt a very, very private moment between the skipper and Liara.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

A ghost of a memory twisted at the back of her head, and she lifted a hand to rub at it. Involuntarily, Shepard's hands clenched into fists on her knees. There was a sickening lurch inside of her head as she thought about the hidden thoughts Liara was keeping from her.

"What are you keeping from me?" She whispered. Her fingernails were making tiny crescent cuts in her palms. "Why do you hide, Liara?" She was speaking to her sleeping wife and expected no answer, no response. She flicked a sidelong look at her slumbering beloved, a stiletto blade of hurt and a taut wire of connection bound them. She continued to watch her wife sleeping soundly, undisturbed by the thoughts running rampant in the Spectre's mind. The roaring seethed up in her ears like foam on boiling water. As noisy as it was in her head, the silence in the mako was heavy, the kind that dust settles in, disturbed only by the infrasound vibration of the even thud of a broken heart.

"You hide away apart of yourself and I don't know why. My fears take me, Liara. You say I am not Saren and you are not your mother, yet you hide a part of yourself away as your mother did with Saren, as she did with Sovereign. This is what your fear of me isn't it? Despite your words, or surface feelings this is what you hide from me. I will become like Saren. Why else would you hide?" Tears fell from her eyes, her voice hitched but the Spectre did not openly weep.

"Am I? Have I become so like Saren to you that you now hide from me a part of yourself? I must be. That moment of anger between me and Ash… you felt it then and you fear… me… don't you? Why else would you hide? I swear to you Liara… I swear I would rather die either by my own hand or by… Ash's than become as Saren. I will earn your full trust once more, my love… you doubt me now I understand… Li. I do. My heart breaks for it, but I understand why you hide, why you keep apart of yourself secreted away… know this. I love you. Please I beg you Liara never doubt that…"

Shepard stirred from her reverie. She knew others outside needed the supplies she and Liara were supposed to have collected. To steel herself, to strengthen herself from the pain of her heartbreak she attempted to move from her beloved's sleeping form only to be caught by the wrist by a blue hand.

"I don't fear you!" Liara said, fighting to hold onto the shards of her wife's broken heart.

"I thought you were sleeping."

"You needed to speak freely…" Liara said more to herself than the woman she loved. "I swear to you Samantha, it isn't what you think I fear. I know… I KNOW you are nothing like Saren! That evil doesn't lurk within you."

"Then why do you fear me?" the Spectre snapped. "I know you do. I feel it. You can't deny it."

"I…I fear…not you. Only your reaction."

"My reaction? My reaction to what? What do you hide? Why do you hide?"

Liara remained silent, her face turned away ashamed.

"Then you _do_ fear me." Samantha said coolly snapping her wrist free of her wife's hand perhaps with more force than was necessary. "Something in you fears me."

Liara let her hand fall. She rose slowly and touched or rather tried to touch the human's shoulder but the contact was received so coolly and her hand fell again. "Samantha, hear me. Believe me. I don't fear you. Not you."

"You lie, Liara! You keep a part of yourself hidden from me, if you don't fear me then why hide?"

"I _said_ I fear your reaction." The asari's reply became equally as quick, equally sharp and cool. Then she sighed and collapsed heavily to the floor of the mako, her dejection overcoming her natural gracefulness. "I fear…your loss…" she said in a voice almost too soft to hear. "I fear… your rejection."

Words that formed on Samantha's lips died there before they were even spoken.

"I'm pregnant." Liara blurted out.

Of all the things Liara could have said, that was something Samantha Shepard Spectre of the Citadel Council formerly a highly decorated officer of the Systems Alliance Military and N7 never expected to hear.

"What?" The tone wasn't cold, flat or unbelieving. It was shocked.

"I carry our daughter."

"You're… pregnant?"

"I'm pregnant."

A human frowned, an asari looked away unable to meet the accusation festering in blue eyes. "Pregnant?"

"Yes."

"How… how could you do this and not tell me? Why would you do it?" Shepard was still scowling, her eyes showing the betrayal she felt. "If you wanted a child so badly you should have told me."

"I… it wasn't like that." Liara said softly still unable to meet the accusations in her wife's gaze.

"Then what was it like. I want to know when you did this. Don't you think I had the right to know…to experience this creation of life?" Samantha sat back down on floor of the mako. "When? It wasn't our first time was it?"

Liara shook her head.

"Not during our wedding feast behind the waterfall… or that night."

Again a shake of a head.

"When then?"

"It was not on purpose, not really."

The Spectre frowned. "Look I know how asari procreation works. It's through parthenogenesis so you can't play the 'there was a problem with contraception card'. It can't have been an accident. You have to attune your nervous system to mine, so conception has to be a deliberate act. Just when did you do this? How could you do it without me knowing?"

"It was during the gestalt." This time Liara looked up to see Samantha staring at her. Not with accusations or look of betrayal in her blue eyes but with remorse and such deep sadness it was overwhelming to hold her gaze. "I thought I was losing you. We had barely begun to explore what we felt for one another, what we meant to each other. You died Samantha! Twice! I felt each death deep in my soul, in my heart. When Dr. Chakwas brought you back the second time I grew desperate. I felt if you were going to die… if I was to lose you I would take a part of you within me. I love you, Samantha. I felt I was going to lose you, I never set out to…"

Suddenly Liara felt herself being grasped and held fast against her wife's naked body. "Forgive me for being such a fracking idiot." Samantha said. "I understand, Li. I understand."

For that moment no words were offered, none needed to be.

After what seemed to be a thousand heartbeats later, Samantha whispered. "If our positions were reversed I would have done the same. Maybe consciously you didn't set out to create a child, but perhaps subconsciously you did, to hold a part of me within you. Your body reacted naturally to that drive. It makes sense. You were my living life-support system; our nervous systems were already so intertwined your body simply followed the laws of nature."

"I would never take from you Samantha. Never. Not on purpose. I'm sorry I kept this from you." Once more Liara felt pain lance though her mind, though it was not her own.

"Why did you? I know you feared me, Li… why?"

"It was…" the young asari sighed. She pulled away slightly from Samantha's embrace. "You said it yourself; you weren't ready to have a child, your 'maternal clock wasn't ticking'. I… I allowed my fears to fuel my imagination… and overcome my reason. I feared you would… reject me, our daughter for what I had done." The words were spoken so softly Samantha had to strain to hear them.

"Reject you!" As sudden as the burst of anger and shout were out it was just as quickly silenced. 'Don't be such a frelling idiot Shepard. Think for one damn moment. Why in the hell do you think she fears rejection and abandonment?' "Your mother and the Consort Shi'ara…and Aethyta… "

Liara nodded.

"Li, I would not do that. I know what I said about not being ready to have kids made you think I would shun our daughter, but I promise you I won't. I won't abandon either of you. All I knew was that you were hiding something from me. All I could think of was for some reason you feared me. My own imagination went into a tailspin. All I could think was that you believed I was becoming more and more like Saren despite the fact you said differently. Why else would you fear my reactions? You should have trusted me, Liara. Trusted in what we have."

In a moment of clarity, Liara began to understand what her own mother must have felt during that missing year when Liara was born. She was 'abandoned' left on a planet that was not Thessia with a child to raise on her own, her hand-fasted partner leaving her to the wilds. Despite the promises of their hand-fasting, despite the deliberate creation of a '_pureblood_' daughter, Benezia must have allowed fear to overcome her logic, her reason, her great wisdom. Pain caused her to reject the one person she had truly given her heart to. Fear drove Benezia, Aethyta and Shi'ara apart. Fear would have driven Samantha from Liara.

"Fear can be such an evil, dark and twisted thing," the asari said. "I allowed it to take me hostage. I'm so sorry, Samantha. I never meant to hurt you. I… am not good with communicating… I…"

There was a smile in the voice of the Spectre now. "Prefer data disks and computers to people. But I'm not people… Liara I'm your wife as you are mine. You know you can talk to me."

"I know." Liara said gently. "I can only ask you to forgive me."

Samantha's hand reached under Liara's chin and raised her head up. "Of course I do." light-caramel skinned hands gently cupped blue cheeks as her thumbs gingerly wiped away Liara's tears. "Perhaps we both need a little forgiveness. I never wanted to give you the impression I would reject our child, or you. It hurts to think you believe I might have, but I understand why you felt that way. But I swear history will not repeat itself." Just as tenderly as she as she had soothed away the tears, Samantha now placed her hand on her wife's abdomen. Perhaps it was her imagination, but she could almost see a slight swelling to the otherwise very fit, very trim belly. It hit her then, just under her hand a child was growing! Their child!

Samantha leaned down, feeling a little silly but equally she felt the need to whisper to her daughter. "Listen up Little One. This is your dame… I acknowledge you as my offspring, my daughter. You were conceived in a time of fear and loss but you will be welcomed in joy and love. Copy that? So don't you go thinking you're not wanted, or that I'm ashamed of you because I'm not. I'm very proud to have you my little one. Those are your orders, you just remember that, always."

Liara giggled, touching her wife's neck. "She isn't a marine, Samantha you can't just give her direct orders."

"Pft, I'm her other parent of course I can." She kissed Liara's stomach. "That's for you, Little One." Leaning up, the Spectre soundly kissed her beloved breathless, "and that's for you."

It was at this time, the two heard a slight knocking on the roof hatch before it opened up. "Sorry Skipper, Liara but… er… we need the other gear."

"It's safe to come down, Ash," the Spectre answered back. "We're just finishing up."

"Oh! Um…"

"Not like that." Shepard realized what her lieutenant must have thought. "We were just discussing a few things and clearing the air."

"Not this _soldier'_s business, Skipper." Ash said falling into the comfortable space of command structure for a lack of anything else to say.

By the time she had descended down the mako's ladder, Shepard was already dressed. It took a trained soldier under a minute to get into uniform; add another minute and she would be geared up. Liara however took a more leisurely pace knowing there was no immediate rush. She took note that her wife was moving a little oddly. She lifted the Spectre's BDU undershirt and tunic and noticed several crosshatch markings that could only have come from fingernails.

"Samantha!"

Ash looked up at the exclamations and noticed the fairly deep lacerations on the Spectre's back and winced in sympathy and blushed. The Skipper must be one hell of a lover for Liara to do that to her back.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about it." Shepard was smirking with pride rather than grimacing in pain. She leaned in and nipped her wife's cheek. "If you recall I wasn't complaining at the time and neither were you."

Williams chuckled. "Marks of honor there, Skipper?"

"Absolutely." Dark eyebrows flirtatiously rose up and down.

Liara blushed slightly at the easy banter between the woman she loved and the woman she called friend. "Still they need to be treated or they might become infected."

"I can send in the Doc." Williams volunteered, "Or I can ask her for some antiseptic cream."

"Actually send her in; there are a few questions I need to ask. That we need to ask." The Spectre rectified.

"Samantha, I assure you, I'm fine."

"Yeah well I want a _medical_ second opinion _Doctor _T'Soni. Even_ I_ know you're extremely young for this, I want to know the both of you are going to be okay."

Williams looked up from the pile of emergency camping gear she was collecting when she heard the word 'both.' She highly doubted the plural word had anything to do with her, so if the term _both_ was used… that could only mean one thing! Liara was pregnant.

"I told you I looked up asari physiology just as you did with human. You're not even close to being three hundred-fifty; you're not even half that age, Liara. Maybe if you were a full matron… but you're not."

"The intensity of our melds have had an powerful effect upon me as did the gestalt; obviously my body is ready to conceive."

So it was true. Williams could only stare. Before she could stop her mouth the words mutinied and came tumbling out. "You're going to have a baby?"

"This goes no further than the three of us, lieutenant and docs Chakwas and S'thasa. But yes. Liara is pregnant."

"Congratulations!" Williams hugged Liara and then her Skipper. "Wait - it is good news right?"

Both of the other two women nodded.

"A little unexpected perhaps, but definitely welcomed." The Spectre commented, her face smiling.

"Samantha, one other knows. Shiala. She was insistent I tell you as soon as possible. Please, it wasn't a matter of trusting her more, I was afraid I needed…"

"The words of a mother figure." Samantha said softly. "Shiala was… is your mentor. I don't begrudge her or your need to talk to her."

"Liara, you're not showing much, so when did all this happen?" Ashley asked curiously.

Shepard and Liara explained about the mechanics of how and when the blessed event took place. Like Samantha, Ash said pretty the same thing, if she loved someone as deeply as Liara did the Skipper and vice versa and she had the ability to meld as the asari did she too would have done precisely the same thing.

"So does this mean you're… er… Daddy, Skipper? How does this work exactly?"

Shepard shook her head. "I'm the sire parent yes, but Daddy doesn't feel right."

"But Mamma will." Liara smiled softly losing herself in the Spectre's blue eyes. For a moment both recalled the moment when Samantha was speaking with little Maysa the lost asari child about what the Spectre called her own mother when she was still very young.

"Then what will you be? Mother is one hell of a mouthful for a baby to say."

"As you called your mother by a child's honorific, I too will be called such."

"Naneth." The Spectre said catching on to her wife's meaning. Because of the multitude of melds, Joinings, and the gestalt Shepard knew the Asarian native tongue as if born to it and was more than comfortable speaking it, she did so flawlessly, fluidly.

"Naneth?"

"Asarian for Momma, Mother…mom…mommy." Shepard said.

"Sometimes it is shortened to Nan by an infant's tongue." Liara added.

"Is there a word for er… the other parent?" Ashley was curious. The young woman knew from speaking with Liara about families that more often than not asari mothers raise their daughters into maturity by themselves, especially if the other parent was short lived. But there had to be times when an asari and her partner raised a child together, the little girl they rescued was a prime example.

"Back on the Citadel when we met little Maysa the translators converted some of her words when speaking to us or she might have used our native language. Dame or sire is the translated word. For my species honorific word for such a parent is Arda. Ada is used by the very young; I suppose much like Daddy is by humans." Liara said. "However it is not gender specific."

"So Skipper will you use that one too?"

"I'm happy to flip between Ada and Momma. Oh and by the way I believe Muinthel is yours if you want it."

"Mu-in-thell?" Ashley stumbled over the word.

Liara smiled warmly. "Indeed it is. I know of none better to fit the role as well as you, Ashley. Oh and Tali of coruse."

The Spectre placed a hand on the younger humans' shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "It translates to Aunty."

Williams was flabbergasted. She had no idea what to say, she was honored. Overwhelmed. So she again retreated to the comfortable, the familiar. "It'd be my honor, Ma'am. I bet Tali will feel the same way."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Aleena felt the inevitability of her doom descending upon her as she approached the hatch of the Spectre's mako. Surely the human knew her newest doctor was in truth a mercenary bounty hunter. Those veiled words aboard the _Victory_ when the Spectre spoke of a sleeper agent, now dead. The look when she was describing the Trojan horse if those were not an open declaration of suspicion then what were they?

Now she was told by the XO the Spectre needed to see her and to come with a medical kit. Aleena watched as Liara T'Soni descended out of the mako and headed directly for the group working on Vigil. She was glowing of course as one does when in love and after sharing the bliss of Joining. She didn't even give second thought to Aleena as they passed one another.

"Spectre?" Aleena called out approaching with all the caution of a hunter on the trail stalking her prey whilst knowing she was also being stalked by a larger more aggressive predator. It felt to Aleena as if she was once more partaking of the Great Hunt.

Confronting a Spectre was very much like hunting a firaxon shark armed only with a blade and biotics, or rather hunting the great shark without the blade and only half the power one holds in biotics. "Lieutenant Williams said you needed a med kit. May I ask why?"

"Yes, it's nothing really; I just need a bit of antiseptic cream. Actually I wanted some information on a few things." Her voice gave no hint of the mood the Spectre was feeling. No hint if she was going to attack or not. Perhaps the questions were designed only to confirm the suspicions she held.

"On what topic?" Calmly the bounty hunter opened the kit and removed the cream. She handed it to the Spectre who uncapped the tube and squirted a bit of the cream onto her shoulder where very clearly Aleena could see a bite mark. Her back carried faint lattice-work of scratches; obviously she and T'Soni had a very passionate Joining.

"Is it normal for pregnant asari to be so… so assertively libidinous?"

Aleena was dumbfounded. That wasn't a question she expected, it certainly wasn't a topic she expected. She only stared at the dark haired woman in front of her.

"Doc?" The Spectre pressed.

"Ah… it is known to happen yes, it is not uncommon almost those who are bonded. If the one in question has taken a long term partner, she will crave her lover's touch, the release of endorphins created during the Joinings." Aleena shook her head. This was so surreal! Aleena was preparing to fight, to explain, to be executed for being a bounty hunter, interrogated for information and here she was being asked about pregnancy.

Wait, by the Goddess did the Spectre just ask her about pregnancy? Asari pregnancy? But Liara T'Soni is so young. Almost too young to be gifted with a daughter.

'Dr. T'Soni is with child? I didn't sign on this contract to kill innocents. I will not be the murderer of a child, the death of a new mother.'

"Yes," the Spectre said placing the cap back onto the tube of ointment. She had just enough in the cup of one palm to cover the scratches on her back.

Aleena watched with a critical eye. A huntress's eye. Shepard was dressed only in BDUs, no hardsuit, no barriers. In a word vulnerable. But was she truly as vulnerable as she appeared? After all the Spectre had gone on the Great Hunt, Aleena knew this. A young huntress did so naked… she softly laughed to herself as she returned to the memory and metaphor of the Great Hunt. Shepard was talking about her beloved wife, revealing she was unarmed, unarmored it was all for show. On _Victory_ it was 'I'm holding all the cards.' Here it was: 'You are no threat to me or mine.'

'All right I'll continue the charade you want to play.' "She is very young." Aleena said knowing the Spectre expected something.

"Yes and that does concern me. How much of risk is she in?"

Aleena had to force all the medical knowledge she did know into the forefront of her mind. This must be a relatively new development or her client didn't know, perhaps both. "Given her age and the fact this is her first, Spectre she is in very high risk. Add to that the stress factors." Unsaid was and all the bloody bounty hunters gunning for her. "This could prove to be a difficult pregnancy. The bond you share is astonishingly strong; it has it own compulsions does it not?"

The Spectre nodded. "Yes. Has it some bearing on the pregnancy?"

"It can yes. It can strengthen Dr. T'Soni when the stress factors are at their highest. Help by using your bond to lift from her that which would distress her and the daughter growing within her."

Shepard was now putting on her tunic. "I want her to undergo weekly checkups. I'll give the same orders to Dr. Chakwas when we return to the _Victory_. I also want to keep this as quiet as possible for as long as possible. No doubt _those_ bounty hunters would exploit this little factor. I will not abide that. There is a traitor on my ship, once exposed; I will end their miserable life."

Aleena said absolutely nothing. Thought only dread. The Spectre smirked. She did smirk, didn't she? Yes that was definitely a smirk.

Shepard was now fully dressed in her hardsuit complete with her weapons. The last was the ceremonial dagger she had used to kill the firaxon shark. She had strapped it at the back of her armor where one would carry a military issued Talon, but not before checking the black metal blade. There was a finality to the sound of blade sliding into the sheath and the click of the lock as it rested securely.

Aleena almost blurted out how long have you known? But she said nothing. When she came aboard the _Victory_ it was to protect her contract from other hunters that would steal it from her. Now she would protect Liara from those who would murder her and the child. If she lived that long.

The Spectre had to know Mal'dicta S'thasa was not who she said she was, what she said she was. Why else were all the clues of knowledge laid out for her? All Shepard had to do was act on it.

Aleena didn't understand why she was allowed to walk back out of the mako alive. It was whispered Spectres had a sixth sense about others, who was lying, who was trustworthy. It was said Spectres could see into the very soul of another.

'If that was true what then what did Samantha Shepard see when she looked into my soul?' It was almost _offensive_ in the Spectre's lack of reaction to her knowing the truth of Mal'dicta being Aleena. It was like someone opening a door before you hit it with a battering ram; suddenly, you were running through the building and not certain how to stop.

Slowly the bounty hunter headed for the small campsite proper. Her mind in the one place a huntress never wants it to be—in a fog.


	17. Insight

Chapter Seventeen: Natural Insight

Shepard bypassed the campfire and those seated around it eating MREs and headed directly towards the scientists, Vigil and the juggernaut. "Tali, give me a Sitrep."

"We've got joy." The quarian said adapting to the more human elements of 'Alliance military speak.' "The juggernaut's neuronet processor is adaptable to the prothean AI. Vigil will be able to rewrite its programming and download; it will take some time, however."

"What's the time frame we are working with?"

Tali winced slightly behind her faceplate. "Approximately ten hours, Commander. Not only does Vigil have to adapt the juggernaut neuronet brain, it has to completely rewrite the memory core. There is a great deal of information to deal with, it's not like when it gave you the OSD to reprogram the Citadel station, it's an entire intelligence we're working with. If we rush it, it might compromise the integrity of Vigil's programming."

"I understand." The Spectre said. "Make it happen however you have to, take what time you need, we still have six days. We'll continue the watch." She gave a last loving and ever protective look to her wife who was practically hovering over the technicians before Shepard moved off to inspect the rest of the camp.

Liara's eyes followed after the woman of her heart, her child's arda. Yes they had a lapse perhaps in judgment when they had become self-indulgent and enjoyed their passion, but as soon as Samantha stepped out of the mako she morphed into the Spectre. It was astonishing to watch this transformation no matter how many times Liara bore witness to it. Samantha, Liara admitted was as her own arda had once said born to the uniform.

The Spectre maneuvered around the camp taking note of the egresses into the Watcher's Chamber, the picket line, the camp layout, where and how makos were parked. And approved of all of it. She trusted William's judgment. The young lieutenant had spent most of her active career groundside. She knew how to set up a camp, fortify it in its most efficient manner possible, and keep the defenses at peak performance.

"Lieutenant." She called out to her XO. "I want a two man watch. With the barrier down we're more vulnerable to attack and worse espionage. Keep the roster you set up; simply convert it to two on patrol rather than one. Save for the first watch, I'm on it as well. I want twice the number of proximity beacons put up. I also want a perimeter of defense drones deployed. Make it happen. Oh and Lieutenant, make sure each member of the company is well-rested, fed and ready for their watch. No exceptions. Press the issue and pull rank with the more stubborn ones if you have to."

"Aye, aye Skipper." Williams saluted and set off to give her CO's orders to the rest of the company. The lieutenant paused and turned. "Skipper."

"Yes?"

"That means you too, doesn't it? You were in battle and er… matrimonial recreation …um." She sighed and Shepard only smiled. "Look I know you biotics have an extremely high metabolism, and you guys tend to have a ravenous appetite. As XO, I made myself familiar with the special requirements of the crew. Turians and quarians have different digestive systems, and biotics need far more calories in their diets than non-biotics. As per your orders, I'm making sure the squad is five by five, that means Ma'am you have to take chow."

The Spectre gave a playful salute, "I'll get right on that, Lieutenant." The Spectre made for the campfire grabbed one of the blue-foil MREs and started to dismantle it. The blue bags were designed for Biotics. Not only did they have more food in them but they were designed for the calorific needs of biotics.

Williams had indeed familiarized herself with the needs of biotics long before she became XO. She knew the standard Alliance combat ration for a soldier was 3000 calories per day; biotics were given 4500, as well as a canteen of potent energy drink for quick refreshment after hard combat.

Being in combat with Shepard, Kaiden and later Liara and Wrex she had seen them all gulp almost greedily from their canteens. Back on Therum after battling the geth in the compound before they had set off to find Liara in the mining shafts, her water had run out she had been given leave to drink from the Spectre's canteen. Despite the warning that it was an energy drink and not water she hadn't expected the taste. It was almost like drinking raw coffee beans, almonds, sugarcane and ginseng juice all at the same time. She was hyper-stimulated for the next four hours before she crashed. At the very least it had kept her hydrated.

Ash had also seen other issues the biotics had to deal with other then the mass quantities of food they had to eat. Electricity accumulated in starship drive cores must be discharged, and so must the electricity in a biotic user. Biotics were prone to small static discharges when they touched metal. More then enough times she heard Shepard, Kaiden and Wrex curse when they zapped themselves when grabbing something metal. Of course combat boots worn by biotics were insulated to help prevent this but it didn't always work as well as it should.

The only ones that didn't mutter under their breath were the asari who obviously had adaptive abilities to prevent this. Williams hadn't asked any of them, not even Liara but she suspected it was something biological, like electric eels back on Earth who gave of electrical discharges but were immune to it themselves.

For a moment, Williams watched as Shepard dug into her food, swiftly and hungrily. It was apparent to the young woman that her CO didn't exactly know how hungry she was until she was eating. Satisfied the Skipper was seen to, the lieutenant turned to carry out the rest of the Spectre's orders.

Not to shove work off on others, Williams grabbed several of the miniature proximity beacons from one of the mako's belly boxes and set off to put them into place. The beacons were designed of course as a sonic/laser alarm system set to go off if the perimeter was broken by attackers or as she said worse, infiltrators. Morwen, Nual, and Wrex followed suit until the whole of the encampment was picketed.

The aerial defensive drones were standard issue on the larger M36 makos. Compact and diverse the VI droids were easily stored in a secondary belly box under the mako's chassis. Typically used to guard garrisons, bases and space stations the Alliance Military also used the drones on extended field missions. Garrus and Williams adopted the task to activate and deploy the drones to patrol the surrounding area of the Watcher's Chamber.

Liara remained close to the technicians watching their very close progress with a sense of achievement. Yes Liara was well schooled in field of electronics but she wasn't a specialist, not like Tali, Shi'ar or Jahleed. Yes the young archeologist could bypass locks, make repairs and even boost the shields in her armor but she had no skill in hacking, decryption or splicing two different technologies together. Still that didn't stop her from remaining ever near. In fact it was motivation to be present, as she at this moment had no direct involvement in something she held very close to her heart and had dedicated half her life to.

"Doc," Ashley came up to Liara. "Orders from the skipper, we're to double up on watch. You may want to get something to eat and some shuteye before you have to take watch with Dr. Baynham sr."

"Thank you Lieutenant, I understand." The asari didn't move but continued to watch over Tali, Jahleed and Shi'ar as they worked diligently over the juggernaut and Vigil.

Williams puffed out a breath of air. "She was insistent. Besides there isn't much you can do but make the techs nervous, you may was well rest up before you have to take watch. There are other concerns you have to take into account, Doc."

Liara turned this time and nodded with a smile. "Yes of course." The smile remained. "The Spectre's orders must be obeyed."

'Oh thank God.' Ashley swore to herself. She couldn't quite fit it into her head how on earth she was supposed to pull rank with the skipper's wife. Ever since the wedding Ash didn't know exactly how to address Liara in the more military fashion or how even she fit into the dynamics of rank. Liara was a part of the groundside squad, head of the Sciences department and yet she had no rank, no command authority outside her division, still she was very much a part of the crew. Fortunately Liara listened to reason or pretended to which was practically the same thing. It helped a little that Baynham sr. and Dr. S'thasa made sure that the techs working with Vigil were given ample food and water as well as coffee to sustain them while they labored long into the night hours.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

As much as Biotics needed to consume a high amount of calories, train and sleep, they needed perhaps more than all of these things the need to center themselves, to focus. All asari whether they trained their natural biotics to their full potential or let them atrophy to mere cantrips knew this. They knew the import of meditation.

Though Nual was on patrol with Garrus, Morwen took this moment to meditate, and she was not alone. Off to the side, both Liara and Shepard were doing the same. They sat tailor style facing one another. Holding their hands out before them - one with the palm up the other down, mirroring each other so that palm almost touched palm.

This was a technique used while under the tutelage of a mentor, with the more experienced matron guiding her pupil to find her center; her inner focus and true balance with her full biotic potential. However it served the same function between the lovers. And indeed Liara was the most experienced of the two, thus she led the mediation.

Having already meditated, Aleena was now taking her chow along with the XO. The bounty hunter's time to patrol wouldn't be for another hour yet. Unfortunately for her she was sharing it with her one time friend and running mate if not outright competitor. If the Spectre suspected or knew the truth, did old Wrex know too?

No he was never one for subtleties. He would have called Aleena out the moment he spotted her. He'd catch her in a bear hug for old time's sake before he tried to kill her. No her old friend didn't know. That was not yet.

Ash had been watching Doctor S'thasa, watching Wrex. The krogan was scuffing down his fifth full MRE pack due more to boredom than to sate his hunger. "I wouldn't worry about Wrex." Ashley said assuming the slightly worried look on the emerald skinned asari's face was due to having to work so closely with the battlemaster. "He's a bit more restrained than the other krogans we've come across. And he's very loyal to Commander Shepard. He's actually got a brain in that shelled skull of his."

Aleena smiled internally. 'More than you could possibly know, kid.' "I need to ask. How did our illustrious Commander get a krogan battlemaster, a hardcore merc like Urdnot Wrex to follow her? Scuttlebutt says he's not paid for this, and mercs like him are not the altruistic sort. No krogan is. Their motto is 'Eat, Sleep, pillage, and be selfish, for tomorrow we die.' It has to be more than the promise of the spoils of battle - that is a given price with any krogan."

Williams chuckled. "I'm surprised too to tell you the truth that he's stuck with us. And that he is still serving. Like I said, he's loyal to the skipper. He has a hell of a lot of respect for her. I think the only other person he respects half as much is an old friend of his, I'm not quite sure if she was something more than that to him. Though I can't get my head around the idea that an asari even a commando mercenary would find a krogan appealing. They aren't even mammals."

The bounty hunter tried to make a dismissive laugh but it came out a small worried sound. "Indeed. Does this commando have a name?"

"I heard Wrex talk about her to the Skipper back on the _Normandy_. Her name is Aleena."

"I assume it was on the _Normandy_ where Wrex agreed to follow Commander Shepard? Still without pay that is very unusual."

"Yeah, anyway. It's a weird story. You want the long version or the short?"

"The unabridged if you don't mind. I'm still trying to understand our Commander, this may assist. She has a unique way of thinking. One I have not associated with humans. That being said I have seen such behavior in other Spectres. This might be an aspect in their quality that places them above the rank and file."

"I haven't worked with a CO like her either. You're right though; she's got a unique way of seeing things, doing things - that's for sure. Take Wrex for instance. The whole way she got him to swear a Battle Oath to her was like something straight out of ancient legends."

Aleena was beside herself in astonishment. "She orchestrated events for a battlemaster to swear that kind of an alliance? I know for a fact such a thing is unheard of since before the Uprising!" 'Wrex…you are impressed…what did she do?. What possessed you to swear a binding allegiance to this young woman?' Aloud she said: "How did she manage such a thing?"

Ashley looked to her skipper then down at the fire near her feet. She set her own MRE pack aside before she spoke.

"It happened not long after we were all on the _Normandy_. We had just rescued Doctor T'Soni from Therum. Saren sent one of his krogan mercs to get her, because of her expertise in the Protheans. The Skipper was all in this krogan's face about the place falling apart around us, and that the Doc was staying with us." Williams smirked. "She was so flippant with the lizard I thought for sure he'd blast her right then and there. It was the first time I fought a krogan battlemaster. To top it off he was a biotic, just like Wrex. But she killed him, as Tali and I took out the geth troopers.

"After things cooled down, I mean after we had squad debriefing and the Skipper gave a Sitrep to the Council we were on our way to stop Saren and his geth. I think the skipper went to each of her officers trying to get a hold on how the crew was doing. She came to me and we had a one on one - off the records. I guess she figured I needed to vent. Seeing that battlemaster in a fight and getting tossed by him, made me think about Wrex being on the ship."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"You got time to talk one on one?" commander Shepard asked coming up to Ash's munitions workstation.

"Sh…sure. I was hoping to catch a moment of your time...off the records." Williams grew a little apprehensive. She had never met let alone served with anyone who earned the Star of Terra. If Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams were honest with herself she'd admit Shepard intimidated the hell out of her even more than that krogan back on Therum. The krogan was a merc and yes he was a biotic but Shepard was a Spectre. Like Commander Anderson said, Spectre's aren't made, they're born. Fighting along side Shepard, Williams understood what that statement actually meant.

"I've got an open door policy; if you have concerns lay them on me."

Williams noticed the stance taken by the commander was more relaxed to indicate she was listening 'off the books.' Taking a deep breath Ash plowed ahead, deciding to get it over with quickly like taking off a bandage. "Alright…I…I know things are different aboard the Normandy but I'm concerned about the aliens." The words just tumbled out of her mouth. "Vakarian and Wrex. With all due respect Commander, should they have full access to the ship?"

She expected a reprimand at any moment, to be dressed down or a snide comment about unable to keep them in sleeper pods the whole way. What she got was: "They may not serve the Alliance Chief, but they are allies. At least where Saren is concerned."

Ash shook her head. She'd gone this far she might as well go for broke. Besides once the commander found out who she was, who her grandfather had been she'd reassign Williams anyway just for being a Williams. All her commanders passed her around like that just because of whom her grandfather was. Despite her family being blacklisted Ash swore an allegiance to the Alliance and by God she was going to defend it, even if she wasn't good enough for them. "This is the most advanced ship in the Alliance navy. I don't think they should have free reign to poke around the ship's vital systems: engines, sensors, weapons."

Shepard remained cool and collected in her tone. Not dismissive, not barking commands about questioning a CO's orders. "You don't trust the Alliance's allies?"

"I wouldn't count the Council races as allies." Williams all but snapped. "We…humanity I mean have to learn to rely on our selves."

"Standing up for ourselves, doesn't mean standing alone. I've heard this before. You're starting to sound like one of those Terra Firma pamphlets, Chief."

Despite her restraint, her fear, Ashley was downright pissed she had been so easily compared to those xenophobes. "Terra Firma is a bunch of jackals who have strayed from the founders' original ideals. At least my reasons are rational. As noble as the Council races may seem now, if their backs are against the way they'll abandon us."

Once more the Commander surprised the younger woman, she almost laughed. "You've got a pessimistic view of the universe, Williams."

"A pessimist is what an optimist calls a realist. Look if you get attacked by a bear you'll sic your dog on it. It doesn't matter how much you love your dog, it isn't human you'll sacrifice it to save yourself. It isn't racism, not really. The Council took Saren's words over yours even over that scum of a dock worker Powell who saw Nihlus's murder. That's a juggernaut example. Members of their species will always be more important to them than humans are."

"These are deeply held beliefs, Williams what made you think this way?"

"My family's been serving the Alliance since it was founded. My father, my grandfather, my great grandmother all picked up a rifle and swore the Oath of Allegiance. I guess we tend to think of Earth's causes as our own."

"Family shadows huh? Yeah, I come from a military family myself both of my parents serve in the navy. Anybody in your family we might know?"

Ashley paled slightly. "Couldn't say, Commander." She hurriedly answered. Technically she hadn't lied to the Hero of the Skillian Blitz. Not really. Omission of information isn't a lie; it was just leaving out a detail or two. "So you join to keep up the family tradition?"

"One might think that. I don't think they meant to start a family tradition, but after sixteen years on ships and stations how could I spend my life on the ground?"

"You're lucky – I spent most my career groundside."

Shepard smirked, "To tell you the truth it wasn't because my parents both serve. The future of humanity is out here. There is so much we haven't seen yet!" Excitement clearly shown in the young commander's face so much so Ash found herself smiling in return.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I still remember the first field exercise on Titan. When we hit dirt, it hit me! 'I'm the first person to ever stand here!' Then my drill instructor kicked me in the ass and I fell face first in the muck. He spent the next five minutes chewing me out for goldbricking."

Shepard laughed hard, her lips pulled back into a full smile; a smile Williams thought was magnificent and bright. Her own smile curled in return. "Don't tell me you had Gunny Ellison! He's the only one I know who still used words like goldbricking for shirking duty."

Williams stared and laughed all the harder. "Good Lord, don't tell me you went to Macapá boot camp too! Yeah Gunny Ellison is still reaming out recruits down there, kicking ass and using words like inveigle and pusillanimous."

Both laughed so hard they had to use each other as support to remain upright.

"Gods, the first time I hit Fort Charles Upham up on Titan he comes stomping up gets millimeters from my face and shouts; 'Sixteen years of a resplendent spacer's life can make you acrimonious of being stationed groundside, Shepard. Are you sure you can handle the mud, recruit or are you pusillanimous?'

"When I said 'Sir, I can handle it sir,' he swiped my leg making me fall on my ass in the mire and ordered me to prove it. Later he accused my solution to the turian point defense emplacements of being 'capriciously bohemian with a taurine tenacity.' However I had a 'magnanimity aptitude at best.' I told him it got favorable results."

"Yeah I got something similar well the last bit I wasn't said to be 'capriciously bohemian' though. But later I found out I got a commendation for my solution and a promotion from squad leader to platoon leader." Ash said. "I'm guessing that's what happened to you."

"Dead on, chief."

Both smiled.

"You still in contact with him?" Shepard asked.

Williams nodded.

"Yeah I wonder how many of us who came out of his company still are." Shepard paused for a moment then as their former instructor had done to them during training. She maneuvered so quickly Ash didn't know what had hit her. This time however it wasn't a kick in the ass or a leg swipe it was a question seemingly right out of the blue. "It doesn't sound like you've worked with aliens before."

"No ma'am." Williams was momentarily caught off guard by the sudden and almost jarring change of subjects. One moment they were bonding the next the commander swoops in with uneasy questions. "Like I said before, I've been stationed mostly groundside, though I did get a rotation on Rakesh Sharma orbital platform for training. 'Every marine a rifleman, every rifleman Zee-Gee certified'."

"That's odd." Shepard frowned. "Your record is spotless, and all your technical scores are exemplary."

Ashley shifted on her feet nervously, "Um…ah …anyway that's why I haven't worked with aliens." Inwardly she thought: 'Please don't ask…please don't order it…let it drop…I don't want to leave the ship. I promise you, you won't regret it. Let me prove myself. I'm not a liability…I can prove I'm good soldier…just give me the chance. I was trained just like you by Gunny Ellison…let that mean something to you….to us.'

"Alright, I can see where your concerns are coming from. But this is a multilateral mission, Chief. You have to work with aliens like it or not," she said with an affirming head nod reminiscent of their old gunny.

Williams saluted. "It won't be a problem, Commander. You say jump, I say how high. You tell me to kiss a turian, I ask which cheek."

Shepard held up hand and gestured the comment away. "I don't think kissing turians will be necessary, Chief."

"You never know Commander."

To this Shepard raised a dark eyebrow but said nothing more. It seemed to Williams the commander was looking at something on her work table. The chief followed her line of sight until she came to the Onyx helmet Shepard had been wearing on Eden Juggernaut, since then the commander had upgraded to a superior set of armor she purchased from the C-Sec requisitions officer.

"Skipper?" It was the first time Williams had called her CO by the old naval term of respect for someone who is in command but not ranked Captain of a ship.

Shepard took the helmet and continued to stare at it. "Give me that Talon." She pointed to the military issued dagger on the tabletop.

Williams obeyed but not without question. "Ma'am?"

"You're about to lean why I ask a lot of academic questions about the other races' history and culture. I want no interference; you will stand down, Chief." Shepard said donning the helmet and striding off towards the krogan with an extremely determined gait.

Wrex had been working at a secondary work station apparently placing new upgrades in his assault rifle when he noticed something; someone came rushing him at astonishing speed.

Shepard sprinted for her target faster than a human had the right to move. Talon in one hand she slammed the blade into a storage locker near the krogan edge side up. In the same breath she used her momentum to launch her body into an aerial spin. All that force, all the speed enhanced by biotics was used to strike Wrex in a blow to the head that sent him sprawling to the floor.

His back bounced off the workstation before he tumbled and found his feet. His nose bled, as did the ancient scars on his shelled forehead. Shepard had somersaulted to her own feet she waited, her legs slightly bent in a fighting stance with the weight evenly distributed.

Williams snatched a rifle she had been refitting and aimed it at the battlemaster; she'd plug him before he made the next move. All she had to do was wait for the signal from her CO.

Wrex shook his massive head. He was seeing stars from the biotically enhanced head butt. He couldn't imagine what Shepard must be feeling. Crazy she-mammal! What in the hell was she doing? What possessed her to do a dumb ass thing like challenge him? He respected it, but damn the woman had obviously lost it. That prothean beacon on Eden Juggernaut scrambled her brain, it was obvious.

"What say you Urdnot Wrex? Do I have your blood, blade and gun?"

Trying to clear his head Wrex looked at the Talon embedded in the metal container, he could answer in one of two ways. He didn't know how she knew, but apparently Shepard had done her homework. Wrex took another look at the blade, then back to Shepard. The forefront of her hardsuit's helmet was severely dented. She had a concussion that much was evident but she was still on her feet, her body glowingly slightly with a powerful biotic aura.

"What say you!" she snapped again.

Wrex made a move for the knife. Out of the corner of his crimson eye he saw the kid Williams pointing a rifle at his head. But she made no other move. Shepard must have noticed too as she shook her head at the young chief gunnery chief, a silent order to stand down.

Williams did so reluctantly.

The same look was given to Garrus, two other marines and Rec-officer Merkerson. Without saying a single word, Shepard had full command of every soul in the cargo hold.

Wrex knew what his answer would be. He ran his hand along the edge of the blade; a well of orange blood immediately appeared in his palm. He took a step forward, placed his bleeding three fingered hand on the commander's helmet.

"You have my Oath of Battle Commander Samantha Shepard—Spectre. Until this mission is fulfilled."

"I hold you to your Oath. Break it and may your skull never bleach from the rays of Tuchanka's great twin suns.

Everyone seemed to relax a bit, and everyone including Wrex himself was a little more than confused as to what just happened. To the krogan his perplexity came from Shepard herself. How did she know of the ancient rituals? A Battle Oath was sworn between two leaders of different tribes in a time of a war to forge an unbreakable alliance. It was something often sworn during a Crush. Theirs was a culture of mercenaries, of pillaging and even pirating. But a Battle Oath, like the Crush was one of the most sacred of rituals.

"Chief." Shepard bellowed. "Step two."

"Yes Ma'am."

Walking with determination, Shepard made it to the lift with Williams hot on her heels. The doors closed just as Shepard toppled onto her junior officer. "I think I need a moment in med bay," she said leaning all of her weight on the younger woman.

Without missing a beat, Williams activated the radio in her ear, "Med bay prepare a bed, the Skipper's suffering a concussion."

"Chakwas here, acknowledged. What happened?"

"I'll explain when we get there." Shepard said.

"Skipper, Gunny Ellison was right about you. You are capriciously bohemian with a taurine tenacity.' And you do indeed have a magnanimity aptitude."

"Like I told him, it gets results." Shepard murmured fighting the effects of her concussion. She struggled to get the helmet off and was only successful after Williams helped her.

"Ma'am…how did you know to do that? I thought for sure Wrex was going to take the Talon and attack."

"That was the other option he had." Shepard muttered. She closed her eyes for a moment to fight off the strong waves of dizziness and the urge to vomit. She realized like Wrex her own nose was bleeding. "Believe me I was ready for it," she wiped her nose with the back of her hand, trying to stop the blood from creating a pool in the lift. She was still leaning heavily on Williams.

"As for his alliance, it's now set in blood. He won't turn on it. Like I said Chief, I make time for my officers. I listen to their concerns, and you had valid ones. I now have a krogan's Battle Oath; Garrus won't be out done by that. Both of their loyalties to this mission, to my command are assured. We can trust them."

The lift slowed to a stop on the next deck. Williams lent her support to her CO and guided her to med bay. The first person to reach them as they came out of the lift wasn't Dr. Chakwas or even Lt. Alenko but Dr. T'Soni. The asari archeologist all but carried Shepard into Dr. Chakwas for care and attention.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

"She is both ray and shark." Aleena muttered to herself. "A very lethal combination."

"Say again?" Williams wasn't sure she heard correctly or understood the context of the other woman's words.

"In the oceans of my home world there are great manta rays that often lurk in the territories of firaxon shark pups when they are still close to shore. You see, the schools of fish the sharks feed on will see the distinctive silhouette of the shark and flee directly into the hunting grounds of the rays. The rays use the sharks as a diversion and ambush the schools, striking so fast the fish don't even know they are dead until they are devoured.

"The shark is the most aggressive hunter on Thessia. It uses its speed, size and muscle to dominate its realm. You see it, you know it is coming and you know what it is capable of. Its deadly reputation creates a natural flight response in those marked prey. One will do well to respect such a creature. Your story demonstrates Shepard is both.

"There were tones in your voice that told me there was something you did not desire her to know, and were terrified of her reaction if she found out. You dodged questions of your family. Something in your family's history was a plague upon you. You spoke of your mistrust of non-humans and dodged the questions as to the true reasons for this mistrust. You saw Shepard as a shark, and fled. She then turns into a ray basking in the shoals, you become distracted by your mutual history in military training, thinking it was safe you relaxed, and she strikes then just like the ray. She sees something there, something you are more than reluctant to speak about, her teeth lock and she won't give up the hunt."

"She did the same with Wrex. She rushed him just like a shark, hitting him hard, fast and with so much power he is taken down. He saw it, felt it, and became the prey. The Battle Oath is the ray's strike, the ambush. He sees her command the entire cargo hold with a look, not words. And he knows with a look she could command his death, more than that he felt her power. He does what is the only option for a warrior in that position can do, he bends knee to a superior force. A force he admires. Krogans always fight simply to see who will win; they do this more so with those they call friends and allies. He knows even with his biotics he is no match for the Spectre. She is a leader, people follow her because of who she is. People will lay down their lives for her, is this not so? I understand now why the krogan would yield his power to her, and swear a Battle Oath to her.

"It's not because of her powerful hold on biotics. That has nothing to do with her power to command the souls of others. It is natural to flee the shark; just as it is a natural response to follow the Spectre, those who do not find themselves in discord with their natural response. Their rebellion against that nature generates hate, jealousy and the desire to rid that which they believe is the cause of such discord. If they can not be rid of Shepard through death they will do by the cause of great harm, as they themselves are in pain.

"This is why bounty hunters were summoned, why the attack on Dr. T'Soni happened on Elysium. This Udina who haunts Shepard is in pain from his inner discord, hatred and jealousy; he will not stop until that discord is vanquished one way or the other. The only problem is he has never hunted a shark or a ray, he does not understand his prey. But she does, all too well. There can be only one inevitable outcome—one of them will die."

Aleena rose from the stone block she had been sitting on, checked her gear and spoke almost tonelessly "It is time for my patrol." She said nothing more as she glided away from the camp fire, leaving a very dumbfounded Lieutenant Williams staring after her.

Ash turned her head slowly looking mutely at her Commander, staring at the dark haired woman for a long moment before she turned back to the retreating asari. She was right; people followed Samantha Shepard because it felt like the natural—instinctual thing to do.

'You say jump, I say how high. You say kiss a turian, I ask which cheek…'

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

The Illusive Man was pleased with how the plan was coming to fruition. He needed Shepard as a Spectre for reasons that Udina would never understand. She was a two time war hero, highly decorated and highly respected. A credit to humanity, the overlord of Cerberus understood this, he even respected her. She was a worthy adversary. Again something Donnel Udina would never understand. All he saw was a woman who cost him his seat on the Council.

The Illusive Man saw further than the ambassador's private ambitions and desires, the petty man would have been a disastrous choice. He had a reputation for clashing with the Council on numerous occasions. In truth the Council didn't respect the dignitary. Udina allowed his emotions, not logic to dictate his actions, the constant belligerent ranting to the Council had cost the man his seat, not the Spectre.

The Illusive Man knew he would never own Captain David Anderson, the new Councilor, as he did Charles Sarainco the new leader of the Terra Firma Party. But then Anderson would serve as the perfect diversion to Cerberus agendas.

The vid screen beeped to indicate an incoming message. The Illusive man looked up from the reports he had been studying and smiled when he saw that the call was on his secure line. Udina may have lacked many qualities, but at least he was prompt. At the very least the diplomat could be trusted to keep a schedule.

"Donnel, I should congratulate you on your choice of hunters. The test on Elysium proved to be satisfactory."

"I wouldn't call what happened on Elysium to be a success. They failed to hit their mark, and Shepard is more than well aware of being hunted and no doubt by whom."

"Yes, she is aware; to the point of being paranoid." The Man smirked. "Such paranoia will lead her down a path of self-destruction. It is imperative that she only disgraces and destroys herself, and not humanity. She needs to be broken, her hold on reality shattered. Inconsolable grief will cause her to self-destruct. The story will be she was already going mad because of the prothean beacons."

"Like Saren."

"Precisely. All her ranting to the Council, to her former superiors about the Reapers will serve to solidify this story."

"The Reapers…"Udina scoffed. "Despite the attack I find it hard to believe that a race that killed the protheans fifty thousand years ago has suddenly reappeared. No Saren and Shepard may have indeed seen the destruction of the Protheans at the hands of the Reapers. Saren played on this story, and Shepard believed it. You saw Sovereign; it looks remarkably like geth bay ships. Saren used the idea of the Reapers to control the geth, and had them build their tin god.

"If there are more 'Reapers' out there, they are creations of the geth in the image of those that came before. Shepard has been played the fool because of the visions in the beacons. Yes I don't dispute there is a war on the horizon, or that we will see more ships like Sovereign, but it is because of the geth."

"That may well be true. I am pursuing a course of action that might get us insight on those who created the synthetic monstrosities."

"You mean the Migrant Fleet. You have agents infiltrating it?"

"The details do not concern you, Donnel but the answer is yes."

"And this is relevant to Shepard, how?"

"I said the details do not concern you. As for relevance to Shepard can you not see the parallels between her and Saren? Saren had a T'Soni at his side; the most powerful biotic at his side, and he had the geth. Shepard has a T'Soni at her side, as far as we know the asari may well be the most powerful biotic in Council space due to her genetic lineage. Shepard has a quarian as a minion, and who is it that created the geth?"

Udina didn't answer the question with words but smiled. 'The quarians.' The expression seemed to say.

"Exactly. This war on the horizon will be fought against the geth. Both Saren and Shepard shared visions of the end of all organic life. Saren so paranoid by visions he became the catalyst for this war to come. He woke the geth to their 'god'. Shepard also touched by the beacons will have many suspicions upon her, many will look to see when or how she will snap. It will not be a surprise when she is finally pushed over the edge. Given the information by our friend it will become widely know that she would 'go rogue if anything happens to Liara T'Soni'."

"Aren't you afraid this will make her a martyr?"

"All the better for humanity, you are a fool not to see this or use it. Humanity will not lose the position we now hold, we will not lose our right to have Spectres. The weak will always need heroes. Let them have Shepard, let them mourn for her. Those who do not support her… worship her; already despise her for her supposed turning away from the Alliance. Either they will see her as the Spectre so tormented by visions of the end of all organic life, that when her wife was murdered she snapped and they will pity her. Or they will see a woman turned cold by aliens, by an alien wife, they will see only her cruelty, her malice, her vengeance and they will disavow her glory, her honor. Both however will blame the beacons for scrambling her mind, and humanity will rise above the fall of one its greatest lionized yet tyrannical heroes."

"You intend to make her into a Julius Caser."

"We need her to be, Donnel. We shape the events around her life, her quest to insure that she does. In turn Cerberus will be the sanctified Senators that put the end to a tyrant that threatened to destroy the glory, honor and life of the Empire. She will be placed on the wrong side of history in the end."

"What do you want me to do?"

"For now nothing, but sit tight. I have already leaked our friend's information to that reporter Emily Wong."

"That mousey do-gooder reporter? Why?"

"Wong loves to uncover conspiracies; she is also one of the strongest supporters of Shepard. Once our illustrious Spectre snaps, Wong will play the spin doctor and create a tragic picture of what lead to Shepard's end. Weren't you paying attention? As I explained at nauseam for our goals for humanity to come to fruition we need Shepard become both martyr and tyrant, Wong will help us do so. Of course she will sit on the information until the pieces fall into place. No doubt she has by now heard the words, and being the loyal supporter that she is may even inform Shepard of the anonymous tip. Still she can do little more than make a human interest story out it. Shepard herself may tell the reporter to sit on the information, or Wong will do it of her own volition."

"Shepard will not tolerate this. She will no doubt kill our friend for leaking the information to us. She can be ruthless when pushed. Her tenacious defense of Elysium six years ago proved that. And then there is the way she ended Saren. You saw the recordings. You saw how she manipulated him to commit suicide then dispatched his husk with cold aggression."

"That is of very little consequence now. Our friend's usefulness is finished the moment he consented to the price you paid him for selling out his commanding officer. And such actions only assist our agendas for Shepard. She might not be the Butcher of Tofan, but when we are finished with her she will be so much worse."

The Illusive Man smiled, for Donnel Udina was already seeing Shepard in the light he had started to paint her. Doubts would descend and every action Shepard took, The Illusive Man knew that Udina would suspect her, judge her. Udina was the model of those who stood against the first human Spectre: the reactions of the diplomat would be the reactions of the others.


	18. Smoke and Mirrors

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Eighteen: Smoke and Mirrors

For the last ten minutes Shepard had been sitting on the front right tire of the M36 mako, just staring at the geth juggernaut. The scientists were nearing completion of their task. Her only movement was the occasional shifting of her gaze from one tech to the other as she followed the process. One might have thought she was watching her wife, but even as Liara left the company of techs, the Spectre didn't follow her with her gaze instead it was locked onto another asari.

So lost in thought was she that she was taken by surprise when the muscle of her thigh was touched by Liara's long fingered hand. Shepard gasped; her hand flew to her side to her sidearm but halted in mid action at the touch of her wife's familiar presence in her mind.

"I did not intend to give you a start, my love. You are so deep in your mind, I felt compelled to discover what has taken your thoughts."

Shepard turned from Liara's studious gaze back to the team but remained silent. Once more movement came in her direction, this time she did note the shadows crossing in her peripheral vision but remained unmoving from her perch on top of the massive tire. The shadows belonged to Aleena and Williams and Wrex. Liara gave them a nod of acknowledgement but remained just as silent as the Spectre.

"The geth juggernaut," The Spectre said at last. "We can't walk around with it in our company. It will draw too much unwanted attention."

"But it's the only way we can take all of Vigil with us. You think we can just leave him on the ship?" Wrex asked. "That could start tongues wagging that won't be conducive to our mission Shepard. With all due respect to you and your skills T'Soni, Vigil will be dead handy in the ruins we're trying to find as an interpreter. "

"We need to disguise our new buddy." Shepard said still staring at the laboring scientists and engineers.

"A disguise?" Aleena frowned.

"Sometimes such things are the only way you can move freely" Shepard did turn her gaze this time, blue eyes boring into the asari's green. "Even a new name…will be in order wouldn't you say, Doctor S'thasa?"

The bounty hunter nodded. "Sometimes one is left with little choice. A disguise can conceal one's identity or perhaps even shield one from that which they have no desire to confront. Sometimes a new identity is the only way left that allows one to walk away from choices made that aught not have been made."

"Sounds like you two are almost having another conversation." Wrex said. He sniffed the air taking in the scent of the three females. The only truly familiar scents were that of Shepard and T'Soni. The emerald skinned asari smelled vaguely familiar but didn't trigger any response. No doubt he had run into a sibling of hers at one time or another, which could explain why he had the nagging feeling her voice was equally but distantly familiar. 'Ach, all she-mammals of the same race sound exactly the same.'

The Spectre leapt from the tire, her gaze holding on Aleena and smiled. "What do you think Dr. S'thasa? Do _you _think we are having another conversation?"

Shark and ray - both.

"You might think that Commander, but I couldn't possibly comment."

The Spectre's smile morphed into a smirk.

"How do you propose to conceal the fact our 'new buddy' is indeed a geth. It is not as simple as making it wear a turian hardsuit." Liara shifted attention back to the original subject.

"Not quite, but close Angel Eyes. I've got an idea." Pleased with herself Shepard trotted off towards the band of technicians.

"Now this I gotta see." Wrex said leaning back on the same tire his Commander had been using as a chair.

Liara was beaming as she watched her wife get into a very animated conversation with Shi'ar, which left a very confused Aleena in the wake.

Reading the expression on the emerald skinned asari Williams chirped in. "You learn after serving with her for a time that when she has that look in her eyes, or says she's got an idea - trust it. She had that same look when she bashed Wrex in the forehead and got him to swear that Battle Oath of his."

Liara looked a little ruffled at the memory. "She took a great risk to herself, then. She could have done serious damage to her brain. She is fortunate the nose bleed wasn't indicative of brain damage or even a broken nose."

"But it worked out." Ash said. "Just like whatever it is cooking up in that mind of hers now will work. At least she didn't say it was going to be problematic. She says that and you know you're fracked."

"I ain't never thought to see that coming." Wrex referred to the day Shepard had head-butted him. He lifted his chin challengingly. "Challenged me just like proper leader of a tribe would have. Even if she is a pup and a mammal, I swore to follow her because she earned my respect. Hell she did more for me than anyone in my whole family has ever done. I don't care about the details, she wants something done, I'll do it. If you're smart, Doc, you'd do the same."

"You place great unwavering trust and faith in one soul." Aleena said "And you show great pride in her as well."

"We do." Liara smiled. "As Lt. Williams has said you will learn to trust the words: 'I've got an idea.' Such ideas are generally and habitually unorthodox if not capriciously bohemian but they generate favorable results for the task at hand."

To this Aleena looked over her shoulder to the young human and found the smile returned. Liara unknowingly parroted the words of Gunny Ellison.

"If you will excuse me, I want to know what this idea our Commander devised is." Liara followed the steps of her wife had taken.

"You ain't the only one, I gotta see this." Wrex barked softly.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

"Dr. Shi'ar, I need for you to find away to integrate nanoprobes into the juggernaut's omni-tool capabilities, especially those that control the holographic matrix. I also want them to meld with the barrier matrix."

"Commander, I said the barriers are not combat-effective, introducing nanoprobes into the matrix will not make it any more effective. The EM surge destroyed all five levels of shielding when they took the brunt of the attack. It was a miracle the surge didn't destroy the more vital components. What is basically left of those systems are wiring and nodules with very basic shield capacity similar to those in hardsuits."

"Perfect." The Spectre was smirking. "No barriers but effective shields, nodules riddled throughout its body, it's perfect. I need a link between those nodules and the omni tool holomatrix."

"That would effectively create a holomatrix throughout its entire body."

"Exactly."

"Oh you are clever, Samantha." Liara said "A holographic disguise!"

Shepard turned to her wife and winked. "Got it in one." She turned back to the other asari scientists. "So can it be done?"

Holographic technology was an integral part of life and quite common place from Omni tools, kiosks, viewers, to communications and VI interfaces. To use it for the purpose of concealment wasn't that far fetched. Holograms were used mostly in telecommunications as an alternative to screens. A holocamera of any recorder or receiver would acquire the dimensions, form and movements of an object by means of ray scanning. Projected holographic images are visible from all sides, although matterless. This vision then could be transmitted simultaneously somewhere else, or stored and reproduced on a holoprojector at a later time.

Holograms were initially monochrome with amber, amethyst or cyan hues, as of late however holoprogramers were attempting to add additional layers of color to some holograms but the progress was slow going. At best they were able to mimic duo-colored hardsuits.

For other interactive 'solid' holograms the technology varied slightly like Omni tools and kiosks both were constructed of a polydeutonic alloy. The Omni-tools as well as command panels onboard ships and computers were wholly self-contained holographic projectors, generating the photons and force fields necessary to allow a hologram to physically interact with its environment. The Omni tool's mobile emitter carried an internal power source which could interact with a variety of other technologies to function as an impromptu battery. Both holographic capabilities were integrated into the geth juggernaut's functions.

By this time excitement was very plain on Shi'ar's features. "It's inspired, Commander. Yes, I believe it can be done. However, despite the possibility of the photonic structure having a solid and fully chromatic appearance, there are few races that stand nine feet tall."

That was true. While most turian males towered over humans, standing on average close to seven feet, (Saren was rather short for a turian standing only a foot taller than Shepard who was five-nine) none were close to a geth juggernauts were the second largest bi-pedal geth unit, of course primes who stood a whopping eleven feet tall.

"While it is easier to make something diminutive in size appear larger it is more difficult to do the reverse. Even in a hardsuit turians do not have the mass that the juggernaut does. A juggernaut's mass is more equal to a krogan."

"An elcor might seem to be an obvious choice. Unfortunately the ship isn't built for their girth. For height a hanar could easily conceal the juggernaut's stature." Liara offered her thoughts. "However hanar and elcor are not bi-pedal. Even with a complex holographic program that might be a little more difficult to effectively implement."

"So we're back to a really tall turian. I don't think we can make that plausible." Shepard frowned.

"No one is going to buy that, Shepard." Wrex cautioned.

"Commander, I might have a solution to that. I've been developing tools for the asari commando units as a whole. I call it a perception filter and it is based on asari biotic abilities. It has a telepathic effect which shifts perception away from the object the filter is cast on the viewer becomes distracted in away." Shi'ar said.

"You know it's there, but you don't want to know it's there." Shepard reasoned. "So people might notice the nine feet but allow themselves to see only seven?"

"Essentially that is the theory. I've been having some difficulties because particularly intelligent people are immune to the effects of a perception filter. Once one becomes aware of a perception filter or has their attention spiked, it ceases to work."

"You just described the majority of the crew of _Victory._ How does this help us?" The Spectre folded her arms.

"The full effect is not up to specs, however I believe that creating a chameleon effect to shift perception from nine feet to seven will. In conjunction with the holo-disguise we will have an overall success."

Without realizing they were doing it the women and the only krogan turned their eyes to Garrus. Alerted by the instinct where one knows they are being stared at, the C-Sec agent looked up to see the three females and Wrex watching him. He took an involuntary step back even as the Spectre took a step forward.

"If we're going to do this, we need something to base map the hologram's surface texture on. We need a turian." Shepard continued to walk up to Garrus so she could lay out her new plan.

To say he was impressed was an understatement, though he was a little nervous at first. "Commander, I don't need to undress for this?"

"Good God no! It's bad enough you put it into my head that a krogan has four testicles, made me wonder if they have two penises. I certainly don't need other unwanted images lurking in my head, thank you very much."

Garrus's shoulders slumped in a sense of relief. He wasn't looking forward to the idea of being in a state of undress in front of a volus and several women. He'd do it of course, for the Commander, but he wouldn't like it. "I suppose if you need the hologram to be armored it is best to scan one in such a thing."

"Exactly," Shepard smiled as she addressed Shi'ar. "Doctor, put the juggernaut in Phantom issue armor. The irony of it is hilarious."

The joke was a little more cerebral for others to catch the pun, but yes it did have the merit of being somewhat amusing. After all the holographic disguises, perception filters, the body of a geth juggernaut to house a Prothean AI which had the imprinted personality of **Ksad Ishan**, the idea of Phantom armor was indeed ironically apt.

"Commander, this will set back the time line of its completion at least another two hours." Shi'ar said.

"Understood," Shepard answered. "Just make it happen."

"Too bad he's the only turian here; you're going to make our geth friend dead ugly, Shi'ar." Wrex gave a parting shot at the C-Sec agent as he left the scientists to their tasks.

Garrus's mandibles flared in annoyance as he watched the lumbering krogan head for one of the makos, no doubt to perform a weapons check rather than obey the orders for rack time.

There were other concerns the Spectre needed to turn her attention toward. During her first watch the other teams had reported in and given her a full Sitrep. Dr. Baynham's Jr. exobiology-toxicology-geology team, which included Abigail Williams, Palon and Leda, had harvested several plant, earth and mineral samples. They took deep core samplings to test the age of the planet when the Protheans were active. The Spectre had reassured Ash that her little sister was safe and well, knowing that the elder Williams would worry.

Doctors Margali, Lehnsherr, Translan, and McCoy: a team of volus engineers, a turian astrophysicist and a human geneticist, were to seek out technologies left by the Protheans, and geth bodies left from the first visit to Ilos.

Doctors Ororo, Remlap, Misters. Schells and Chorban had been ordered by Liara to investigate other found Prothean technologies. Indeed the third team had successfully harvested the repository of information from the security station in the upper ruins.

The last team to report in to Shepard was Captain Kirrahe and the salarian Special Tasks Group. Radio contact was left to the salarian captain when he deemed it safe enough to transmit a signal without drawing attention to himself or the other STGs. Salarian STGs were ideal for the mission of harvesting Intelligence before action was decided. Of course once action was decided their philosophy was much akin to those of Sun Tzu and his art of war. The hyperactive race found it mind-boggling the way humanity and even to some extent the turians had the idea of don't shoot until first shot at. Or warning an enemy of attack such as 'if you don't surrender we will fire.'

Because the salarians were not generally a militant race and not evolved to stand up to a firestorm like krogans, turians and humans, they had employed the fight with wisdom not force alone much like the asari handled warfare: 'politics, weather, terrain, the commander, doctrine.' Each of the factors once had to be deliberate on the basic conditions which decide a war.

Shepard along with all those trained as all N-Sevens were well schooled in Sun Tzu's doctrine of warfare. The Special Ops corps had to know it forward and back, and by rote. It was this aspect of the Spectre that made her appreciate the effectiveness, and efficiency of Kirrahe's STGs and their daunting task of gaining all Intel they could on Cerberus mission on Ilos before any aggressive and preemptive strike was called.

What they found out already compounded what they already knew about the rogue black ops organization. They were keen on collecting DNA to create human super soldiers. Ironic if one thought about the DNA the xenophobic organizations were collecting: thorian creepers and pods, rachni, thresher maws, and now Prothean. Humanity must stand alone, but we're going to rob aliens and their dead of their DNA to create human super soldiers.

History was proof enough of the nefarious deeds Cerberus had immersed itself in. Cerberus had kidnapped Corporal Toombs for a number of years making the military believe he was KIA at the very least MIA because he had venom of thresher maw in his veins. They wanted to know why he survived. Cerberus had tried to recreate the events that led up to Toombs' condition

It was hypothetical but reasonable to assume that agents in both Binary Helix and ExoGeni were working with Cerberus. The proof of this was already there. Shepard had uncovered as much while both on Feros and Novaria while hacking into the corporation's computers. Samples of the rachni, Thoros-B and thorian creepers had been transplanted to Cerberus.

The thorian samples had been sent to a planet in the Vostok system of the Maroon Sea cluster. Upon traveling to Nodacrux the flagship ground squad had discovered several 'colonies' of thorian creepers. They had even discovered a single empty Thorian 'pod', similar to the one Shiala was released from, found in a corner of the ExoGeni facility.

That was something Shepard believed needed to be revisited if not by her then another Spectre. But now was neither the time nor place to think of a thorian pod on another world.

Kirrahe reported over the uniform hardsuit communicator: "The command structure lies in the hands of the scientists, much like the teams we have deployed. This has caused a schism in their ranks however. Their paramilitary chafes under the hand of the scientists, whose only hold on them are constant reminders that someone referred to as 'The Man' or the 'Illusive Man' will not appreciate the task being unfulfilled and the dogs of war best learn their place.' The mercenaries are keen to remind the scientists of the heavy losses they already suffered by the geth and that no doubt Shepard is on her way here.' It appears they have not detected our movements as the geth have been providing adequate diversions for us. There are reports that they had been aware of the drop ship explosion but lack of Alliance presences and the bodies of their own close by the mercenaries have assumed the geth were encroaching on their base camp. They have been in several skirmishes with drones, and hoppers as well as shock troops.

"Of the original number only twenty paramilitary troopers remain, and four of six scientist teams are operational. Each team consists of seven scientists. They are awaiting rendezvous with their own ship in three days, which is why we detected no sign of their presence in orbit or the surrounding moon."

"Unless of course they too have a cloaking device," Shepard said begrudgingly. She prayed to the Heavens that Cerberus wouldn't have that edge. For now it was safe to assume they didn't, at least not here on Ilos. If they had they no doubt would have attacked the _Victory_ or warned their ground team of our presence. Still Shepard wasn't fool enough to take anything for granted. "What are their groundside armaments?"

For a moment Kirrahe sounded as if he was consulting his second in command. "Three anti-aircraft cannons I believe you call them GAGs, and eight heavy Alliance class turrets guard the base camp. They have three heavy assault rovers close to the M28 class makos, and five swoop bikes. All heavily armored and equipped with heavy assault cannons. Commander, I must warn you for our observations we have detected that twelve of the twenty soldiers are biotics. What class we do not know as of yet but considering their average age to be thirty, I would say they are either L2s or L3s or a combination of the two."

"And the scientists?"

"All of them techs and trained with Omni tools. I have seen two of their number use biotics as well. It is possible others are so skilled. However they seem only marginally capable of handling small firearms. We have seen their feeble attempts to defend themselves against a squad of geth troopers. They are not trained for battle Commander as they allowed their fear to dictate their actions. It was only by the effective actions of their military back up they survived the geth troopers."

"Then we will exploit that." Shepard said. "Your Intel proves they not here for us, they are here in spite of us." Shepard said.

"Commander, Cerberus being here is far too convenient, too coincidental. Ambassador Udina has something to do with it. Even if he knows of Ilos he doesn't know where it is. It was never disclosed in the reports accessible to the Alliance. Everything else was sealed under Spectre directives. There was only one other who knew the coordinates of Ilos' location."

Pressly.

"Your former XO Pressly." Kirrahe said echoing the Spectre's thoughts. "He has to have told Udina how to get here. What dangers they would face when they did. _Normandy _and _Victory _ar_e_ the only two ships that have cloaking devices and have Tantalus core drives."

The _Normandy_ was now part the Citadel Fleet. It wasn't a race of time that allowed Cerberus to be here before the _Victory_. It was simply time. While the crew was on down time between the reception party and the wedding, Cerberus had traveled to Ilos to carry out their nefarious experimentations.

"Udina and Pressly only know the systems of the _Normandy_ but not aboard the _Victory._ And thus they don't know what we are and are not capable of. We have to work on the presumption that Pressly is compromised. We also work on the presumption they are also in league with the traitor onboard _Victory_." Shepard commented. "Our immediate threat is the Cerberus agents right here. We're going to use their schism to our advantage. We'll converge at ground zero of the drop ship explosion. We're going to use a little smoke and mirrors and Trojan horses to rout out a three-headed dog."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

"You're going to use the geth drop ship as a Trojan horse?" Williams stared at her commanding officer. "Won't they see that coming? And how are you going to get that thing to fly again, it's not like we have a geth pilot."

"We don't need a functioning geth." Shepard said as she looked to her wife who was standing beside the lieutenant.

"You don't mean to use **Ksad Ishan?" Liara wasn't fast enough to school the expression of dread from her face.**

**"Ksad Ishan?" Williams frowned "What - you mean Vigil?"**

**"As our Commander said he needed a new identity I thought Ksad Ishan was appropriate, considering Vigil's interactive programming was based upon the Overseer's personality. And the name is sealed in the Spectre's reports."**

**"It doesn't sound very turian to me." Williams continued to frown. **

**"Nevertheless we managed to program Vigil to respond to his new identity." Liara answered swiftly back. **

**"Can it both of you." Shepard said in her authoritative tone. Both Williams and Liara had the decency to look embarrassed. "We're getting off topic. To answer your question, Liara no I'm not going to use Ksad Ishan, I'm not so sure that would work anyway. From what I've seen of the geth quadrupeds and of the raiders, I think the dropships are geth themselves, at least their Bridge and CIC must be and that part of it is deactivated."**

**"If that is so then how do you intend to use the dropship to drop in our own strike teams, Commander?" The question came from Morwen. **

**She, along with Shepard's squad and Liara's team assembled themselves into a horseshoe centered around Tali's Omni tool holographic projection of the Cerberus's encampment which had been transmitted to her via Kirrahe, who had thoroughly scouted the terrain of their enemy. **

**"Our units will be hidden inside the dropships cargo bay, along with the makos, just like the geth would with their tanks. Maneuvering will be the tricky part," again her eyes fell on Liara. "With biotics using a lift-push, we can negotiate the ship into strike zone. We don't need to do any fancy flying we need only to get the thing into position, here." Shepard pointed to the central part of the enemy encampment. "A squad of asari commandos and myself will be inside the ship, from the flanks I will dispatch two infantry units who will use the chaos to cut them down. **

**"Captain Kirrahe managed to get their transponder codes, his team will signal the Cerberus mercs and lull them into thinking they have allies and thus the superior forces. We're also using Shi'ar's holoprogram to give them sensor ghosts so they believe their reinforcements have several makos to back them up. They will leave their six unguarded. This will allow our strike team to take full advantage of their command schism and the chaos inspired by the dropship." **

**The Spectre fully outlined the offensive armaments, number of biotics and techs as well as the defensive specs. She also hinted that Cerberus's goon squad would no doubt be amped up with possible gene-therapy more than any Alliance soldier. Gene therapy wasn't all that uncommon, **most human governments offered free assessment and correction therapies to its citizens, which had nearly eliminated genetic diseases from the human gene pool. Genetics had developed to such an extent that basic genetic flaws could be corrected; indeed Ash had received gene therapy in-utero for her maternal disposition to short-sightedness.

**All alliance soldiers were given gene therapy once enlisted to make them more durable, stronger, and faster than the average Alliance citizen, **though most genetic therapies took years to come into their full effect. It wasn't an improbability to assume that Cerberus's goon squads were considerably altered. No doubt they would have the stamina of a krogan battlemaster. There were no illusions in anyone's mind that the enemy's soldiers were simply hired thugs as used by your typical crime lord.

**"Commander, why use the geth dropship at all, if they number only twenty surely our forces can neutralize them. Why the elaborate deception?" Jahleed asked.**

"Because I need their ground team to report they are being once more attacked by the geth. The dropship will instill fear and panic in their numbers. Fear can be an exceptional weapon. They already suffered heavy losses from the synthetics-the appearance of a dropship in their camp before it is obliterated will reinforce the idea that Ilos isn't cost effective to continue their plans for it. If we attacked them outright we lose several advantages. Right now they are in the flux of a power of command schism, their leadership is precarious at best, and I need to use that against them.

"Radioing the ship will also give its location away to _Victory._ Under stealth mode she can monitor all calls sublight and FTL, we follow the transmission to its source. I need all advantages I can harvest to strike against them. That means using all available assets I have. Operation Trojan horse is our insurance. Once they see the dropship, and transmit they're under attack we jam all radio signals and strike. At that point it is irrelevant if they see us.

"The strike teams will be consisted of Russan's squad and Kirrahe's STGs. Williams as the XO you will take command over ground squad and remain here with the scientists. Once they have completed their task with Vigil/ **Ksad Ishan you will rendezvous with the other ground teams at Base Camp. **Doctors S'thasa, T'Soni, Shi'ar, Huntresses Nual and Morwen you're with me on the dropship."

Both Wrex and Garrus looked at one another. Protests were on their respective mouths and reflected in their eyes. Neither male had a desire to baby-sit a bunch of egg-heads, even Williams chafed under the orders.

Before arguments broke out Shepard stared those she knew would protest the loudest over their orders. Each in turn shifted their gaze aside unable to meet the ice-blue gaze of the Spectre. "You have your orders, dismissed."

While others turned to carry out their duties, Liara lagged behind. Her expression like the warriors before bore the look of one not at all pleased with the current events. "Commander, a word in private if I may?" she said, managing to keep her tone just under cool civility. Others were still too near to be anything other than professional.

Shepard nodded, leading the asari away from the encampment and into one of the mako's holds. As soon as they were out of earshot from any of the others, Liara spun around anger masking her normally serene features.

"I must protest." Liara nearly spat the three words out. "I am not spun glass that needs careful handling. My being pregnant is not indicative of being fragile. I told you before I don't need a protector…"

"Hold it right there!" the Spectre's voice became a low rumble of command, her hand raised to stop the tirade Liara was about to erupt into. "I gave you an order. This isn't about what _your_ wife wants for her beloved and her unborn child. This is about what your _Commander _needs. If it was about what your wife wanted then you would be staying right here with Vigil. However, you are probably the most potent biotic in Council space now that your mother is gone. I need that edge, Dr. T'Soni, the mission hinges on your abilities. You are not military but you are a part of my crew, as such if I have to pull rank to implement this order, I will. Now as your Commander answer me - can you or can you not follow my orders?"

Liara turned aside, ashamed she had assumed the only reason Samantha wanted her at her side was to protect her. The archeologists hadn't even figured in her control over biotics as a factor. This wasn't about a lack of trust in Liara's abilities to keep herself from harm but quite the opposite. Liara was suddenly reminded of the conversation Samantha had had with her mother all those months ago. Hanna Shepard had asked her daughter if she had to could she order Liara into danger, knowing it may well get her killed. Could she be objective enough not to allow personal attachment to get in the way of a mission? Samantha said yes she could and Liara would follow them without question.

But Liara had questioned the order. She had doubted her wife-her Commander, her Spectre. That would not happen again. The Spectre was awaiting her reply. Squaring her shoulders Liara assumed the parade rest stance in the hopes of displaying their more professional relationship over that of their deeply personal one. "I can follow your orders, Commander."

"Good to hear, Dr. T'Soni, Dismissed." The Spectre said forcing the walls of command up over the wants, desires and will of the wife within her. The Commander of _Victory_ had done more than to pull rank on her beloved Liara she had pulled it on Samantha Shepard the woman, the wife, the mother for the good of the mission. She knew she should feel guilty about having to do so, but she didn't. The warrior within knew this was the best option for success; she couldn't afford to allow personal feelings into the mix.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Garrus had volunteered to escort the biotic troops back through the labyrinth to dropship's location. After the drop off he'd turn the mako around and head back to the Watcher's Chamber. The turian always thought the geth dropships bore the appearance of a wasp with its wings plucked off and this one has a gaping hole in its hull. It would never be space worthy again. Hell the thing didn't even look capable of air flight. Then again it didn't need to be.

To move a starship by sheer biotics alone seemed insane if not impossible. Garrus looked to his Commander in confounded admiration. Shepard had had wild ideas before but this was beyond the scope of anything done so far. Well… there was that shark …

The former C-Sec officer turned to Liara and frowned. "You're really going to move that thing with biotics? It's massive!" it was only a frigate class but still…. The thing was huge!

"What is mass?" Liara said softly. "With the correct application of leverage and counterweight a child could lift several kilos using basic principles of physics. The very idea of impossibility is only a construct of the mind. Size has no relevance for a huntress, for a Spectre trained in biotics. The force - the will of biotics does not recognize big or small, heavy or light, hard or easy, fast or slow. It is a matter of inner strength of inner will.

"I will not fly this alone however, our Commander will assist. She knows the mechanics of a starship far better than I. That knowledge will be needed to manipulate the internal systems. We will be a super-capacitor for each other."

"Liara you really don't need Shepard's help to fly that thing do you? The mechanics bit isn't actually necessary is it?"

"No."

"Then why?" blue eyes watched the asari for any hint of what she was thinking, but he saw only a schooled expression. One held by instructors and teachers across the galaxy.

"She needs the training and the exercise this will give her. She has grown very powerful but she needs guidance. More now than ever before. I shall center her and guide her but she will be doing much of the work by her own powers." Liara watched as her wife was helping the others ready the dead dropship for the mission. "Our bond will act as the true conduit, only Shiala as our mentor would be able to link with her as I will and she is not here."

This was going to be a test, if the Spectre failed, Liara would be there to insure the mission was a success. The archeologist wasn't about to risk the mission for a training exercise but the training was a necessary element, of the Spectre's ongoing tutorship in the skills of biotics. Yes, she might have mastered them as far as a human could, but she was far more skilled and powerful than any human biotic thus far. Much like the drills with live ammunition back in basic, you passed by living, you failed if you got hit or killed. The Spectre would be a danger to herself and to the crew if she could not fully contain, manage and control her power.

The decrepit ship rattled as it rose into the air, hovering like skeletal husk of something trying very hard to pass as space worthy vessel.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMME

It had begun in the cargo hold.

Eyes closed, their minds focused upon the ship just as they had with the rose weeks ago, Liara and the Spectre stood facing each other, their palms out in front of them. They reached as deep as they had ever reached into the will of their biotics, and then went further still, feeling as though a mighty chasm had opened up under them and their minds as will plunged down into it. The chasm filled. Their minds opened. The physical existence of the dropship slid painlessly inside.

The tips of their fingers and the geth dropship became as one in their minds. Every nut and bolt and plate and wire of the massive machine was contained within that tiny space. It wasn't hard to move an arm, a finger, a single organic cell. They could direct one barely without thinking, so why not the other, too? Instinct was clearer on that point than the workings of their minds. The sensation of containing a vast, thousand-ton machine with the tips of fingers was deeply disorientating. The Spectre felt as though every muscle fiber, every nerve, and bone groaned along with the metal seams and joints of the ship. What it felt both asari and human felt, too, and even a small acceleration had a profound effect on such a large scale.

The ship maintained altitude but it was hard going what with the constant bombardment tearing through the minimal kinetic barriers and turbulence rocking the skeletal frame. It resisted with all the momentum it possessed. Hatches swung open; rivets popped; bulkheads twisted; pipes burst.

The asari commando's had dropped dead three armatures from the cargo hold onto the enemy encampment as if they were depth-charges. Barely operating turrets had targeted the GAGs because such an attack would be expected; it was more for show than force. The firepower was minimal at the best, and the best seemed to be the ships' GARDIAN (General Area Defensive Integration Anti-spacecraft Network) though a hundred percent accurate, it wasn't hundred percent lethal.

A ship's GARDIAN consists of anti-missile anti-fighter laser turrets on the exterior hull. Because these were under computer control, the gunnery control officer needs to do little beyond turn the system on and designate targets as hostile. Since lasers move at light speed, they cannot be dodged by anything moving at non-relativistic speeds. Unless the beam is aimed poorly, it will always hit its target. But powered down as they were they were the only things taking out Cerberus's turrets. It would have to be enough, the ground teams needed to take up the slack.

The ship shuddered once more. This time however the kinetic barriers couldn't hold back a blaze of explosive oranges and reds. The ship growled and squealed in metal torment.

"All hands abandoned ship!" the voice belonged to Morwen. "Commander, T'Soni we need to abandon ship! Now!"

Shaken from their meditative state, the Spectre and prothean expert didn't bother asking questions; asking questions when the ship was burning all around you was a good way to end up very crispy and dead. A wild exodus of five asari and one human flung themselves from the crashing ship and hoped for the best. The ship was really picking up speed now. The thickening atmosphere had a slight braking effect, but nothing could prevent the inevitable. It was going to hit soon.

Sparks danced in front of the Spectre's eyes. The edges of her vision faded to black. Light and dark swirled spun around her, wraith-like. Only twice had she felt this: once on Elysium and once in the Citadel Tower. She felt momentarily faint and wondered if it was possible to dissolve into essence of biotics.

The dropship, now a burning, shrieking meteor, filled the asari and Spectre's entire forward vision. The hull was peeling away in a fiery glow, each one weighing hundreds of tons, exposing the darker skeleton beneath. It looked like a death's-head, a ghastly mask not dissimilar to Saren's husk.

It hit the GAG cannon, exactly as it was supposed to, and the sky turned white. The ground buckled beneath the squads' feet. They pinwheeled, unable to find their balance, as a tsunami of earth, rocky detritus and junk rose up ahead of them and blotted out the already veiled sun. Huge shockwaves rolled, compressing and decompressing the rubble of Ilos. The squad huddled under a fallen pillar taking what scant shelter it offered from the avalanche of dirt, shrapnel of unrecognizable parts of ship and turrets.

"Call in!" Shepard said into her helmet microphone after the tsunami of rubble came to a manageable dull roar.

Five voices responded. For better or worse they had suffered nothing serious in the way of injuries other than bruises. The hardsuits' kinetic barriers and shielding mods had taken the brunt of the impact. Only Nual seemed to have taken more than minor damage, having suffered a dislocated shoulder. Aleena was already on the job.

"How bad is she S'thasa?"

"It won't take long Commander, but first what is your status?" the bounty hunter said in a voice that had dropped all pretence of a subordinate and took up the tone of the medical professional.

"The same as everyone else." The Spectre commented. She shuffled quietly passed the dune the debris had created to reach young Nual. As she passed Liara she touched her wife on the shoulder, clearly intent on giving an 'I-can't-tell-you-how-relieved-I-am-you're-safe-beloved,' touch. But of course she couldn't say so; she was both the CO and Spectre, the wife part of her had no part to play here.

The Spectre knelt before Nual, her teal skin turning paler. She had removed her helmet, needing to feel air on her flesh. Beads of sweat gathered on her forehead and upper lip. She must be feeling sharp stabbing pains in her shoulder. Shepard knew this pain fairly well, what with having suffered a few dislocated shoulders in the line of duty. And having suffered this pain knew exactly what needed to be done.

"Soldier!" Her voice was crisp and commanding making the asari commando stare at her. "You look at me; keep me in your focus. This is going to hurt like a son-of-a-bitch, there is no two ways about it, but you're going to survive it. You keep your eyes on me."

"Yes, Commander." Her voice was stressed like a wire.

Aleena knew this pain too and knew exactly what the Spectre was doing. Distraction was best for this. It would be worse if Nual tensed up. The shoulder needed to be placed back into its socket. The bounty hunter was a talented healer; it had made her a better killer. Forcing a shoulder back into place was a crude method but it was practically the only way. Taking her position behind the younger asari she spoke with the best bedside manner she possessed.

"As our Commander said, this will hurt quite a bit. Brace yourself by placing your good arm on the Commander's shoulder and keep focused on her. Alright on three." The bounty hunter braced herself and maneuvered into a position that would give her the leverage to pop the socket back into place. "One. Two."

POP!

Nual screamed.

She toppled onto the Spectre panting as she fought back a wave of nausea and dizziness. Angrily she turned to the emerald skinned huntress. "What the hell happened to three?"

"I didn't want you to tense up, it would have been worse for you if you had."

"She's right, Nual." The Spectre said in a voice that was both authoritative and comforting. "It was better to be taken by surprise. Pop a medi-gel epi and pain-killers. The day isn't over yet."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

The Illusive Man was not having a good day. Only a half an hour ago Paul Grayson called to tell him the project on Grissom Station had been compromised. _The Asset_ had grand mal seizure and his agent had been compromised. Apparently the new medication was too much for _The Asset_. The Illusive Man had told Grayson they needed to play it out and assume Jiro Toshiwa had not blown Grayson's cover or the fact his daughter was a tool for Cerberus.

The Illusive Man knew Jiro would eventually tell the Alliance of the project, _The Asset_ and perhaps of the Illusive Man himself. However if he could hold out long enough for someone to clean up the mess he needn't worry about Cerberus exacting revenge. If he kept silent, the Illusive Man toyed with an idea to even rescue the good doctor from his cell. Let Toshiwa cling to that hope, however fleeting and false it might be. The man had proved useful in his few short years of service to Cerberus while stationed at Grissom Station tending to _The Asset_.

The Ascension Project has already revealed much. Yes _The Asset_ had suffered a seizure but it was a breakthrough. It was inevitable something would happen, good or bad. The Illusive Man had given Grayson the mission eleven years ago because Grayson believed wholeheartedly in Cerberus with an almost pious demeanour. He followed his orders without question. _The Asset_ was critical for the long-term survival of humanity.

The accident on Grissom station proved another thing to the Illusive Man, Cerberus had gotten everything it could out of the Academy's Ascension Project. Now it was time to take the child's training back into Cerberus' own hands, under their constant observation and guidance. Yes they would have to move cautiously with their tests; still those tests were those of Cerberus not the Alliance. The child needed expert help. Cerberus understood her condition better than anyone, this is what the Illusive Man had told Grayson, the child's 'father'. Grayson has made himself believe it because he knew the girl, he had come to love and see as his daughter was a ticking biotic time bomb. Her powers were growing.

Strange how it all revolved around two females: one still a child and one now a woman. The Illusive Man pondered.

Before her records were sealed by the Council, the Illusive Man had paid the Shadow Broker a hefty sum to get the medical records of the Hero of the Skyllian Blitz. To say he was surprised that she had continued to use her biotics even when her implant was in cool-down to avoid flare up was a massive understatement. Reading her records the Illusive Man began to understand the power of Shepard and how she came to it.

In-utero exposure to Ee-Zo and a second one in '69, how odd that it coincided with the BAat training being shut down because a Commander Vynnus was killed by one Kaiden Alenko. More coincidentally that Alenko would later serve with Shepard. While Alenko (and _The Asset_) was implanted at the optimal age of eleven, Shepard hadn't been until she had turned seventeen and thus considered adult enough to make her own medical decisions. She had herself implanted in '71 and became an L3 after officially being detected. Apparently her father was reluctant to allow the implantation, not wanting an official biotic in the family. But her abilities had manifested so greatly that she had gained the attention of the ship's Commander and thus could no longer be ignored.

It was a strange coincidence just as Shepard was becoming the then new L3; the Illusive Man was working for the future when he ordered the destruction of an Eldfell-Ashland Energy ship over Yandoa. The colony suffered catastrophic dust-form of element-zero exposures that resulted in birth defects and thirty-seven biotic children being born: one of them was _The Asset._

If Samantha Shepard hadn't been exposed to a second dose of Ee-Zo as a teenager, the Illusive Man might never have dreamed of the treatments he ordered _The Asset _to undergo. Shepard was extremely powerful for a biotic. What she had done both on Elysium and again in the Council Chambers was astonishing. She had surpassed the shut-down cooling of her amplifying implants and continued to use her biotics without killing herself, going mad or turning homicidal, she hadn't even suffered any sort of mentally or physically debilitating side effects. Shepard was beyond the Illusive Man's touch which was why he had insured _The Asset_ had been exposed in-utero just like Shepard. The medications and augmentations as well as the medicines that enhanced her biotics in hopes to recreate what had happened to Shepard when she was fourteen.

There was a click and buzz on his desk alerting the Illusive Man he had a call waiting. "What?!" he barked into the offending intercom.

"Sir, I think this is something you will want to see." The voice of his administrative assistant Duncan Scott came over the Illusive Man's interoffice communications. It carried the note of worry and fear. The sort of fear only messengers held as they approached Caesar thousands of years ago with ill news.

Given that he had just received negative information from Grayson, The Illusive wasn't predisposed to want a second dose. Nevertheless, he had obligations to his agendas and to Cerberus. "Patch it through Scott," he ordered mechanically. The Illusive Man's steely-blue eyes narrowed as he ordered the channel to open. His face an emotionless mask as he watched the grainy static ridden transmission from Ilos:

A geth dropship loomed over the encampment wasting no time in deploying their quadrupled armatures. Shouts barked, over the roar of the firing of assault rifles. From the HUD cam inside one of the agent's helmet, soldiers could be seen running for the GAG.

Ground-air guns were a heady weapon to have when faced with air strikes by geth, alien or even Alliance military skiffs. The geth however knew that, and so made sure that the GAG and its operators were their primary target.

Static overcame the scene more white noise was heard than the orders of the battle. The distinct cry of: 'We're under heavy fire! Request immediate extraction, repeat immediate extraction!'

Explosions sounded.

Then, a voice barely audible over the shell fire all around the soldier, told the Illusive Man the campaign on Ilos was lost. The sergeant whose HUD gave the overlord a point-of-view of the turrets two barrels loaded with two-hundred caliber ammunition fired at full strength into the dropship, at the sergeant's command, tearing through that flying death trap as easily as the ship's own munitions went through Cerberus's people.

Stepping out of the GAG, the soldier whooped and cheered as the dropship went hurtling down—right toward the camp.

_KA-Blamm!_

The young merc ran as fast as he could, pumping his tired, aching legs with all his strength. After he went to all the trouble of shooting down the dropship it would be incredibly embarrassing to be squashed by the damn thing as it hurtled to the ground in a hulking ball of flames.

"Run! Run! Run! He screamed running crazed directly for his sergeant, the fiery dropship heading toward the ground at a great rate right behind him. Even as the corporal grabbed him, the sergeant himself leaped to the ground, hoping to avoid the wreck.

Whoops of joy were suddenly cut off by ear-splitting screaming static.

"More incoming!" a voice hovered somewhere over the sergeant's flank. "Sarge!" that second voice cried out. "We've got back up! Three squads and one heavy-rover at nine-o'clock! "

The Illusive Man frowned. That didn't make any sense. How had the orbiting vessel managed to drop in reinforcements so quickly? The answer was painfully obvious.

'No you idiots the geth are playing you! That's the enemy out-flanking you!' It was the same shout one hurls at the vid-scene when watching a holofed programs. You yell at the protagonists not to venture into the big-scary –too-dark-cave because the big-nasty-monster was right there lurking in the shadows ready to devour them. The hero blundered in got torn apart, his friend eaten and the monster left to go eat someone else. No amount of yelling at the screen would change the outcome. No amount of shouting at the transmission would change this outcome either.

Garbled words became devoured by static. "… enemy … foothold … lost …" more static. "… don't know how they did it … all hands lost. Made sure … no retreat possible … has taken all."

"Sorry, sir. It cuts out right after that. There are no cleaner transmissions."

There was a second terrible explosion.

The Illusive Man turned off the monitor yet continued to stare at the blank screen. His instinct told him there was more to the geth's brutal attack than he had just witnessed. Something was very, very wrong. His troops had had been outmaneuvered by an enemy that was that was used to flexibility in moving and skillfulness in seizing opportunities to fight. The commander of the enemy forces held a heavy concentration of forces to defeat his people one by one. They had moved with swiftness in a comparatively short time spent in battle. His troops had been utterly annihilated.

Despite the appearances of a geth attack The Illusive Man couldn't help but think of one name.

Shepard.


	19. Truth Will Out

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Nineteen: Truth Will Out

The ground teams had gathered at the base camp. It was three hours in the aftermath of the fracas with Cerberus and Shepard wanted a headcount and sitrep from all the team leaders.

The sisters Williams had found each other. The younger sister had born witness to the battle from the vantage point of her team's excavation point. They did as the marines escorting them had ordered, digging themselves in and not interfering with the battle taking place below them. Still Abby Williams had felt the exhilaration of the battle surging through her heart and felt it still.

"No wonder you joined up Ash. It was amazing! The explosions, the ship crashing down, it was an incredible battle! The Commander … she's amazing how she worked all of it out. I mean using the whole Trojan horse thing. … and the outflanking and making the bad guys think they had backup and all… it's incredible and I didn't even fight, I just saw it!"

Ash smiled at her sister then grimaced as she dug into her MRE. It had read beef stroganoff on the wrapper but looked like some dubious brown-sludge that was pretending very hard to be considered food. "It doesn't get old." Going back into the MRE's foil pack the lieutenant opened the tiny bottle of green-chili Tabasco and poured it into her meal and on a second thought opened the tiny red bottle of said Tabasco sauce and poured it in too. Salt and pepper followed in a vain attempt to make her food palatable. "The food occasionally does." Ash joked a little and took a large bite of her meal and tried to chew and swallow without having to taste it.

The young lieutenant gave a small thought to Liara T'Soni who had spent the last fifty years eating MRE goop. How the asari could stomach it Williams didn't know. In fact there was a lot about T'Soni that puzzled the young lieutenant. Ever since she hooked up with the Skipper, Shepard had changed. Not that Williams had a great deal of interaction with the Spectre before Therum, still there was a change. It was like she was more powerful in her biotics. Like Joker said Commander Samantha Shepard was more … 'Spectre-y'.

Abby followed her sister's staring gaze and smiled. "I don't think Lynn is the only Williams woman in love with Commander Shepard."

Ash turned on her sister and gave her a look. "Keep your teeth together." She said haughtily. "Before you say something really stupid."

"You said it before; if Shepard were male she would be love of your life. Why didn't you go for her? Because she was already hooked up with Dr. T'Soni, or because she's sly and you're not and you were too afraid to take the leap to Girl's Town? You could have given it a shot; you could have had a something truly meaningful, something real. Don't tell me regulations made you think twice about going for her."

"I'm not talking about this."

"I know she's married now, but…"

Ash slammed the duroplastic spork into her foil pack and chucked the whole thing into the fire. "I told you to shut it! Now as the XO, I'm ordering you to, Doctor Williams." She stalked off mumbling something about inspecting the picket. Of course it wasn't her watch but that didn't stop the young woman from patrolling.

Abby knew better than to answer her knee-jerk reaction and go after her elder sister. When Ash got like this it was best to let her cool down on her own. The younger Williams knew she had hit pretty close to the mark to get her sis all riled up like she had. The geologist turned her attention away from her sister's retreating form to the Spectre who was leaning against a plinth with her arms folded over her chest listing to a report given to her by Abby's own team leader Dr. Lizbeth Baynham.

Abby thought there was a great deal to tell but exo-paleobotany and geology couldn't have held any true interest for a woman like the Spectre. Still Abby was proud of what they discovered. Granted like her mother she was a geologist, but she still knew the value of the plant life they uncovered and what it could mean for pharmaceutical sciences. The sedimentary studies Abby explored had uncovered much of the worlds the Protheans found suitable for colonization.

The galaxy had significantly changed in fifty-thousand years. All those planets the Protheans had colonized during the height of their empire revealed a great deal about what the Protheans were before the Reapers opened the doors to oblivion. Like humans, asari and turians the Protheans thrived on planets with an Earth-like nitrogen-oxygen mix in the atmosphere.

Abby had been studying exo-geology since graduate school and having uncovered Prothean data disks and ruins on other planets with fossil records that revealed classic pre-garden terrestrial worlds with conditions similar to those on Earth millions of years ago. Having seen signs of Prothean colonies it would seem the ancient race was highly adaptive to a host of different environments. They could live on worlds where it was hot, humid and the atmosphere mainly composed of nitrogen and carbon dioxide just as easily as they could on worlds like Novaria, Ilos, Faros and Virmire. The fossil finds her team had recovered on Ilos would prove invaluable to understanding the Protheans at large and how they became so prolific in their colorizations and scientific advancements.

Abby continued to watch the team-leader briefing with mild amusement at the very animated scientists and one slightly bored Spectre. Shepard was a lot like Ash that way. While fully fascinated by some aspects of history and sciences they both could become bored while the 'science geeks' talked shop. The Spectre was listening to the reports because it was required of her and thus not something she could delegate; though it looked as if she would prefer to have had that option.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Dr. Ororo, one of the few female salarians serving on _Victory_ was more animated than even her species were known for. The astrophysicist in charge of one of the tech-recovery teams became enthralled with Ksad Ishan. To be fair everyone at base camp was, even Wrex who pretended not to be impressed by the Protheans, though that was evidently a lie.

"This is astonishing Spectre, truly astonishing! We have a working prothean AI, Just think of what we can uncover! Isn't this exciting?!" Dr Ororo had the type of voice that could exclaim a question. It seemed to have an excited squeal permanently screwed to it. Her faceted eyes blinked several times in jubilation.

'Ah well she was press-ganged for her astrophysical skills not her oratory abilities.' Shepard reminded herself. So far the only animated and highly-over-excited scientist that didn't wrack her nerves was Liara. 'But she is so cute when she gets into babble mode. How can you not fall for that?' her hindbrain said while her forebrain smiled and nodded at the salarian woman.

"Ksad Ishan will be instrumental in uncovering and deciphering ancient astronomical maps and star maps my team recovered from the database. Not to mention the library of data disks the Council possesses as well as the archives on Jaëto and Mannovai!"

Shepard held up her hand forestalling the salarian. "For now we need to keep this information quarantined to the _Victory_ and the Council. We can not afford to lose the advantage of anonymity. We've taken great pains to keep Ksad Ishan disguised and for now it remains that way. Not all hands on _Victory_ will know the full truth of our guest, it is on a need-to-know-basis and I decide who needs to know. This is a direct order, I know most of you are not military but this is a military mission and a military decision given to you by a Council Spectre.

"And as a Spectre, Ksad Ishan is under my jurisdiction thus that of the Council not the Alliance. So don't any of you get it into your heads that's what's going on, because it isn't. There are no negotiations in this people, and no room for argument. Those who violate the order will be dealt with harshly and permanently under Council law." She gave them all a hard look projecting a warning that the first one who challenged this would have a very hard time of it indeed.

"As resident prothean expert and the Director of Sciences onboard _Victory,_ Dr. T'Soni will be in full command of all research and interaction with Ksad Ishan, then sanctioned by me." Shepard continued.

"While I concur with you, Dr Ororo about using Ksad Ishan to aid in recovery and interpretation of the Prothean disks already uncovered and all such future discoveries, this research is under the guidance of Dr. T'Soni. On that note I will be leading salvage teams to a Prothean temple where we recovered the geth juggernaut. The teams that will be accompanying me will be as follows: my own with the exception of Lt. Nual who sustained an injury during our last mission, Dr. T'Soni's as well as your team Dr. Ororo.

"Dr. Baynham … Lizbeth not you Juliana, I'll be taking doctors Palon and Williams as well. Their expertise in toxicology and geology will be vital to the mission. I want to know what kind of dangers I'm leading my people into when we open that temple. After dismissal I want the all those teams involved to be ready to roll out at oh-four-hundred hours tomorrow morning. All gear and personnel will be ready, make sure your people are well rested and fed. We have enough assault teams where not everyone has to walk the picket. Dismissed."

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

It wasn't strictly necessary that Lieutenant Williams be present for the briefing. After all Pressly had never been present during the briefings after each mission the last time. Still, it was odd that she hadn't been there. It had Shepard wondering why this was. Word had it Williams took to stalking the picket line and checking the perimeter. This was a duty that could be delegated, so why hadn't Williams been present at the briefing? But then the XO had been a little odd since … since she had been told about the pregnancy.

Shepard tried to fathom what William's thought processes might be. Williams would never allow her personal thoughts to come between her and duty, but she had to have a moment to work it out. How better to work through deep cerebral, spiritual things than to walk the picket. It allowed one the time to think through things and still perform your duty. It was like cleaning one's gun. You disassembled it, cleaned and serviced each part, put it back together again so many times you didn't have to really think about it. It allowed you to think about other things, things that had been eating at your mind.

Shepard envied her junior officer for the moment of freedom in her moments to patrol the pickets to clear her brain, while the Spectre was stuck in her own brain - stuck in the nauseating replaying of the nightmares of the beacons.

The last time on Ilos there wasn't enough time to become assaulted by the ghosts of the Prothean memories. Now there was a plethora of time to be haunted by the memories. A Spectre haunted by specters; it might have been humorous, if extremely inebriated … as it was, it was only a very bad pun on real life. No wonder Saren went mad.

The Spectre almost, but did not quite sigh, forcing the clawing hands of the Prothean's legacy back into the recesses of her mind where they belonged. The Specter moved fluidly towards the picket line, offering absent nods and greetings to the crew members she passed. Samantha paused as her crystalline gaze easily found her XO's agitated form, Ash's steps graceful yet determined. The Lieutenant had not seen her Commander yet and the Specter preferred it so. "What's bothering you Ash?" Shepard questioned the dry, acrid air of Ilos, knowing no answer would be forthcoming. Exhaling softly, the first human Spectre moved towards her XO hoping to offer her services as a sounding board, or perhaps a helping hand.

Williams had begrudgingly accepted aliens on the Normandy. It was hard going what with the legacy her grandfather had left her, what First Contact had left her. Later Williams had learned to accept the friendship and later romantic relationship between her skipper and Miss Prothean Expert. It was fine as long as there wasn't a marriage. But there had been a marriage. But that was fine, T'Soni had bled with them, had to confront, battle and finally kill her own mother because that was where the mission led them. Yes, marriage was fine as long as there were no children. In Williams' hindbrain there could be no chance of a child as both partners were female, despite her forebrain knowing that wasn't true at least not with an asari. And now there was a child. And as she had with the marriage Williams had accepted a role in the new development. It was as if the young woman was battling two sides of herself: there was the part that rejoiced and was happy for her skipper … her friend, and the other part that had to live with the fizz of disquieting mistrust of aliens and jealousy, because T'Soni had what Williams wanted. The love of Samantha Shepard.

It was enough to make one go spare. Yep no doubt about it, a good walk of the picket was a very good way to clear the head.

"How's the line?" the Spectre said coming up to the younger woman.

"Five by five, Ma'am," Williams easily reported.

Shepard nodded. "You didn't miss anything vital at the briefing. It was only status reports from the recovery teams. I've placed a level six security quarantine on Ksad Ishan's true identity. The cover story for the rest of the crew of the Victory and others is that he was recruited specifically by Liara for his achievements in Prothean technology; he will pose as her apprentice."

"But the teams knew we were looking for a geth juggernaut, how are we covering that up?"

"Half truths: we needed the juggernaut's memory core to down load Vigil's data banks." Shepard gave her XO an appraising look. "Anyone found breaking the direct order will be sent into solitary confinement and quite possibly a more permanent resolution."

Williams blanched. "Ma'am? Execution?"

"Lieutenant, I have a traitor on my ship that has links to those who sent God knows how many bounty hunters on my tail, on Liara's! That someone wants her dead, just to get back at me. Cerberus was here trying to get DNA samples of the Protheans to add to their genetic soup to create their fracking super soldiers. They are rogue. What they are doing isn't for the Alliance Military it's for some megalomaniac Machiavellian psychopath. They murdered Admiral Kohoku! We're trying to prevent the extinction of all sentients, Lieutenant. You bloody well bet I'll command the execution of a traitor!"

Ashley held her Commander's stern gaze as a stony silence descended between them.

"Citadel law is pretty clear on the matters of treason, ma'am. One would have to be pretty stupid to go up against it and the Spectre that enforces it."

The stony silence started to crack. In two heartbeats it crumbled, in a breath it was dust.

"We're rolling out early, four-hundred-hours. We're going back down to the temple; I need everything ready to go."

Ash knew what the next order was going to be. 'I need you to stay and take command of the base camp.' Well why not? It was standard operating procedure. She was the XO of Victory and since Kaiden fell she was the second in command of ground teams. The days of riding shotgun and covering her skipper's six were over. A small part of her became bitter at that. Liara took her skipper away from her on a personal level. Because she was the XO she was now being parted from her on a professional level.

"Ash, I need you to …"

"I know Skipper, take command of the base camp."

"Actually no, I need you with the salvage teams. I need you at my six. I'll be swimming in an overabundance of scientists; I need a bit of normalcy with me. Wrex and Garrus are warriors but they aren't … marines." What the Spectre didn't say was: 'they're not you. You're my person, Ash, I need you.' As the younger woman's CO she couldn't cross that line, no matter how she felt. Those words could never be uttered allowed while on active duty. Both knew it. What the Spectre did say was: "I need my Trusted at my six because this place is fracking around with my head. There are too many ghosts. I need someone there to be objective, Liara won't be. She has the cipher the same as me and additionally there's our bond… you get the picture. We share memories, thoughts and dreams; it will be difficult for her to pull back. I need your fresh, untainted perspective on this."

Williams smiled brightly, her heart swelled in pride and something a bit more. She ignored the nagging bit of her hindbrain that said she was treading in a landmine of trouble. Her skipper needed her and she wasn't about to let the Spectre down just because her sister opened up something Ash worked hard to keep buried. Then something hit the lieutenant. Hard. 'This place is fracking around with my head. There are too many ghosts.' "Skipper … if you returned to the ship …"

"No. That's out of the question." The Spectre shook her head. "I just have to center myself. The meditations help sort it all out."

"It's the memories from the beacons isn't it?"

"Yes. Only more so. The cipher and the beacons, all that death, screams of the dying lasting for centuries then suddenly silenced. It echoes in my mind in a frantic playback loop. I hear the warnings of the twelve, the silent deaths of thousands as their cryogenic chambers were shut down by the dozens and the hundreds. Their voices echo like a faint white noise in my mind. The truth is they have ever since Eden Juggernaut, but it's worse here. Ilos is the heart of disparity."

Ash came up to her skipper and placed a worrying hand upon the older woman's shoulder. "Sam?" Ash ventured softly knowing she was teetering on the edge of protocol. But it was on a small level allowable for the XO to address the CO by first name when in private. Williams had a difficult time uttering the single word; Skipper was easier on the tongue and the mind. But worry motivated the lieutenant.

The Spectre shook her head again. "Never mind me Ash, as soon as we get off this fracking rock I'll be right as rain." She took in a deep breath of air and exhaled it slowly. "Come on, there's a fair bit to do before we roll out in the morning. Some chow and shuteye will do a world of good."

The Spectre turned a glance over her shoulder, "Ash, promise me this, whatever the future holds for any of us, for me- - you finish this mission. I need your promise that you will finish it. I feel it deep in my gut. The future is going to be … problematic."

Ash opened her mouth to protest, to reassure her skipper that it was only nightmares; that she would succeed but stopped the words before they were birthed. That wasn't the reassurance Samantha Shepard needed, she needed a promise. "You've got it, Skipper. I promise I'll see this through to the end." Ashley hesitated for a moment then decided her beloved skipper needed to hear this. "Skipper … Sam, I promise you this too. I'll look out for Miss Prothean Expert and your little one too. One Marine to another - I'll always have their six."

Samantha turned for in this private moment between the two the Spectre allowed herself, allowed Ashley this moment. "That's why you were and are and always will be my Trusted, Ash."

Ash grinned. And in a hairs breath grimaced within knowing full well she had a full on blush creeping up along her neck, hitting her ears and about to take a foothold on her cheeks. "So how about a game of pool once we get back to our ship?"

The moment was defused for both of them.

Shepard smirked. "How 'bout poker?"

"Aw no fair, Skipper! You'll clean my clock!"

"No more fair you skunking me at pool, Lieutenant."

Ash grinned brightly, things were back to normal. Relatively speaking that was.

MEMEMEMEMEMMEME

Quietly the Spectre entered into the medical habitat. Operation Trojan Horse had been a swift mission but it wasn't without it victims. Fortunately no casualties had mounted up but it had been close. Three members of Russan's team had been gravely wounded as had one of Kirrahe's STGs. More had various wounds that had not been prevented by kinetic barriers. Before Shepard had put together the team briefing she had consulted Aleena on the butcher's bill. Now she was here for an update.

"S'thasa, how are they doing?"

"I stabilized the most critical, Commander. They will now be able be moved back the _Victory _where Dr. Chakwas will be able to care for them."

The Spectre looked at the four soldiers: one salarian, two turians and one human. Multispecies missions meant multispecies wounded. Had not a single human been wounded it could have turned political. Political meant acerbic ambassadors, and those types of ambassadors always, always made things worse, at least as far as the Spectre was concerned. All you had to do was to look at Udina. Hell even the turian councilor was caustic with Shepard, always judging her decisions in hindsight. It made her wonder if he was this way with all Spectres or singled out the human one for his barbed comments.

Shepard stared at other wounded: salarian, turians and human. The Spectre resisted the sing-song 'oh my' in her head. Oh and one asari if you counted in a healing dislocated shoulder.

"Good work, Doctor."

For a moment Aleena hesitated before she spoke. All the wounded were heavily sedated. The medics after seeing to their rounds had left the tent and had gone out seeking something to eat. They were alone, relatively speaking.

She is playing the blind woman, watching for me to betray myself. "Spectre … you know don't you. You know."

A smile slipped upon the human's ruby lips. The Spectre had wondered about this moment for some time. "Maybe you should clarify that question, doctor."

"THAT!" the huntress nearly bellowed, or would have if not for the whispered tone. "That right there. You … you know about me the real me and you still call me doctor!"

"Yes. I know. I know what you are bounty hunter. I even suspect I know who you are."

"But I'm still alive. Why?"

"Because what I don't know is who sent you."

"What?" the bounty hunter stared agog.

"You are the huntress known as Aleena aren't you? Wrex doesn't recognize you, so I'm guessing you underwent a bit of cosmetic surgery including something to change your pheromones so he doesn't take your scent."

The huntress only nodded.

"See there in lies the problem. I know what and who you are but not who sent you. Back on Elysium you could have taken out Liara or even me in that alley and made your escape. We were on a colony filled with thousands and you had every opportunity then to disappear. You even had opportunities for transport off the rock to escape. But you didn't take it. Why? That is the real question. Why didn't you take it? This made me wonder who truly sent you. I mean if I was a bounty hunter after a catch I'd integrate myself into their company, make myself indispensable to my prey, that way I could protect my mark from other hunters and take them out at my convenience.

"Now here's the thing. If I was a bounty hunter I would have taken my catch back on Elysium, a very convenient location. You however didn't make a move. So I was left with who sent you? The Consort Sha'ira, perhaps even the asari councilor or another matriarch who wants to remain hidden. Or was it Matriarch Lidanya and her wife Racean who is Liara's half-sister? Perhaps out of some wild speculation even Councilor Anderson, who might have had a heads up or speculation of what Udina was up to or would do. If they sent you, they would need to do so covertly, otherwise it gets political."

Aleena was still staring, still stymied. "That is why you hesitate? You don't know who sent me, so you waited to see if I would lead you to my client. Just as you hesitate to move against the traitor on the ship in hopes they will lead you to your true target."

"Yes." The Spectre folded her arms over her chest.

Aleena sat down on one of the empty bunks. "I've never had contract like this. Working with you, fighting at your side, getting to know you and Dr. T'Soni. I … I didn't want to complete the contract."

"So it was Udina that sent you."

The huntress nodded. She waited for the shark to attack. It was the only thing for it. And unlike her confrontation on the old salarian space station, Aleena wouldn't fight back. She had begun to believe in the Spectre, in her mission. This hunt was wrong, everything about it was wrong. And now there was a child. Aleena had always been a bit of a softy when it came to the innocent. That wasn't going to change no matter how much she would have made in completing the contract. Better to die then.

The silence was all the confirmation Shepard needed. "I want names, the numbers of the opposition and what the others are capable of, as well as techniques. I want to know the ratio of battlemasters, tanks, how many biotics and how many stealth fighters I'm up against."

"And after that Spectre, what then?"

"Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa continues to serve the _Victory_'s crew in the capacity she signed on for. XO Williams and Dr. T'Soni as well as Huntress Shiala will know the truth about you, Aleena."

"And if I don't capitulate?"

"Then you stay on this rock, alive or dead. That depends on how the battle plays out. I know how you took Wrex to an abandoned salarian space station overrun with mercs and pirates so innocents wouldn't get caught in the cross-fire. It didn't stop either you or the krogan from killing the mercs or destroying the station. I know how you barricaded yourself in the medical bay patching yourself up and that you escaped the station's ultimate destruction.

"But this isn't a station filled with mercs; it's an encampment with a Spectre, asari commandos, C-sec officers, the Council's STG elite and turian warriors as well as human marines and one krogan biotic battlemaster merc who might want a rematch. The odds are stacked against one asari commando merc, but they are more lenient to a field-medic who made a decision she perhaps aught not have made. The round goes back to you, Huntress. Who are you going to be?"

Aleena took a moment to ponder the question before her. She wasn't weighing the pros and cons and the odds as one might first assume. She was stymied as to why the Spectre was giving her this chance. Wasn't this the perfect opportunity for the ray to ambush? Or was this a twist on the battle oath she had laid out before Wrex. Only there was no biotic headbutt, this was a bold challenge nonetheless. Like Wrex, Aleena had the choice to capitulate to the Spectre's demands or take the fight.

"How do you know I haven't been in contact with Cerberus or that I haven't given up our position? Why are you giving me a choice? "

"Why didn't you take the shot in that alleyway? As far as contacting Cerberus, I doubt it. That isn't your M.O. at all. You hunt alone others would simply get in your way. By your own admission you joined the crew to keep other hunters from taking your prey. So I ask you again, why didn't you take that shot?"

Why hadn't she? She had them dead to rights, the shot was hers and yet she stayed her hand. She had taken the rival mercenary's head nearly clean off with her well aimed shot when she could have equally taken off Liara's head. But she hadn't. Why hadn't she?

"I don't know to be honest. I gave myself justifications and excuses for not taking the shot. In the end, in this moment does it matter? Now you have me dead to rights and it is you Spectre that stays your hand."

There was a movement from somewhere near the doorway. Liara glowing blue, Williams with her assault rifle in her hands: the finger flagging the trigger. Just as the Spectre had in the cargo bay that long ago day back on the Normandy she had commanded her warriors with silent orders to back her up should she receive an answer to her question not to her liking.

"Yes I do. And yes I am. And that's why I do so. Now what is your decision?"

Rebelling against serving a Spectre with little pay or fulfilling her contract was all a bit superfluous now. If Aleena chose to fight she would be fighting not only the Spectre but one of the most powerful biotics in Council space as well as one of the finest officers in the Alliance Navy. Her mind worked fast, flying in emergency supplies of common sense as asari minds do, to construct a huge anchor in sanity and prove that what had happened hadn't happened the way it had happened. Even if it had happened, it doesn't happen very often. The Spectre was good at duplicity and outflanking her opponent. With the very real possibility of truth, the Spectre had simply told her wife via their telepathic connection to enter the medical tent with Williams at her side. Both were to be armed with their best weapons, make a show of it but ask no questions, just do it.

"Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa at your service Commander Shepard."

Both Liara and Williams relaxed their stance but not their guard. Shepard continued to watch the bounty hunter and began to explain just who the good doctor was. And because she knew the question was still festering in Aleena and no doubt taking root in Williams as well as Liara, the Spectre answered the question as to why the mercenary was still alive.

"She lives not because I've allowed it but because her death serves no one."

Williams was more reluctant to allow her guard down even for a moment. "So what are going to do with her, Commander?" That was a question Aleena wanted herself. Being allowed to live and being free were two different things.

"As I said earlier she remains as Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa."

"I want know why you changed your mind, Huntress." Liara demanded primly.

"I have never killed a child and I'm not about to now." Aleena answered evenly and honestly. "And to be perfectly frank I think this mission we're on is more important than anything I've ever been involved with. When I'm a matriarch looking back on decisions I've made, I don't want to look back and regret. In fact I want to be able to look back. You said my death serves no one, neither does Liara T'Soni's. In fact it would be detrimental. To push that frankness further Lieutenant Williams you need someone who thinks like a mercenary bounty hunter." After a moment she added, "Other than Wrex, that is. To be perfectly blunt you do not know how to think like a bastard, I do. It always comes as a shock when others are oathbreakers or sell you out."

That was a valid point if truth be told. Both Shepard and Williams were navy brats. They grew up in a household were regulations, rules and uniform was common place. They had served in the military since their late teens. They knew regulations, laws, and orders. They lived it.

Despite being a Spectre and thus above the law, Shepard still thought in the mindset of a marine officer. It was quite possible she didn't know how to not think of herself as such despite she was no longer in service to the Systems Alliance Military. Yes, she could be devious and even duplicitous as were all good military tacticians but she wasn't an out right bastard.

Now a merc often lived on the fringes of law, making and keeping their own codes. Shepard had come to understand Wrex. He finished a contract despite the moral lines of not shooting someone when they had surrendered as he had with Fist.

"Had Liara not been with child, what then?" The Spectre challenged.

"I don't think I would have carried through even then, Commander. Placing elements into the balances say all sentient organic life on one side and genocidal machines on the second and a revenge-twisted-imbecile on the third which side would you have taken? You stole the _Normandy_ because you believed and rightly so that was the correct course of action. Right now it isn't my very possible death that makes me think, it is the death of all life, including Udina's. Question my motives all you wish, but I have no desire to see all life wiped out. I believe in what you are doing Shepard."

"As I said before, you are to be Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa. Once Aleena steps onboard my ship, she's dead. She might have withstood to epic battles with Wrex, but she has yet to face a Spectre, a hardcore kick-ass marine and a very powerful biotic Prothean expert bent on stopping galactic genocide."

MEMEMEMEMEMMEME

Both Williams and Liara continued to stare at the Spectre even as they were now clear of the medical tent. Shepard suspected she knew what was on the minds of both of the other women even before she opened her mouth to speak.

"After Elysium, I hypothesized we had a bounty hunter on board." The Spectre said as an opener. "As to how I knew we had one on board that was easy. It's like I told S'thasa, if I were a bounty hunter it is exactly what I would have done."

Shepard went on to explain using the same thought process she had given Aleena about integrating herself into the crew and becoming indispensable. She explained the motive of such actions and the logistics of efficiency in doing so.

"Yes but how did you know it was S'thasa who was the merc?" pressed Ash.

"Process of elimination, really. The bounty hunter could not have been one of the original crew members of the Normandy despite the fact the traitor is. Nor could it have been the marine unit we inherited from the Kilimanjaro. They were all personally selected and sent by my mother, the ship's XO. Nor could it have been one of the asari directly from the T'Soni bastion. They might not have gone with Benezia when she followed Saren but they are still loyal to her teachings. Their whole motivation for being here is to redeem and avenge her name and her teachings. The bounty hunter isn't one of Kirrahe's STGs, of that I was certain. It wasn't a volus, hell they don't even have a military force. So that left a handful of asari, turian and salarian commandos and scientists we took on.

"I simply went fishing for clues. Dr. Ororo cheated on her taxes as well as quasar more than a few times. She also worships the goddess Trelyn. You know the one whose face appears in all those overlapping creators on that planet named for her. The Council considers that particular religion a cult and thus it is less than favored by others in Council space. Ororo fears she will be ridiculed by her peers for her worship of Trelyn, though not skipping out on paying her taxes. Apparently cheating the governing bodies out of credits is par for the course.

"Sergeant Ruusan Vos cheated on his mate with his sister-in-law and the child she carries is his not her husband's. Ahsuka is of pure asari blood just like you Liara. I told her it should not bring her shame for one of the greatest ladies I know shares two asari parents." Shepard smiled at her wife. "And even though Gunnery Chief Phineus Ragnos came from the _Kilimanjaro_ like the rest of his unit, he came to me admitting he had been a part of the Tenth Street Reds back on Earth. It was the only family he had as he never known his parents. Apparently it had been eating away at him, he believed I'd kick him of the ship when if and when I found out." The Spectre gave a long look to her XO, "A bit like someone else I know who had a worry about something in their past dogging their record. I told him he would not have been on the unit or sent over if he hadn't been judged a worthy and capable officer. He believed he had been transferred because of his past not because of his capabilities as a NCO or that he had been hand picked by their Commander Shepard.

"It's amazing the things you discover when people believe you know their darkest secrets." Shepard smiled deviously. "I simply played on their inner fears to make them suspect I would do something about it. I needed … wanted the true hunter to out her or himself. In the end that is exactly what Aleena did."

"Skipper, why didn't you tell me? As XO I had the right to know." Williams said a little harshly.

"I needed you to stay objective, Ash. I didn't tell Liara of who I suspected either if you want to get technical. I needed the suspect to fear the Spectre, not the Alliance Military or the wife of Samantha Shepard. I needed them to fear me. Try to understand that. When they retreated it was because I allowed them to. They saw the Spectre and ran into the shadows where they thought they were safe. In that safety, the suspect might have said or done something in the presence of another because they believed themselves safe. That is when you strike, it was the perfect ambush."

'She is both shark and ray.' The words were Aleena's, the very bounty hunter they were speaking of and until now neither Ashley nor had Liara for that matter truly appreciated what it was to be both such hunters.

"Your action and carefully chosen words forced Aleena to reveal herself to you, as it has with the others." Liara said. "A sound strategy."

"I go with what works." The Spectre said with a hint of a shaky smile tugging at her lips.

"Speaking of what works, I have to hand it to that bond of yours, Skipper." Ash said as the trio made their way across the compound. "Liara comes up to me and in a spooky impersonation of your voice, told me to 'look scary, and take point with my deadliest boom stick, because you need back up now'." The lieutenant said. "Of course she didn't give me more than that before she went all glowy."

"I wasn't given much more information myself, only the words I related to you verbatim and that I was to appear with my biotics readied for pin point accuracy battle. I was to say nothing to anyone else, just you."

The Spectre knew her companions would want answers. "I wagered Aleena would back down but I needed her to see that in a moments notice I had a hell of a lot of firepower at my six. I would leave no doubt in her mind about the position she was in and what I and the two of you were capable of."

"Can we trust her?" Williams looked over her shoulder back to the med-tent.

"No. But she won't go back on her word, I trust her convictions."

"How can you trust a person's convictions and not the person themselves?" Williams wanted to know. For her this seemed a contradiction.

"The same way we started to trust Wrex and Garrus when they first joined up with our crew. The same way I trusted Major Kyle to surrender peacefully after I gave him that hour to speak to his followers. The same way I trusted Saren to commit suicide even after all the crimes and atrocities he committed. I follow my gut instincts."

"And what is it that your 'gut instincts' tell you of Aleena?" Liara pressed.

"She won't betray me or you, or this mission. She understands the greater implications of what we are trying to do. And that I do trust."

That seemed to be the end of the conversation as far as the Spectre was willing to allow it to go. She had told both her companions they were to address the bounty hunter as Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa. They were never to bring up the bounty hunters past contracts in case it was overheard by others, including the traitor.

"Come, let's see if our newest crewmember is finally up and running." The Spectre ordered as she wound her way through the encampment.

MEMEMEMEMEMMEME

"Commander!" Shi'ar exclaimed upon seeing the Spectre enter the habitat that had been set aside for the Vigil / Ksad Ishan project. "We have glorious news." The young asari was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I believe we have discovered a way to integrate all of Vigil's previous files along with the recovered data logs and journals recovered from Dr. Ororo's team into a fully interactive data stream. The geth juggernaut's neuronet cortex was able to extrapolate not only the downloaded personality of the late Overseer Ksad Ishan; it will also integrate approximate responses into the matrix." The asari smiled. "You know what this means of course?"

"Vigil will answer exactly like Ksad Ishan. How exactly is this different to how the protheans set up with Vigil in the first place?" The Spectre asked.

"Essentially more data to extrapolate from." Shi'ar said. "Vigil had been programmed and down-loaded with Overseer Ksad Ishan's personality, but it didn't necessarily have all of the back data that it has now. Even if it had it had been corrupted over time. With the new input and all the prothean disks we thus uncovered here on Ilos, Ksad Ishan will be able to answer questions that Vigil at the time you encountered it either could not because of corrosion or was incapable of answering because of lack of data. We believe now it can."

Shepard gave a long hard look at the holographic disguised turian superimposed over what she knew to be a geth juggernaut's frame. "Bring it on line. Time to test this thing."

"Yes, Commander." Shi'ar activated her Omni tool causing the synthetic body to convulse before it stood up.

The presence of the Prothean memories was now fully aroused for the first time. Samantha Shepard felt the true essence, the true presence of the long dormant Protheans to be willful. Her instinct was to resist. Her hand of its own volition went to her hip to her sidearm. Yes her scientists had reformatted the synthetic to be a Prothean VI under her orders but this thing still had the posotronic brain of a geth. She hadn't come this far to be overcome by a metal construct.

Unlike the glowing amber willow-the-whips that was Vigil, Ksad Ishan had a far different air about it. Perhaps because now it had a face, eyes, a mouth even if they were holographic. It was more familiar and less disconcerting to talk to and that put the Spectre on edge. She didn't want to feel comfortable around the 'clanker'.

"Ksad Ishan can you respond?" Liara asked for a lack of anything else to say.

Mechanically it tilted its head, waited and then spoke with a turian's reverberated tones. "All systems on line." The voice sounded nearly the same as Vigil's had but the geth's vocalizer made it sound tinny as if speaking though an environmental suit, almost quarian in that respect.

"I'm Commander Shepard: Council Spectre, do you recall our previous encounter?"

"I do Commander." The entity that was once Ksad Ishan turned its attention to the Spectre. It seemed to think before it spoke as if the memories within the journals of the overseer didn't quite fit into the data files downloaded into Vigil by its creator. Perhaps it as if one had discovered old letters and diaries of one's parent before they became a parent. The person in those journals seems to be a stranger even if they were familiar. The secrets within those diaries didn't quite fit with the knowledge you held of your parent.

At last it seemed to make a decision as it said: "So what are you … pawn, savior, redeemer or destroyer? What role do you play, do you even know? You have wandered this galaxy blithely unlocking secrets that have been sealed and forbidden for millennia. The paths you have been treading have been opened to only one race. You don't know what you are, do you?

"I have been many things." Shepard said calmly folding her arms over her chest. "If you find me ignorant enlighten me."

The phantom entity within the turian disguised juggernaut sighed pointedly. "What is the point? The galaxy is ended. The Reapers have culled all. All that is left of our people are contained in cryogenic status and they are but dust."

"No." this word came from Liara. "No, not in this time. The Culling of the Reapers of your era Ksad Ishan has passed and the galaxy is reborn. The twelve remaining top scientific individuals broke the cycle when they traveled to the Citadel and interfered with the signal sent to the keepers. Your plans worked Dr. Ksad Ishan; the galaxy thrives again once more. I regret to say of those valiant twelve their fate is unknown although Vigil hypothesized they starved to death on the Citadel, as the Conduit portal only links one way and there was no food or water on the station at that time. No doubt the keepers had a clean up party after the Citadel was struck. No evidence left behind sort of thing in their protocols. The legacy you left for your peoples brought us to you.

"Commander Shepard was caught first by a beacon on Eden Prime and subsequently the one on Virmire. She was also given the Cipher once held by the thorian on Faros. It was those visions that lead her here. Those secrets you said were closed to all but one race opened to those who held the Cipher," the asari continued to explain. "Now we return here seeking answers to stop the Reapers fully. Sovereign is dead, destroyed by an alliance between our races. We will not capitulate to the prophecy of galactic doom. The cycle will end. Help us with the secrets that still lay hidden and those that we have unearthed."

Ksad Ishan spoke with a wistful yet dismissive tone. "You can not imagine the magnitude of the rapture and the tragedy of this moment and yet you must if the galaxy is to be dragged from the wreckage of its damnation. You must understand my fatalism is firmly ingrained I fear. You and all organics resist the cycle of destruction because you are compelled to—just as we had been—just as the Reapers are compelled to annihilate all organics. History is irredeemable. Drop a stone into a rushing river the current simply courses around it and flows on as if the obstruction were never there. We were, you and all other organics are pebbles, have even less hope of disrupting the time of the Culling.

"The continuum of history is simply too strong, too resilient - except the Citadel." The entity waved a languid hand. "You achieved what we had hoped to do and failed. The mass relay to Dark Space is closed off, perhaps there is hope - perhaps the same sick drama may not need to be played out to its inevitable end. Perhaps organics are not cursed to purgatory."

"This is why we've come back." Shepard felt the compulsive need to repeat the reason for their mission to Ilos. "I carry the cipher as do two others on my ship: my wife Liara and our mentor Shiala. Understanding the language, the genetic memory of a people is a far cry from knowledge you hold. Ksad Ishan, this cycle of destruction doesn't have to be an ending of organics, it can be a prelude to the ending of the Reapers. I have no messianic delusions, I only desire what all organics do: to stop the Reapers from obliterating us."

"Nevertheless you are a crusader, child. And as such you will have those who abhor your deeds and those who will lionize them. It is something I am familiar with or rather I have been familiar with. There will be those who will hand all their hopes to you, trusting you to keep them from oblivion. There will be those who deny the ending of all things, because they find security in their deliberate blindness that anything could possibly be wrong. It is easy to become caught up in such ideals. You seek to understand that which has been given to you.

I see in your eyes a reflection of those who have lionized you as you look upon me; I warn you do not do so. To fathom the true power of knowledge - to see its paths and streams tracing out into the infinite as primitive the words could never contain such hidden truths. But each of us is so much more than we once were as long as a single one of us still stands we are legion."

"I've heard that before and not from you." Shepard said darkly, her hand once more going for the butt of her pistol. Despite all the effort her people had done to make it possible to have a walking Prothean VI she wouldn't hesitate to put a bullet in the clanker's head.

"I understand your meaning but I do not think you understand mine. There was a time when we were indivisible but never divine, child." The entity within Ksad Ishan spoke almost patronisingly as a teacher would a student as he spoke more to Liara than to Shepard. "You have uncovered the past from the beacons, and those ancient relics we left behind. But you know nothing of it. You think we Protheans were all noble, forthright and altruistic? Don't be simple. Our agenda was the same as all living now in this era. We lived, we loved, begot children, studied, battled and explored. We visited our knowledge, our gifts on the unwilling and the wanting both without impunity.

"Even as we created a way to cut off the Citadel from their creators, others turned to the contingency plan. Our last hope lay with the very young sentient species. Some of my brethren who took on the name the Watchers wished only to study the primitives of the other worlds. On these primitive worlds we left traces of our knowledge behind so that in time when natural evolution allowed these primitive souls to gain greater understanding they would seed the galaxy with their get. They would become capable of understanding our warnings and perhaps divine a way to survive the Culling and push back the Reapers. As I said, there were others who wished to advance the infant races.

"Here is the schism - the wreck of our memories, of our great knowledges. Instead of merely studying your ancient ancestors, some of our brethren desired to give them power over dark matter. In some races, it was already there for such was the nature of their creation…their evolution." He gave a pointed look to the gathered asari. "But others only had the possibility to call upon dark matter though did not wield it."

Liara looked to her beloved wife and found the same gaze returned to her. Both thought of the chrome sphere on Eletania and the strange vision Shepard beheld when she had placed Shi'ara's 'trinket' into the slotted keyhole in the bottom of the sphere.

"We were no longer indivisible. Those who continued to manipulate the younger races of life did so without the consent of the Elder Council. Their…our profundity was our vanity, our arrogance. It was not noble intention that drove this quest but fear for we all had seen the great Darkness that befell those that came before. Whole galactic civilizations culled to the brink of extinction. Sentient life would be forced to begin anew just as it had done before.

"During the schism those desired this line of experimentation, extracted whole tribes of the primitive races and planted them on planets far from their native worlds. And here they granted their 'wards' with the power over dark matter - some of the 'wards' proved capable of containing the energy but their will over such was not stable, not cohesive enough. By studying the ancient aquarian tribes on a planet called Thessia it was discovered why these females had such a hold over their dark matter. Their bodies were riddled with amplifying nerve clusters for they used such abilities not only for defensive and offensive survival, they used such to procreate. Armed with this knowledge the Divided-Ones came back to their wards and used synthetic means to amplify the nervous systems of their wards and were pleased to discover this improved the control of dark matter, greatly."

Shepard struggled to fathom all she had heard, and found herself unable to do so. Liara so overcome had faltered, nearly toppling to her backside before she sat down hard on the stone steps. These were not the Protheans she had devoted fifty years of her life studying. To be taken as lab specimens, experimented upon was incredible bordering upon the ludicrous. They were not the only ones to be so affected. All the asari had found themselves in various states of terrorized fascination and disgust. They too found they were unable to stand. The others shook their heads as they thought of their own Palaeolithic predecessors being the test subjects of the 'noble' protheans.

"What…happened to these wards?" Shepard asked for everyone.

"There were some speculations their masters placed them back into the general population from which they were taken from originally to interbreed with those untested, the control group if you will. Or perhaps they were destroyed along with their masters—the Divided-Ones. All that is left of these experiments are the observations spheres." For a moment the entity paused as its holographic eyes caught the glint of Liara's Promise medallion. "I see that you bear one of the keys to the spheres, young one." Ksad-Ishan approached Liara, but the young woman flinched back.

"Do not touch me!" she snarled, her body shimmered in the ominous cyan glow of biotics. Shepard was on her feet a second later, her own body shimmering in biotic power. After her the other asari and even a krogan began to glow in the brilliant blue light. Williams had her assault riffled raised, aimed with her finger flagging the trigger.

The android put its three-taloned hands up in gesture of peace. "I mean no harm. I was only curious to see one of the keys. Be assured I was not party to the Watchers or Divided-Ones' actions, aware of them only but never a part."

"You were the overseer how could you allow such things to continue?" Shepard demanded.

"I had more pressing issues to contend with dear child. The Reapers were my juggernaut and only true concern! I was to find a way to sever the Citadel from their control, make the keepers impotent and preserve my people...and all other organics in the galaxy, including the primitive races. What the Watchers and the Divided-Ones were doing wasn't unkind; their experiments were not cruel or debilitating. The Divided-Ones sought only to find those capable of using dark matter as a means to preserve all organic life from the snares of the Reapers. Can your own races say the same? How did you come to be able to use dark matter, child? This is not natural born as it is with your mate and her sisters but forced upon you is it not? Self-righteous indignation does not become you, Spectre. Mind your accusations."

Ksad Ishan had a point. There could be no argument that her own race had deliberately exposed pregnant women to Ee-Zo so that the children they carried would be born with biotic abilities. The chances of cancer, brain tumors or other maladies were a small price to pay for such advancements according to some scientific and even military doctrinism. Even now Cerberus was conducting unspeakable acts of mutilation, all in the name of preserving humanity. And they were not as kind to their wards as were the Divided-Ones.

"Forgive my outburst. You're right, we can't deny it. It's difficult to realize …" Liara said softly. Her body stopped shimmering and a moment later the other biotics followed suit.

"Your beloved ideals of the protheans are tarnished – we were not as altruistic as you would have imagined? Do not lionize us child. As I stated before we are not divine. Simply more knowledgeable - that is not the same. Not even those we called the Divided-Ones proclaimed themselves deities nor did we claim their actions evil, only unsanctioned. They were scientists only, they were still purely prothean. They were never our enemies."

Shepard was too incredulous to believe what she had seen, been told, the truths devolved to her were before her and yet the Spectre struggled in vain to see how the pieces fit together.


	20. Findings

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Chapter Twenty: Findings

Getting to the temple was far easier the second time around. The major obstacles such as geth insurgent squads and Cerberus strike forces had been neutralized. Now the only major dilemma was the terrain itself. Several firefights had not made the ruined world any easier to negotiate.

Still, it only took Shepard's team three hours to reach their destination. For the whole of the trip Liara had been exceedingly quiet. Gone was the enthusiasm she had displayed during the previous three days or in fact the first time they had come to Ilos.

After speaking with **Ksad Ishan** the young asari had become disillusioned with the Protheans. Ever since she discovered it was the Reapers not the Protheans who had constructed the Citadel (a place Liara had fawned over when she had seen it first hand for the first time), as well as the Mass Relays Liara had felt cheated. In fact she felt as if she had wasted fifty years of her life chasing after the Protheans.

Perhaps this was what her mother alluded to when she had told her daughter: "_Chasing after ancient secrets best left buried will allow you to discover things you wished you had not, you will see truths you would prefer to be blind to. There is no ignorance there is knowledge, but in knowledge comes the griping hold of truth, facts, the unveiling of wondrous mystery and the unraveling of dreams. Make sure Little Wing that this is what you desire when you go exploring the past. Be prepared for heartbreak. I will not hold you to the course of Future Sight. The young do not always do as they are told. It is natural to rebel, it has always been thus with the young and always will be thus. Once you have your own daughter you will come to understand the value of the words I speak to you now. For in time you will repeat them to your daughter, even as I repeat now the words my own mother spake to me when I was but a century old. Have your rebellion then Little Wing, but if you do you shall do so alone._"

"You are not alone." Samantha whispered to the brooding scientist. "And if it wasn't for the Protheans we wouldn't be together and … we wouldn't have a way to fight the Reapers. And I highly doubt any of our races would be exploring deep space as we are now. All of our technology is based upon what the Protheans left behind. They left a wonderful legacy even if they didn't construct the mass relays or the Citadel."

Liara smiled bashfully. Her beloved always knew when trouble stalked her mind and preyed on her thoughts. She shouldn't be surprised their bond was strong and powerful. Their thoughts streamed from one into the other with such ease there were times it was very difficult to discern who was thinking what. In this case the emotions taking hold of Liara had transfigured themselves into Samantha, just as Samantha had the day she and Ashley had their confrontation.

It was an inevitability that comes in any science you will always come up against something that is a disappointment to the study. Years of work can sometimes be obliterated when a new discovery is unfolded. Whilst it was true that the Protheans had not constructed the Mass Relays they had made them their own. They had not constructed the original Citadel, but they had made many others including Omega. They had bases all over the galaxy, whole cities that had been repurposed over several millennia. Yes they had experimented on the younger races but then these same races had in their turn experimented upon lesser forms of life.

Once Liara laid her blue eyes upon the temple her disillusioned disappointment in the Protheans had vanished. Once more she was in awe of what they had made. The seat of Ilos whole, presented, uncorrupted. No one had ever beheld the true Prothean cities in such an undefiled state and yet something profound and indelible resonated at the site. The canker of the Reapers was yet to befoul them. Where once the great doors were unmarred, the scars of the recent battle were clearly evident upon their surface. Rubble strewn in every direction, the 'dead' carcasses of the geth lay like macabre discarded toys. The decrypted remains of the geth's altar was nothing more than a strangled burned out husk. Ironic considering the geth turned organics into husks of their former selves. Liara however had eyes only for the great doors of the temple.

With almost pious reverence the asari archeologist approached the façade. Her trained eyes spotted almost immediately the glyphs etched in the surface of the marble.

"I have seen locks like this before, but never in this good a condition." Liara said. It was assumed she was speaking to Shepard; however she could have been speaking to the entire company. Her tone was that of a teacher as was her stance and mannerisms. She was once more in her element.

Engraved upon the surface of the door were concentric circles, one eclipsing the other. They were empowered with the essence of dark matter. "The door would only open via biotic power." She said - and this time it was very clear she was addressing her bondmate. "This will be easier if you were to assist me."

"What do you need me to do?" the Spectre asked.

"The sconces on either side are not actually used to hold torches but are 'harvesters' of dark energy. All you have to do is emit a small biotic pulse into it. The sconces will redirect the energy back into the lock and unbind it. It is a simple mechanism and very effective."

"Hold on, so only biotics can unlock these sorts of doors? What about the Prothean guys who weren't biotic?" Williams asked for the non-biotics in the party.

It was not Liara but **Ksad-Ishan who answered. "All Protheans like the asari were naturally biotic Lieutenant Williams."**

**"Truly?" this came from Morwen. "I didn't know that."**

**"I suspected as much but I had no proof and only the experiences of locks such as these to found my hypothesis on." remarked Liara. "There were far too many ruins that required the use of dark energy to unlock sealed doors to be handled by only a handful of specialists. I theorized the Protheans were either naturally biotic or systematically generated, much like the gene alterations for all Alliance Military personnel as rudimentary practice. "**

"If you knew this why didn't you mention it before?" Morwen pressed the issue.

Liara's expression became almost cool as she studied the older asari. "Actually I have. I've even written and published papers upon it, but because of my young age my theories, journals and papers have not been taken seriously by other Prothean scholars whether they be asari or other races. I think perhaps the human idiom of 'being patted on the head and being told that's nice dear, on your way now. It's time for the adults to talk.' is well suited for how often my theories were dismissed out of turn."

Having a very decisive Spectre for a spouse had had its effect on Liara. She was still awkward in social situations but she had turned the tables on her own previous timidity. Samantha once told her: 'You don't have the word welcome tattooed on your back, so why are you allowing others to walk all over you? Stick up for your beliefs and your knowledge Li. Don't let your colleagues push you around. Sometimes you have to push back.' By the Goddess it felt good to get that out!

Morwen was taken aback by the frosty delivery of the words and admitted if only to herself that the younger woman had a valid point. Liara wasn't even a matron yet - of course her theories would not have been given the merit that perhaps they should have been. Asari were not racist but they did tend to be ageist at least when dealing with their own kind.

"My apologies Doctor T'Soni." The matron bowed her head slightly conceding the point to the young archeologist. "Once we return to _Victory_, I shall endeavor to rectify my ignorance on your published work."

From behind the asari Liara saw Williams lick her finger and mark the air with what looked like a point mark. She was smirking as well. Liara made a mental note to speak with the young lieutenant about the significance of the gesture.

Turning her attention back to the door and the sconces Liara summoned the dark energy within her. Almost effortlessly she stretched out her hand emanated a small orb of blue energy and aimed it at the sconce on the left hand side of the door. To her right the Spectre with perfect synchronicity did the same action.

The reaction was instantaneous. The sconces flared to life in engulfed in purple-black 'flame' as if they were ancient gas powered Victorian lamps. The brass metal attaching the sconces to the doorframe were no ordinary fixture but a conduit by which the energy flowed into the door it self. The engraved concentric circles glowed with that same swirling surreal purple-black energy for the span of five breaths then dimmed to a slight luminescent purple humming-glow. There was an anticlimactic click of the locks.

"Is that it?" Williams asked for everyone.

"It is." Liara answered.

"With you saying it's easier with the Commander's help I guess I figured there be … more … I don't know just _more,_" the lieutenant said lamely.

Liara smiled understandingly. She felt the same way the first time she had discovered how the locks were opened. Once simply assumed with the flare of light and power there would be some grand result instead of the normal pneumatic hiss of a door lock unsealing itself. "The sconces have to be lit simultaneously. You can imagine how difficult it is to do that by one's self. Where by lighting one sconce is effortless, lighting two is a little more troublesome. They must be carefully timed and the power balanced. I've learned by experience too much energy will burn out the sconces and you have to wait forty-nine hours for them to cool down. On the same token if you use too little power the sconces will send a biotic repulsive backlash into you and you have to physically and mentally recover, which any biotic can tell you is not an experience one wishes to experience very often. Last time it took me three days to recover from a biotic backlash created by one of these locking mechanisms."

It took all of Samantha's willpower and reserve not to place a comforting hand upon her bondmate's back. Liara however could feel the power of concern and sympathy emanating from the human woman.

'_I love you too_.' The young asari archeologist whispered into her beloved's mind.

"Everyone suit up – full face. This place hasn't been opened since it closed fifty thousand years ago. I'm not taking any chances with gasses, spores or microbes." The Spectre ordered as she engaged the pressure locks on her hardsuit that commanded the collapsible helmet to rise up over her face. Around her similar sounds of pressure locks engaging signaled that everyone of the crew had followed suit.

"Ready for this, Williams?" Shepard asked her XO. "It'll be the first time anyone set foot down here in a long time, could be easy to get caught up goldbricking."

Behind the full face helmet it was impossible to see the smile on the younger woman's face in reference to their old gunny back in basic. "As long as you don't kick my ass making me go face first in the muck, I'm ready for anything Skipper."

Both chuckled at the private joke. Then just as quickly as the joke was issued Shepard became very serious. "Liara, Garrus, flank left. Williams, Wrex. take the right, Morwen, **Ksad-Ishan, and Kirrahe** bring up the rear. The rest stay put until we secure the area. All right people light up and move out!" She switched on the helmet light allowing a small cone of light to illuminate a path ten feet in front of her.

Though adept at the assault rifle it was her Mark HMWP X pistol that Shepard had at the ready. She knew Williams and the other two from the flagship ground team had their own favored firearms mostly bearing on the HMPW X assault rifles, though Garrus had a predilection for the shotgun. Not that they were expecting dangers within a building sealed for fifty thousand years but one could never be too careful. After all who knows what other security measures the Protheans had within?

Shepard snatched a brief look at her right hand and smiled behind her helmet. God it was good to have Ash there once more. Garrus was fine but he wasn't Ashley Williams. He might be C-Sec but he was no marine, there was no deep connection between the turian and the Spectre as there was with Williams. _Ash was her person_. She was a marine and … human. Shepard was no bigot but sometimes it was great to have a fellow human covering your six. More importantly to the Spectre it was Ash who was doing it. Other than Liara there was no other soul in the galaxy Shepard trusted more.

"So Doc, what can we expect to face in this place?" Williams addressed Liara knowing almost instinctively the young Prothean expert would feel as if she'd been benched to play second fiddle due to the presence of **Ksad-Ishan. Being an XO of a warship was something Ashley never allowed herself to fantasize about. Despite her outstanding tech scores and leadership abilities the Williams legacy hounded her career. But there was a down side to the position of being second in command: if Shepard was ground side that typically meant Williams had the deck. Right now it was like old times, she was at her skipper's right flank - exactly where she should be. Just as Liara was covering the skipper's left.**

**"I have never entered a fully intact ruin such as this, Lieutenant. Previous ruins I have explored have been very decayed, dilapidated by the destruction of the Reapers and time. Often the ruins I've found were repurposed so they no longer resemble their original function such as they were on Novaria. What I have encountered in my explorations were security measures like those on Therum."**

**"So watch what we touch or we end up in a floating bubble. Got it." Williams remarked referring to how they first discovered ****_Miss Prothean Expert_**** suspended in a stasis field. **

**"That is not an experience I wish to repeat." The asari jibed at her own expense. Then she added. "I presumed Ksad-Ishan would be better suited to answer this question."**

"Yeah well where I trust you Miss Prothean Expert, I don't trust the clanker."

Liara smiled inwardly. She had long ago had transferred the 'nickname' the young human referred her as from insult to one of affection. It was all a matter of the tone in which it was delivered. "Thank you Lieutenant." She tipped her head slightly. She added in a whisper for Ashley's ears alone. "The feeling is more than mutual, my friend."

The _clanker_ in question seemed to take exception to the referral as a 'clanker'. "Despite the metal shell I am encased, within I am still the AI known as Vigil, Lieutenant Williams, despite being given the name of my creator."

"Yeah? Clanker body, clanker posotronic brain. Do as you're told we won't have a problem. Shift one rivet out of place and I'll put a bullet in that metal skull of yours the same as any other clanker. Get me '**_Ksad-Ishan'"_**

**"I believe I do, Lieutenant Williams. However I do wonder what your Commander has to say about such a proposition." Ksad-Ishan said its tone bordering on defiance. **

**"I trust the judgment of my XO. You may have the data files of a Prothean scientist, his personality and the downloaded knowledge of your creators, but that clanker brain shifts into geth personality, I'll back my lieutenant's actions without hesitation, question or provocation. She wouldn't be my second-in-command if I didn't trust in her abilities to lead, make military judgment calls, know the battlefield, or carry on the mission despite all odds." Shepard answered without hesitation. **

**"Yes ma'am." Williams saluted proud at the great compliment from her C.O.**

Passing the threshold of the grand entrance, the troop halted. Their helmet lights revealed seemingly endless arcades going deep into the temple. Through all her travels Liara had never before seen anything like this. Oh she had been in countless ruins, ancient settlements, and long forgotten fortresses. They all held the silence that was found in these vaults, but even there, it was the silence of nature, the silence of solitude. This was wholly unnatural. She shuddered despite herself; she could feel the same uneasiness take her bondmate, though in Samantha it seemed far more oppressive, lingering in her heart like a viral infection. That was something else with this quiet …this cold.

When they entered the dark tunnel, small pools of lights came on automatically, triggered by their movement. The Reapers had never found the retreat; whatever happened here came by the touch of time's decaying hand. Like the lifts in the fortress proper time had no affect on the power source. The machinery was still operational.

'_Must be a separate power source than the one that sustained the cryo-pods. Like on a ship. The life support and gravity are wholly autonomous to the general power and engines.' _ Shepard thought. She didn't know what was more disturbing: the silence of the grave in this place or the whispering wails of the ghosts that still haunted the edges of her mind. Worse still was the thudding beneath the feet, this wasn't the familiar pulse of an engine room this was something very much very different.

'_It's a heartbeat_!' Shepard's mind identified the pattern. She felt it running through her, trying to merge with the staccato beat of her own heart. It was more than disorientating, for she could feel it and yet not hear it. Her mind tried in vain to make a sound out of the thumping, imagining it to be so. But then her mind told her she'd been here before, she recognized it, felt it in her bones, she was really beginning to hate this permanent state of Prothean déjà vu.

"I hate this place It's the land of the dead and it should remain…dead." Wrex barked out what Shepard was feeling. "This whole place aint right."

"If the ghosts are too much for you, you can always request to go back to the ship, krogan." Garrus jibbed.

"You'd like that wouldn't you, that way you get all the glory..."

"Shut it both of you." commanded the Spectre. "I want your eyes open not your mouths."

"Aye, Commander." Garrus replied chagrined, "my apologies."

From Wrex she got a rumbling grunt that was a krogan's equivalent to an apology.

The corridor stretched on for a further thirty feet before it opened up in what might have been the nave. What they discovered was something far far different.

"Skipper this isn't a temple." Williams said. "It's … it's a warehouse."

It was. Or at least it was the best description to be had. There were crates, dozens, hundreds, perhaps thousands of them.

"Perhaps when the end was drawing nearer to when they went into hibernation, they gathered all their belongings, their equipment, tools and weapons and placed them in one of the most secure buildings on Ilos." Liara offered an explanation. "What wealth of knowledge is stored here!"

"Like the cache back on Mars," the Spectre said.

"Can you read what is on the crates, Commander?" Kirrahe asked trailing his long tapered fingers along the strange writings.

Shepard moved to the box the STG captain was standing. The cipher had given her an innate knowledge of the written and spoken language of the protheans. Her mind registered the markings as quickly as it would have Earth standard. "Broken and dysfunctional hardsuits: various. To be recycled."

"No way!" Williams stared. "Seriously?"

Shepard nodded a bit amused. "That's exactly what it reads."

"We're not in a warehouse, we're in some prothean version of storage sheds or," the young lieutenant laughed, "garage, attic and basement all rolled into one."

"Here's another: 'winter wardrobes: various'." This came from Liara. "'Children's toys: various' and another: 'templar robes: various'."

"See I told you attic, basement and garage." Williams said. "Bet anything the wives told their hubbies the same thing all wives do. 'What are you doing with all of this crap? You should throw it out.' Then he says. 'But dear it may come in handy one day. It just needs a bit of tweaking, a little repair and duct tape and it will be as good as new. You never know, we made need it someday.'"

The humans and Garrus laughed. Finding this rare gem of levity preferable to the oppressing silence they had been welcomed with. With their laughter the others followed.

"Mark my words if you find a box that has stuff just tossed in haphazard, it's because some Prothean teenager got the job of cleaning out the garage and she did by chucking everything into empty boxes and then hid them behind other boxes." Williams snickered.

"Sounds as if this is the voice of experience." Liara smiled.

"Clearing the garage or the basement was a favorite discipline action of my Mom's. I think she hoped we'd chuck the lot and Dad's junk would be significantly reduced." Ash said chuckling.

"It was the same with my mother when I was a youngling." Garrus put in. "She would send me into the storage units to clear them. I could not believe the things my father accumulated over the years!"

"What about you, Shepard?" Wrex asked for all of them.

Shepard shook her head. "I grew up on starships and space stations. I wasn't permitted in the cargoholds and storage bays though I did my share of knuckle pushups, laps and pull ups. Though there was one time I had to clean our quarter's head top to bottom with a toothbrush. So Liara, did your mother make you do anything like clearing out the garage?"

The asari actually nodded her head. "Yes there were similar punishments such as you speak of. Once or twice I and few of my classmates were commanded to clean the storage units under the bastion, though my mother's favored form of punishment was to scrub clean the statutes in the gardens with a toothbrush."

Shepard allowed another round of laughter before she brought them back to business, "Enough reminiscing, back to work people." She activated the radio in her helmet. "Ground team, the immediate area is clear, prep for extensive salvage. We've found things that … may come in handy some day."

The others who waited just outside the temple come warehouse heard various sounds of laughter. The joke was lost on them. The entire landing party were part of the salvage operation and all four makos were utilized.

MEMEMEMEMEME

Four days in, the euphoria of the discovery was almost waning in those accustomed to action. The scientists however were positively ecstatic, practically buzzing in their excitement. Yet Shepard became more withdrawn, almost sullen. She threw herself into the work, often working longer hours than her crew, including Liara.

Several trips were made back and forth to the _Victory_ with hauls of their 'treasures'. The biotics who were able to use their powers to telekinetically lift heavier loads moved the majority of the crates while the non-biotics shifted them in the storage areas on the makos as well as on the _Victory_. Before this however each crate was opened, thoroughly and critically inspected for all possible contaminants. They were also opened to insure the fact what was within was indeed what was labeled on the outside. No one wanted a nasty surprise.

Data chips, armour, weapons, data pads, even books were discovered. Mesh inlays for hardsuits, and mods for weaponry were recovered and immediately placed in Liara's lab for study as were scanning and survey equipment.

Williams placed another crate on the mako and wiped sweat from her brow, like Shepard she had given up wearing her helmet. "Do you think the Protheans ever threw anything out?" She asked her skipper who was placing her own crate into the rover's storage locker. "You know I wouldn't be surprised if there was a box labeled used apple cores: various."

Shepard laughed heartedly. "Yeah no kidding right? Liara's in her element though, she's like a kid on Christmas morning, she's absolutely bubbling with giddiness."

Williams nodded. "I bet." She grunted as she shoved her crate further into the storage locker but it wasn't budging. "I don't think I've seen that grin leave her face in the past four and half days." She turned to that her back was now against the crate and she was pushing with all the strength in her legs. She grunted once more trying to push but to no avail. "I think something's blocking this one. The others went in easy enough or maybe the day's just catching up to me, what we've been at this for the past ten hours?"

"Something like that, yes." Shepard looked at the problem her junior officer was having and saw that lip of the locker bay was impeding the process. Without thinking the Spectre simply stretched out her hand and commanded her biotics to gently lift and push the crate into place.

Williams who was using all her strength to push toppled over with the sudden give in resistance. "Shit!" she yelped.

"Sorry about that Ash." The Spectre snickered under her breath.

"You could give a girl a warning, Skipper." Ash chastised.

"How about a hand instead?" The Spectre lowered her hand to help Williams hoist herself back onto her feet. Almost effortlessly she pulled the other woman onto her feet and nearly into the Spectre's arms.

Williams caught her breath not trusting herself if she met her skipper's eyes. She quickly moved back and made a show of dusting her hands and backside from imaginary dust of the mako's floor. She didn't want to admit how much the sweet warm breath of Shepard affected her, or the steady gaze of blue eyes.

"So … um… break?" Shepard said her voice huskier than normal, betraying that Ashley hadn't been the only one affected by the accidental embrace.

Williams nodded. "Yeah, sounds good, Skipper."

MEMEMEMEMEME

Liara found the two of them twenty minutes later hunched over a deck of cards around one of the crates that was posing as a makeshift table. Before them were stacks of pebbles doubling for poker chips as they played Texas Hold-'Em. There was a massive amount near Shepard and a steadily dwindling pile next to the lieutenant.

"I wondered what became of you both." The asari said approaching her bondmate to place a kiss on her lips.

"We've been moving crates for the last ten or so hours; we decided to take a breather." Shepard answered the kiss with another.

"Sounds like a divine idea." Liara agreed.

"You want to be dealt in the next hand?" Shepard asked already starting to divide her very large mound of pebbles into two piles.

"Belay that Skipper, she can have my spot. You've nearly wiped me out any way. Besides you two haven't had much time for yourselves." Williams said graciously giving up her place to Liara.

"Subtle, Ash." Shepard winked.

Williams shrugged. "I think I'll go see what sort of trouble those science geeks are up to, especially my sister."

The other two women watched as the young lieutenant disappeared out of the mako and further into the temple warehouse before turning their attention back to one another.

"I have a much more tempting offer than poker, my love." Liara murmured in a sultry voice dripping with want. "Our friend is correct, we have had so very little time for ourselves. Perhaps we can be selfish, just for a little moment." Her hands running across the hardsuit's smooth surface, unlocking the seals as she went.

Samantha swept her up into her arms, raining kisses along Liara's neck, cheeks, lips and eyelids as she began to remove Liara's own armor. "You're beyond incredible Li. A single touch, a kiss, a look and you have me fixated … entranced - my senses overwhelmed for the want of you. Every single time, every time."

Possessively Liara held onto Samantha as she walked backwards to the mako's bunk. Twin blue eyes glittered in the dim light. As Samantha bent forward to remove Liara's tunic her black hair touched a blue cheek. Delicate fingers rose touching the softness of the strands then clutched it as teeth and tongue began to work their magic on her.

One pair of blue eyes became solid black, the other nearly so. Breath hissed in excited panting sighs. Their bodies touched, the sensations building within them both, shared through their link.

"Stop… teasing me Samantha." Liara demanded. "I want you now!"

Samantha's hand slipped between blue thighs, sliding two fingers within her warmth easily. Liara arched her back against her bondmate, pulling her ever closer. Her own fingers seeking out her beloved's core, teasingly as she entered her.

Their minds were now completely merged, each of them experiencing the other's pleasure mingled-dancing with their own. Their shared climax ebbed like currents of electricity flowing through their bodies, and minds.

Afterward as Samantha lay with her head resting on Liara's stomach she could feel within her mind a tiny third presence join them. The human sought out the presence feeling the tiny flicker of life and filled it with her love, her acceptance.

Liara almost wept when she felt the paternal sendings of her beloved Samantha. In that touch was poured all the purity, the protectiveness, the undeniable love of a parent.

"This is amazing Liara." the Spectre whispered almost as if her voice might disturb the life growing in the womb. She lifted her head to see her bondmate's steady gaze filled with awe and thanksgivings. "I felt our daughter!"

'_Our daughter'. _ Liara allowed the words to caress her heart. "Her essence is a whisper, but to feel her, to know she is there, she is a part of you within me… is more than I have words to tell you how grateful I am we have her, that she….exists."

Samantha propped herself up on her elbow gazing into the cherub face of the asari. She kissed Liara softly tenderly then pulled back so she could look into those large blue eyes. "Er…this is a very stupid question but when we make love she isn't aware of it is she? I mean our melds are extremely intense."

Liara smiled. "No, I shield that part of us from her. It is a naturally instinctual aspect of my people."

"Good. It would be very bad for our wife-ly moments to slip into the mommy moments."

"Indeed." Liara reached up and kissed the tip of Samantha's nose. "Have no fear the two parts of our bonds never cross. Our little one is only aware of the 'Mommy moments'."

For a long moment Liara simply stared into the blue eyes of her Samantha. "You are glad to be leaving this place tomorrow, aren't you?"

"Sorry Li, but yeah I am. This place is …filled with too many memories and none of them my own. Everywhere I look I see evidence of death. This place personifies death to me."

Liara sat up properly, her hand stocking the light caramel flesh of Samantha's cheek, then moved to the diagonal scar running from shoulder to hip. "I know the dreams are worse for you here. Every night … I feel you locked in them. You barely sleep as it is and you're not eating properly. You use your biotics extensively for extended hours. Meditations can only sustain you for so long, Samantha, it makes me feel so helpless that I cannot do more to lift you out of it." Blue fingers traced the dark circles under her bondmate's eyes. Her skin was pale as it had been when she gained the cipher and Liara knew Samantha had lost more weight.

"You do plenty." Samantha tried to reassure the young asari. "Though I do wonder why your dreams aren't filled with these same terrors. I don't mean to say I want you to have nightmares it's just …"

"Why am I not haunted also?"

The Spectre nodded.

"I have the visions from the beacons indirectly though our bond-sharing you however have had them implanted by the beacons. Dr. Chakwas said a part of your brain is now marked by the Protheans, the beta waves shifted to match theirs."

"Yes but she said you also changed due to the gestalt that kept me alive."

"Samantha, I can only repeat what Dr. Chakwas said and what we already know. I am so sorry these terrors take you as they do. If I could make them stop altogether I would."

Sam leaned forwarded kissing her distressed bondmate. "I know. You do enough already, babe. This isn't your burden to bear."

"But I do bear it, Samantha. Until now I didn't know what it was. It lingers in you I know, it but I was too blind to my own excitement, forgive me." Liara stroked her beloved's cheek.

"There is nothing you need to be forgiven for. It's just this place. That's all. It seriously damages my calm. And that constant thumping, it never goes away, it's become a part of me like my own heartbeat but I can't possibly ignore it. I feel like I'm on the edge of having a migraine. Even the meditations haven't been working like they should. I feel like I did when Udina grounded the _Normandy _and stripped me of my command. It's like I should be doing something, fighting and I can't … or don't know how. I've never not known how to fight, how to wage battle."

"You _are_ doing something, Samantha. You face the demons that linger here daily …nightly. This ancient city of the dead, filled with dead secrets. You've found the keys to our quest. It may feel as if we are making little progress but that is not true. Do not forsake hope, Beloved. What we've recovered here is invaluable if only for Ksad Ishan."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

"This is a bold move, Spectre." Councilor Tevos said through her holographic transmission. "Are you positive this is wise?"

Seven days had passed and Shepard had recalled her team back to the _Victory_ and pulled out of the Terminus Systems. All that had happened on the planet, the discoveries both good and bad had been diligently documented and sent to the Council. Now Shepard stood before their holographic projections in a verbal debriefing.

"You ally yourself with the geth. This is what Saren did; do you now follow his path Commander?" Sparatus all but snarled.

"I ally myself with the last remain remnant of the protheans. It just happens to reside in a geth body. The posotronic brain has been painstakingly rewritten by my scientists. Ksad Ishan not a geth controls it. It no longer has any connection to the geth nor is it possible. Believe me I grilled my people on this, they assured me the geth will never be able to connect it again." Shepard snapped back. "I am the only one who can access its command center. You have the full files on it, Councilors; you can see we went to great pains to set up security measures."

"I am sure Spectre Shepard has thought this out before she made the command order to take Vigil with her." Anderson defended his former junior officer. "I'm more concerned over Cerberus's presence on that planet. Fortunately you've managed to stop them, but I doubt this Illusive Man will be waylaid for long. Whatever it is he is planning goes beyond what happened on Ilos. We have reports that there was an incident on Grissom Station involving a biotic child. There was also an attack on a young quarian on his pilgrimage. Be careful Commander, this Illusive Man is very dangerous individual, and he's got a lot of covert connections. We believe he is behind Cerberus. "

"Indeed." Tevos cautioned. "Considering he has placed a bounty on Dr. T'Soni, would it not be prudent for her if she were to remain either on the Citadel or Thessia?"

"She will not be parted from this mission." The Spectre shook her head.

"You mean from you, Spectre. You bring danger to the one you claim to love. Though not policy you should understand Spectres do not attach themselves so closely to others. It is better to live a solitary life." Sparatus said not keeping the condemnation out of his voice.

The asari councilor held her hand up to forestall the argument about to erupt. "There are other Spectres who have mates, Councilor Sparatus."

"Yes and they have the wisdom not to take them on missions. They are not so reckless, nor do they needlessly bring others into Death's embrace. "

"Liara is a prothean expert; her presence has been more than beneficial, it's been crucial." Shepard countered.

"Now with your geth embodied prothean AI, her presence is redundant is it not? Or perhaps like Saren you covet the T'Soni's control over biotics, or is it simply having one at your side that you desire?" the turian continued his attack. "Her presence weakens you and could endanger the mission."

"I'm not going to have you rake me over the coals, judging all of my decisions in hindsight. Is it simply I'm the newest to rank with the Spectres or is it something else, something hanging over from the First Contact War?"

Shepard leaned forward readying herself for battle. She was almost unaware her body had started to shimmer in the cyan glow of dark energy.

Velarn quickly intervened between the turian and human. "I am sure Council Sparatus's intention is not to antagonize you Spectre, but simply point out the dangers of such close ties. As you no doubt know Spectres generate a great many enemies, as is evident of the bounty on your bondmate's head. The danger is not simply to the life of another but that life threatened could compromise an otherwise noble mind and heart and turn them to dark intent."

"I haven't turned traitor. And I won't."

"I pray you keep that vow." Sparatus said relenting at last. "We will have other agents seeking out and neutralizing Cerberus. However it maybe prudent to remain every vigilant in your hunt for this Illusive Man or rather information upon him. Find out whatever you can on Cerberus, the Illusive Man and what if there are any ties there are between this rogue human organization and the quarians. I believe you have the daughter of one of the admiralty on board your ship. Use her ties to speak with their leaders."

"Shepard." Anderson spoke "This traitor you mentioned, I contacted Admiral Hackett concerning this; he gave the green light for you to immediately render the sentence of court martial. He requests that you hold him until he can be transferred to another penal colony. He will want a full report on the proof of evidence and a reassurance beyond a shadow of doubt there were acts of conspiracy and treason." After a moment he spoke again, "Sam, the other Councilors are right, this organization is extremely dangerous. They are not simple crime bosses selling red sand and slaves. If they can't corrupt you they will corrupt the image of you. And they will do it by taking that which is most precious to you. Don't let them."

"What about Udina?" Shepard demanded.

"He no longer serves as humanity's ambassador." Anderson said. "If he has linked himself with Cerberus as you suspect then use him to lead you to the Illusive Man. Lieutenant Pressly maybe compromised, so assume everything he knew about the _Normandy_ and you in particular have been surrendered. So far there hasn't been any proof he betrayed either his oath as an officer or the Alliance, especially if he had been ordered by Udina to report all. Considering Udina knew all about the _Normandy_, I doubt Pressly would have thought twice about telling anything about the ship in general. However he is suspect to acts of conspiracy as you are now a Spectre, the rules change. If he has any remaining loyalty to you, use it to get to Udina and ultimately to the Illusive Man."

MEMEMEMEMMEMEME

"There is much defiance in that one." Sparatus said once the transmission was cut.

"There is defiance in all of our Spectres." Tevos answered back. "You challenged her at every turn, why?"

Anderson folded his arms over his chest. "I'd like to hear this as well Sparatus. It is because of her, her orders you all live."

"I have not forgotten that, Anderson. Saren was one of our best operatives, his loyalty to the Council was unwavering …until he discovered Sovereign. You were there, twenty years ago when it all happened. Both Dr. Shu Qian and Edan Had'dah were indoctrinated as was Saren and tragically Matriarch Benezia became so as well. I do not say Samantha Shepard has been indoctrinated by the Reapers but have you considered she may have been by the protheans?

"We've all seen her medical files, those changes that happened to her with the first beacon, the cipher and the merging with Liara T'Soni. Where Saren was drawn to Sovereign and gave into it, Shepard seems to have done the same with the Protheans. Yes they are the progenitors of all of our technology but her bond to them can we trust it? She now has a Prothean AI as an adviser and her bond to young T'Soni mirrors too closely to that of Saren and Lady Benezia. I tested her resolve to her bond to the young doctor. She was nearly volatile. We all saw how she summoned her biotics without a second thought, and they are more powerful now than ever before. I put this to you should one of those bounty hunters even come close to harming Liara T'Soni, what do you think Shepard will do?"

In the private hall of the Council there lingered a heavy pressing silence. All knew the answer.

"She will not go rogue, she will become far worse." Anderson whispered in that silence. "She will become an unstoppable force, an avenging angel."

"One filled with reckless hate and inconsolable rage." Tevos consented. "But we presume much and place too great importance on what may be - not what is. If she has been indoctrinated by the remnants of the protheans as Saren had been with the Reapers, it will be to our advantage. If she becomes an unstoppable avenging angel over one life, think how those many deaths of the protheans linger in her and set her on her course to stop this cycle of destruction. Yes we have seen her dedication to Liara T'Soni and it is as equally potent to this mission to stop the Reapers. Through the beacons and the cipher she has felt the death of all Protheans it echoes in her like a great wound. Her vengeance for their extinction is great indeed.

"I have born witness to the dreams she carries with her when I melded with her prior to her induction to the Great Hunt on Thessia. Whole worlds, whole star systems utterly obliterated, people torn apart and converted into husks, or far worse. These images haunt the Spectre constantly."

"Do not forget she isn't the only one. Two others have the cipher and from it the visions from the beacons. If Shepard has been indoctrinated by the protheans surely Dr. Liara T'Soni and Huntress Shiala are also touched." Velarn pointed out. "And only Shiala has remained sane and miraculously freed from the Reaper's touch on her mind after her capture by the Thorian. I realize we've discussed the huntress's connection to the Thorian before as well as her inclusion in Shepard's crew. If the three of them are bound by constant melds what war they will make on the Reapers. They will strike such a blow that will leave their enemies shaken and broken."

"There is another who isn't bound by the mind melds or marriage but dedicated to Shepard as fiercely as any other: Lieutenant Ashley Williams. Whatever war Shepard fights, she will not leave her side. Next to Shepard, Williams is one of the most dedicated soldiers in the Alliance fleet. She is extremely devoted to _her_ skipper." Anderson said. "Shepard won't stop and she will do whatever she can to stop the Reapers and so will those like Lt. Williams and Dr. T'Soni. They will fight whatever enemy Shepard sets them on without question. For that matter so will those that belonged to her flagship ground team."

"Then we should hope that unlike Saren, she does not turn against the Council. For like he was, she is powerful, charismatic and those that follow her believe in her and see her cause as right. She even turned those that would hunt her into dedicated disciples." Sparatus said with admiration in his voice. "And she does so without indoctrinating them. How many others will join her, will flock to her?"

"It is not the geth that will beckon to her call but those of true free will and they will serve as those who do now until their dying breath." Tevos spoke with a seer's voice. "Only Saren had such control over others. Shepard bears watching for we can not afford to make another error as we did with Saren. But in our diligence we must take care not to push her into the very path we fear might be taken. The nightmares drive her to whatever means that will put an end to them. Her loyalty maybe ours, but her devotion belongs to another: this piece on the game-board now belongs to the Protheans."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

As soon as she had vacated the comm room, Shepard headed directly for the CIC to order the ship to their new coordinates: the rocky ice planet of Klencory in the Newton system within the Kepler Verge.

Jahleed's uncle the enigmatic billionaire Kumun Shol was expecting them within the month. The volus male was eccentric to the extreme or so the Council viewed him. His bizarre fascination to the vision he claimed to have received from a 'higher being' were not taken seriously by any governing factor and since no government had valued the world enough to evict his small army of mercenaries, he was left to his two decade excavations in relative peace.

Having seen all that she had in the beacons and the cipher, Shepard found herself compelled to take the claims of this slightly mad volus at face value. Crypts of beings of light created to protect organics from synthetic machine devils harkened too close to the visions within the beacons. What if it were true?

Just what were these entities that had been created at the dawn of time, and whose dawn of time did this refer to? After all if the Reapers eliminated those like the Protheans that had achieved such wondrous advancements then the dawn of time had happened countless times over and over again. Time after all was relative. **Ksad-Ishan may have knowledge on the subject and if not at least it was another brain working on the theory of whom or what the beings of light were. **

'We've cleared the mass relay, Commander. Engaging drive core, ETA to Klencory forty five minutes.' Joker's voice called out over the com system.

"Once we arrive take us into a synchronous orbit above the main continent of Mr. Shol's base camp, until we open negotiations." Shepard said into the inner-ear headset.

'Aye, Commander.'

"Lieutenant," the Spectre turned to Williams, "You have the deck."

"Yes, ma'am."

It was a slightly surreal moment for both of them. For so long Williams had been head of ammunitions and firearms, now her station was within the CIC. It was something both were going to have to get used to. Shepard had no doubt in her mind that the younger woman would soon adapt just as she had adapted to life aboard a starship versus her previous groundside stations.

"Skipper, may I ask what was the reaction of the Council to our newest … recruit?"

"Pretty much similar to mine at first, they baulked and I can't blame them for it. Though Councilor Sparatus was a little more brazen." The jaw set hard a sign to those who knew their Commander well that she was becoming increasingly pissed off. "The shutta dared compare me to Saren." She leaned close to her lieutenant so the words would only be shared between them and no other. "I have a 'geth' at my side as well as a T'Soni. So he questions my loyalties and my judgments."

"Skipper …"

Shepard waved her hand dismissively. "As much as his comments pissed me off, I can't blame them either. Saren was their best, and deadliest of Spectres of course they're going to be suspicious of me considering the connections that lay between us - the beacons and the cipher. Not to mention I do have a T'Soni at my side."

"They're jumping at shadows like children, now that their lofty eyes have been opened to the dangers of the Reapers. First they wouldn't believe you, now they accuse you. Didn't Cap…Councilor Anderson defend you?"

"He did, but he's in a precarious position. He's no longer a captain in the Alliance military any more than I am. He had to resign his commission to serve as a Councilor, just like I had to do to become a Spectre. He can only defend my actions to a point or be accused of favoritism."

"Just like the Council did with Saren?" Williams scoffed.

Shepard grinned. "Something like that yes. More importantly our former captain has to prove himself in the eyes of his counterparts and the Citadel as worthy of leading humanity in the Council; just I still have to prove myself in the eyes of my Spectre peers as well as everyone else. He and I are back being raw recruits despite all of our training, skills, experiences and abilities." A smile brightened on the Spectre's face. "Much like a NCO becoming second in command of a Council warship. It's a whole new set of rules, responsibilities and duties, those who are capable do the job those who can't don't stay in the job for long. The three of us have new roles to play. Either we do it or we get out of the game."

"I copy that, Skipper." Williams tilted her head. "So if I have the deck, where can you be reached if necessary?"

"Li and I have an appointment in med-bay with Chakwas and S'thasa." There was a bashful smile rarely seen on the Spectre's face. "It will be the first time we'll see our little one."

"I remember seeing my sisters' holo-ultrasound pics when I was a kid. They were cool. Skipper …"

"Hey you're going to be my kid's godmother. Of course you'll see them."

Ash stood up straighter, yes she had been asked to be the unofficial 'aunty' but godmother... was something more to the young woman. "Sam…" she whispered softly.

"I meant to ask you, so um…do you accept?"

"You have to ask twice?" She went to hug her CO but stopped short and saluted crisply. "It'd be my honor, Skipper!"

"Actually it's Liara and me who are honored." The Specter took Ashley's arm in an ancient warrior's grasp. "Our little one could have no better guardian." A smile shared. "Now if you excuse me I have a date to keep."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Chakwas met them as Liara and Samantha arrived in med bay. "Serrice Medical updated our data-banks with detailed files of asari physiology considering the number of asari crew members we have. Apart from the obvious physical differences between our species, there are several developmental ones." The doctor said ushering them into a private examination room. "I know for asari the gestation period it is approximately fifty-two weeks. Typically I would take a scan to measure the size of your daughter's head. Once I had that, then I would make a responsible prediction as to when she'll be born. But with asari it's simpler, I still want to take a scan however, considering your youth Liara there are some concerns. Alright up you get." Chakwas patted the exam-bed.

Liara obeyed without hesitation, she further laid down and laid her hands protectively over her belly. It was now Shepard felt her lover's dread. She placed her hand upon the asari's shoulder.

"Don't fear Babe, we're just making sure our daughter okay. Besides it will be good to know when she will be born." She remained at her bondmate's side still holding her hand as Chakwas reached up to swing the scanner over her.

Liara lay there, looking at the narrow bar of light as Chakwas moved over to her monitor. Liara's hands moved instinctively to clasp over her stomach. As Samantha's hand followed, icy fear swept through her. Fear not of her daughter but for Samantha's reaction once she noticed their child bore only a passing resemblance to her, as much as any human bore a slight resemblance to asari.

Picking up on Liara's fears, the Spectre leaned over and kissed soft lilac lips. "If she looks anything like her Mommy…her Naneth, she'll be gorgeous," she smirked. Liara saw her wink briefly before Samantha continued to speak. "It doesn't matter to me Babe if our little girl has 'head fur' or not. I know she will look purely asari, Li. I know it's my own ignorance but I can't tell the difference between …well a daughter born between two asari and one conceived with another species like your half sister." She would never say it aloud but the differences of the 'father' species seemed almost anecdotal to her.

Shepard laid her hand on Liara's belly, they closed their eyes together both of them concentrating their focus on the child.

"She moved!" both women said together. What might have been too soon for a human the slight movement was right on schedule for a three month asari foetus. Asari were pregnant for a full year as their minds developed faster than humans, though their bodies within the womb developed at a slower rate. However by their first year of life asari daughters had astounding motor skills: they can talk, walk and even baby dance.

For the first time since her pregnancy Liara felt a wave of calm surround her. Samantha was positively giddy with the idea of a child. A new wave hit the asari next, one she had hoped to feel and had never thought to feel the brunt of pure protectiveness.

Overprotectiveness if one wanted to be accurate. Samantha was exuding this emotion from every pore of her emotional self. Given her lover's demeanour, Liara couldn't say she hadn't been surprised by the prospect. After all the Spectre had offered to protect her even if Liara wasn't looking for a protector. She soon learned that was who Samantha was - a protector, she didn't know how _not_ to protect. Now that Liara was pregnant with their first child, the young woman accepted joyfully that inborn nature in her bondmate.

Samantha sent waves after waves of her love, affection and acceptance into the child growing in her beloved's womb. She needed to instil into her little girl that she was wanted, loved and accepted. No doubt the weeks after her conception the child had, at least in the Spectre's mindset, experienced apprehension from her mother. The entity that would become her first born child had to know she was loved and further more wanted, even if she was unexpected.

"She flitters about in your belly like a little sparrow." Samantha jibbed.

"Little Sparrow?" smiled Liara. "I think I rather like that name."

"It was in jest." the Spectre said a little surprised her pet name for their child had been taken seriously.

"Even still my love I like it … Sparrow. Flitting and darting about she is after all the daughter of a Spectre." Liara laughed. "And you rarely are still."

"And don't forget she's the daughter of a rebellious asari archeologist. So Sparrow it is, or at least until we find something a little more suitable … _Little Wing_."

"Until such a time." Liara agreed.

"If you two are done chittering about names would you like to see your baby as she is now?"

"YES!" both women chorused.

"I thought that would be the answer."

Dr. Chakwas tapped in a few commands into the amber holographic interface calling up a neonatal holographic image "Sparrow." The image of a fetus was similar to that of a human of the same developmental age. Instead of the familiar translucent ruddy skin filled with red blood vessels Sparrow had translucent cyan skin and purple blood. The slight swooping curve of her barely defined crest was distinctly asari. But she was their daughter. Even if she didn't look at all human, Samantha Shepard would know her daughter.

"Can you make a …"

"Print of her?" Chakwas grinned "but of course.

"How did you know she was going to ask that question?" Liara asked dumfounded.

"You think you and Commander Shepard are the only expecting parents I've treated in my long service? Please. I've seen dozens and all want the same things: reassurance their tiny one is healthy, that new mommy is healthy and a print of the little one, not to mention to hear this very precious sound." Chakwas typed in a new command into the scanner and instantly a rapid flittering thump filled the exam-bay.

"Is that Sparrow's heartbeat?" Liara asked this time her voice filled with wonder and astonishment.

"That's an amazing sound." Samantha uttered equally agog.

"It is." Chakwas grinned. Yep soldiers with piercing eyes and deep souls always became mush at the sound of their child's heartbeat when they heard it for the very first time. "Yes you can have a recording as well." the gray haired woman laughed. She held up a hand forestalling the question she knew was coming. "Doctor. Remember I've treated expecting parents to be before. And they wanted the same thing, pictures of growing baby and the heartbeat recorded. You marines are the worst. Suddenly when you become an expecting parent a part of your heart simply melts and becomes very soft and squishy. Just like a marshmallow. I don't know how many marines I've seen do that. I'll tell you the same thing I've told them. Of course you can."

"So how is she?" Shepard asked anxiously holding onto Liara's hand.

"Both are healthy. As when you will see your Little Sparrow, Liara can better answer that." Chakwas said. "As I said asari are pregnant for fifty-two weeks. Just do the math."

Puzzled by this response the Spectre turned to her bondmate, who was beaming at her with a slight cyan flush to her freckled cheeks.

"Asari are pregnant for year from the time we conceive our daughters. Our daughter will be born on the anniversary of the gestalt." Liara didn't say 'the day you died twice, the day we destroyed Sovereign.'

Samantha smirked a little. "You know she will have to share her birthday on a holiday. You know they've turned Sovereign's defeat into a celebration."

"Yes I suppose she will have to celebrate her birthday on a holiday." Liara conceded the point.

"You should know Commander, asari do not celebrate the day they are born as the day they came into existence but rather they day they are conceived as the day of their existence. Such a day is celebrated." Chakwas explained. "As I said I had a lot of time to study non-human physiology and customs. It helps when treating non-humans."

"Doc, if asari daughters are born a day to the year they are conceived then they _do _celebrate the day they are born as a birthday. It becomes the same thing." Shepard said feeling proud of herself for pointing this out.

"I think it's a point of philosophy that is celebrated, my love. As a daughter is given to a mother because she deliberately wills it to be." Liara explained further.

No one even dared to point out that this little one had been conceived by accident because of the gestalt which was the result of more than six hours of prolonged meld.


	21. Legacy of an Eccentric

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Twenty One: Legacy of the Eccentric

"So they are going to send another Spectre after Udina?" Williams asked as she took her seat alongside Shepard, Liara, Shiala and Tali in the comm-room. Wrex, Garrus and Kirrahe were already seated and waiting for the women to settle to the meeting.

"That's what they said. However we are to keep our eyes open for any movement Udina might make as well as operations of Cerberus and the Illusive Man. If we discover anything of Cerberus's or the Illusive Man's actions we are to follow the lead to its end and stop them." Shepard said leaning against the railing near the comm unit's holographic projector, her arms folded as customary over her chest.

"So we just give up on Udina, just like that after what he did?" Williams was incensed. The expression was mirrored on Liara and Shiala's faces as well.

"I don't like it anymore than you do Lieutenant, but they are right Udina isn't our prime concern. Our mission against the Reapers is the prime focus. Trust me Udina won't get away from my justice, and I won't give up the hunt for Cerberus or this Illusive Man. But they could easily become a distraction from our true goal." said the Spectre.

"You are right, Commander." Liara said diplomatically. "Klencory awaits us."

"Aren't you forgetting something Dr. T'Soni we still need that little Jahleed's uncle to give us permission to touch ground." Garrus said.

"Why wait, I say we just go in and do what needs to be done." Wrex scoffed at the turian.

"No, I think the direct route, red tape and all is what is called for. Besides we can use Mr. Shol's resources to aid us. He's been hunting for these lost crypts for the past twenty years, everything he's learned over that time will be extremely helpful." The Spectre moved to her seat between her XO and her wife.

"Whatever you say, Shepard. Me, I'd go in bashing some skulls together and make someone's day a whole lot worse."

"That's your answer for everything, krogan." Garrus snorted.

"It's worked for me so far."

Shepard closed her ears to the bickering of the males. It amused her to think this was how they founded their friendship though she knew both would protest loudly if it was ever pointed out to them.

"Klencory is not a very hospitable planet." Shiala said. "The atmosphere is composed of chlorine and argon. The frozen surface is mainly composed of potassium with deposits of iron. The surface temp is minus one hundred and nine centigrade. The gravity is point eight-two _g_, the atmospheric pressure**:** one point one atm. It carries both a toxic and cold damage level one." To give such reports to Shepard was a familiar task for she had done the same with Matriarch Benezia as her disciple. This task was both bitter and sweet much like Sorrow's Companion. Yet the Huntress would perform her duty as diligently and efficiently for her Spectre as she had for her matriarch.

In many respects the planet was very similar to the planet Xawin where the valiant crew of the _Normandy_ found the privateers and a geth beacon. Sometimes it was difficult to tell which planets were the worst, the frozen ones or the arid ones. Of course the poisonous frozen one below them was the main problem.

"Which means even in full faced hardsuits there are considerable dangers, we can only be exposed outside the mako for very short times, a minute at the most. How Kumun Shol survived a whole decade on such a poisoned planet will be very valuable information and one that begs an answer." Shepard commented.

"The volus homeworld of Irune has an ammonia-based ecology with a high-pressure atmosphere." Liara answered the question. "Save for the temperature he is probably very comfortable. Our hardsuits can double as pressure suits can they not?"

"With some tweaking, yeah. Maybe," Ashley said. "I'm a little more concerned about bursting open."

Liara's hand instinctively went to her belly covering the tiny swell of where her daughter lay. She could feel Samantha's thoughts enter her mind caressing her as surely as she caressed her womb.

"Didn't we find pressure suits in the Prothean stash - can't you scientists figure something out so they can be worn over the hardsuits?" Wrex asked. There were times when seeing things at their simplest level was the best solution through a difficult situation.

Many of the scientists would be poring over the new finds from Ilos including Liara which Shepard preferred her to do rather than go running around on a forsaken planet. If the scientists could somehow adapt or retro-engineer the Prothean pressure suits it would ease things considerably.

"I'll have my teams start immediately." Liara announced. "We may not be able fully adapt the Prothean suits to our needs but we might be able to adapt something suitable that can extend exposure times to the hardsuits."

"What like environmental kinetic barriers?" Ashley asked, "Or medical exoskeletons?"

"Hopefully, yes." Liara answered.

"Cool. I know a thing or two about hardsuits need any input just ask."

"A military perspective will be very valuable." The asari smiled.

"Ha," Wrex barked "T'Soni only wants you for a lab rat."

Liara shook her head vigorously, "Oh no, I would not!"

"Relax Miss Prothean Expert; I know you wouldn't deliberately put me in harm's way. And besides I have no intention of being anyone's guinea pig. But all you egg heads are going to need someone who knows how hardsuits operate more than on a theoretical level. Like someone whose had extensive practical use of them. I know guns and armor, and if I or the Commander are going to be using whatever it is you come up with I want to know how it works on the ground level."

"Get to work on that, you have three days." Shepard said.

"Commander, I do have one question." Garrus asked turning the attention back to him. "Why do you think we can find these crypts when this Shol character hasn't? Like you said he's been here for the past two decades diligently searching for them."

"Because we have three things he doesn't. A Prothean expert, knowledge of what the 'machine devils' are and we have a Prothean AI. Even if these 'Beings of Light' are not Prothean, they had to have some knowledge of them. And we know now about biotically sealed doors. Maybe Shol found sconces along a ruined wall like those we found on Ilos and didn't think anything more of them and dismissed them as nothing more than inoperable lighting fixtures. Regardless, I believe it's a worthy avenue of investigation.

"We have a firm plan for now. Alright everyone dismissed. But I want you Liara, Ash and Shiala to hang back for a moment." Shepard announced. She waited until everyone had filed out of the comm-room before she spoke once more. "Lieutenant Williams, what are the regulations concerning those serving aboard a starship who happen to be pregnant?" azure eyes held their gaze upon the two asari in the room.

Because it had caught her off guard the question momentarily shook the younger woman before she composed herself enough to answer. "No pregnant crewmember aboard a warship will be engaged in groundside combat or be deployed in hostile or potentially hostile territory without said area being secured. No pregnant personnel will be deployed in fighter and engage in theater."

"You're grounding me?" Shiala was incensed. "That is preposterous. With all due respect Commander this is not an Alliance ship. Despite the ranking officers and commanding officer are Alliance military. Those regulations do not apply to the asari. Even when we are heavy with our daughters we serve our ships in the capacity …"

"I was once told that when someone says with all due respect most of the time they are really saying kiss my ass. And 'with all due respect' Shiala this isn't an asari vessel either. Despite the fact it was designed and heavily influenced by asari engineers. This is a Council warship with a _Council _Spectre as Commander. I've made my orders pretty clear. You'll still serve as the CAG. You will still run escort on board raptors in non-combat missions as well as training simulations and flybys and painting targets but you will not engage in combat. Even if I went by asari regs, viper cockpits and hardsuits don't come in maternity sizes so you're still grounded. As for you Liara, your pregnancy is at high risk. I don't care how skilled or powerful your biotics are for the sake of our daughter you don't go on recons and you're not to be deployed to any site until the area is secured."

Once the initial response over the order had passed the knee-jerk reaction of rebellion was quickly quashed in the realization and need of the order. Shepard could not be seen giving favoritism to Liara either by the young Prothean expert herself or by others of the crew. Relying on familiar regulations was a quick, efficient and non-argumentative solution to solve any conflict that may arise.

"I will concede to your wisdom and need to adhere to those regulations familiar to the Alliance and recognized by other military factions." Shiala said eyeing Liara. She had to agree with Shepard. There was a great deal to be concerned with Liara's pregnancy. She was far too young, her body might have responded to the intensity to of the gestalt but Liara wasn't physically mature enough to carry a daughter safely to term. The scientist was barely more than a child. To protect the young life growing within the maiden, Shiala would adhere to the more strict Alliance military regulations concerning pregnancy.

"I'll note it in the duty logs, Skipper." Williams said.

"Liara, you have anything to add?" Shepard said in her Commander's voice distinguishing herself from the more marital side.

"Nothing." The young asari answered. She shared her wife's concern and further understood it. "Besides I do believe I shall have my hands quite full with our new discoveries. In truth I am rather reluctant to leave such glorious finds to trudge groundside. After all they have landed directly into my lap why abandon them now?" there was a playful smile upon her lips.

"You just want to play with your new toys." Ash teased. "And you don't want to share with the other nerdy kids; the regs just give you the excuse."

Liara grinned. "Indeed."

Shepard visibly relaxed. She had mentally prepared herself for a verbal battle; she hadn't anticipated acquiescence from Liara or Shiala so quickly.

"Skipper, this does bring up a question about …um …well to put it bluntly, this isn't a generational ship like a dreadnought or even a cruiser. Two pregnancies we can cope with but any more and we run out of room, not to mention the dangers of the mission." Ashley said trying to take the sting her words may have inflicted. She knew Liara's pregnancy was an accident. Not having the details over Shiala's she couldn't say for certain but she was fairly sure this was not planned pregnancy either. Both Saren and the thorian had mentally raped the poor woman by way of indoctrination. Williams knew that much. Either one of them could have left with her with an unwanted pregnancy; the young officer wagered it was the latter that had 'sired' the child.

"I know. I was thinking about this dilemma myself." Shepard sighed rubbing the muscles in the back of her neck, already feeling the tension building back up. "I'll have to put out a general order mandate that prohibits further procreation. It will come off as a double standard being both my wife and my mentor are with child, but there is nothing for it. Like you said we don't have the room or resources to cater to families.

"What kind of regs are there aboard asari ships?" Williams asked Shiala, she knew asking Liara was more or less futile as far as the young human knew Miss Prothean Expert had only served as a crewmember onboard the _Normandy_ and now the _Victory._

"Like humans we do have generational ships such as our dreadnoughts. For instance the _Destiny Ascension_ has many families onboard. But as you can see by the design of the _Victory _- the wavecrest class isn't manufactured for such. If an asari huntress is assigned to a frigate she forgoes the rights to mother a daughter. If she already is a mother she will leave her daughter or daughters in the custody of family or preferably to the mentors at a bastion of high priestess so the children can continue their training or begin it as the case maybe. I do not foresee any difficulties with the huntresses obeying the mandate if that is your concern." Shiala said.

"Yeah the Alliance has similar regs. Only dreadnoughts are large enough to carry nonessential personal like kids. When my mom was assigned to the _Einstein_, I didn't see her much during that tour, I stayed with my father onboard a space station. Sometimes you may see a very few families on cruisers but generally it's the only dreadnoughts that are generational. Giving the order to any Alliance personnel won't make waves either. And I don't see a problem with the salarians. I don't know about the volas or the turians though. All the same the order will have to be given in case anyone gets it into their heads it had been suspended." The Spectre stated with muted emotion. "It's still going to come off as a double standard. I don't like that."

"If any have an issue with the orders and the fact I am carrying our daughter," Liara said hesitantly, "perhaps you can play the Spectre card. Rule, regulations and laws can be dismissed in your case."

Shepard gave her wife a _look_ that translated as 'not only no but hell no.' "I will deal with any morale fall out if it comes up, for now the order will go out as it is. Make it so, Williams."

"Aye, aye Ma'am." Williams turned to obey the order then hesitated. "I may be out of line with this question Liara, but maybe you should ask your sister about some of the precautions she took with her little one. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around being a century old is too young to have a kid, but I bet she may have some insights the docs can only theorize on, having been there and done that."

"Perhaps I shall ask Racen. Ashley, I must clarify something however. Her mother took part in my siring but Maiden Racen is _not_ my sister."

"I don't follow. Doesn't that make you sisters?" the marine asked.

"No." the asari shook her head. "We do not share DNA, not like you and Abigail do."

"But what about the whole genetic memory thingy …"

"Perhaps I can better explain." Shiala stepped in, receiving a very grateful look from her student. "Unlike dual-sexed species we asari do not engage in sexual intercourse to procreate, this much I believe you understand or at least have grasped. I have four birth sisters, each of us have different siring parents. Take as an example my youngest sister; her siring parent is a hanar. If she were to encounter any of that hanar's progeny they would not be her siblings."

"Putting it in that kind of context puts a different perspective on things." Ash said. "But what about the genetic link, there is something there right?"

Liara picked up the explanation albeit in a hushed tone. "Genetic memory is of the species not the individual. The best qualities come from the blending of melded genes, which is why intraspecies conception is frowned upon for no new generic traits are passed on, no genetic diversity, the blending is wasted."

"I wouldn't call you wasted Miss Prothean Expert. And apparently Maiden Racen and Matriarch Lidanya don't think that either or why did they have a kid together?" Ash said meaning it. "Matriarch Lidanya did claim Mayas as her offspring. And I know the Skipper said she's the little one's arda."

Liara smiled warmly at that as she looked to her wife who was grinning back at her. "Yes she did. That affectionate honorific is given to one's partner who has taken the vows of hand-fasting or other such marriage and becomes directly involved in a daughter's life. The arda may or may not have been the one to have given the genetic memory in her creation. As conventional wisdom concerning Union has changed it will be more the former rather than the latter, if the couple in question are both asari."

"Sorta like a step-parent then. I get it." Ash filled in the gap. "So Shiala when you said you have four birth sisters does that mean you have a load of step-sisters?"

"Bonded sisters. Yes, I have five. They are the daughters of my arda who yes is another asari. Intraspecies conception maybe frowned upon but not intraspecies Bonding. When a couple decides to have daughters they will choose together the partner their mate will take to create the daughter. It was such with my mother and arda. They agreed to have five daughters each. I am the eldest to my first bonded sister by five hours. My parents decided to have their daughters at the same time to share in the experiences, which is a common practice. This way I bonded with my arda as did my first bond sister with my mother. Such bonding generally occurs during breast-feeding when a mother links to her by the physical nature of the feedings and though mind-melds."

No one said anything but all eyes fell on the Spectre.

"I have no intention to go look for a sperm donor to have a kid. I want our little Sparrow, Liara. I do. But that doesn't mean I'm going out to get myself pregnant just to share the experience. With the nature of our bond, I experience practically everything you do, when you're not placing up mental barriers, that is."

"That is true. The bond you two share is uniquely strong," Shiala said. "Have you considered though you could bond with your daughter not only through melds but though breast feeding."

Shepard raised an eyebrow at that. She looked skeptically to her mentor and then to her wife. "Humans don't spontaneously lactate. That isn't going to happen."

"Asari do not spontaneously lactate either, however we can be stimulated to. I'd imagine that humans can as well. That is …is if you wish to do so." Liara said softly. Once more her self-confidence went AWOL.

Shepard touched the soft blue cheeks, tracing the counters with the pad of her thumb. "We'll give it considerable thought when you draw nearer to your time to deliver my love. I'm not opposed to the idea, know that. Right now however it isn't an issue-making sure you and our baby are safe and healthy are. This is why I need to push the regulations so hard. It's important." The Spectre laid a soft kiss on the light lilac lips. "Ash was right you know." Shepard added. "She's also right about asking Racen and Lidanya about little Mayas. Racen is just as young as you; getting INTEL on what they faced will only add to S'thasa and Chakwas knowledge to help you and Sparrow."

"I'll ask." was all the scientist said.

Shepard sighed feeling the weight of stress leave her. "Now that is out of the way, we've got work to do, so let's get to it people." It was a dismissal.

Shiala and Ash were the first to leave, each for their introspective duty stations. Liara a half a step behind her wife quickly caught up then looped her arm around Samantha's.

'_I know you dislike having to pull rank with me, just as I dislike it when I place you in that position.' _Liara sent. '_Though at the same time I am gratified to know that you will do so, it draws me further into the ranks of the crew. It affirms to the others I am not coddled as they might assume. When they think such things it diminishes me in their eyes."_

'_Liara … I know you're not accustomed to people or social situations but I wouldn't have made you head of sciences if I didn't believe in your skills, abilities and talents. I told you that before.'_

Liara smiled. "Yes I know." She squeezed her beloved's arm before she kissed her." Just as I have told you several times I don't need a protector."

"Maybe you don't, but our little Sparrow does."

Liara's hand once more instinctively covered her abdomen. "Indeed she does."

Samantha placed her own hand against her wife's belly. "Well she has the both of us to see to that."

"I can assume Ashley will contribute to our daughter's protection as well. I cannot see she would do otherwise."

"No she wouldn't. She even vowed to watch over you and Sparrow."

Liara froze in step and pulled Samantha aside nearly pushing the human into the bulkhead. "That sort of vow is made only if you thought something horrid would happen to you!"

"Li, I'm a soldier, a warrior. I'm a Spectre. I have to prepare for all contingences and one of them is my death."

"Samantha!" Liara hissed. "Don't you even think of such a thing!"

"We both know that is a possibility, we'd be fools if we pretended otherwise. I'm not looking for it. I have no death wish I simply know it's a possibility. You know it too."

"It is not something I wish to dwell on," the asari said haughtily. "And you are not to dwell on it either." Liara slipped her arm free from Samantha's and entered the turbolift by herself. "This discussion is over."

The Spectre was half tempted to answer her wife with a 'yes dear' but stopped short on account of a heady dose of wisdom. Saying something like that to a pregnant woman was probably not the best option one could choose.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Sir?" Hieronymus Terraxsus sergeant of the turian mercenary clan Guizhou approached his employer with an expression only other turians could see as utter confusion on his bare-face. Okay he worked for a very eccentric volas for the past ten years so very few things were able to take him by surprise anymore let alone stymied him. But that was what he was, stymied, perplexed call it whatever you want - Terraxsus was befuddled.

"What is it?" Shol's replicated voice snapped. "I can't work with all these distractions. What do you want?"

"We received communications sir, from a Citadel Council ship. More specifically from a Spectre."

Shol who had been examining scrolls of writings he had uncovered from the Beings of Light paused, slowly turned and faced the tall un-tattooed face of his mercenary sergeant. "You will repeat that Palaven-clan."

"A Spectre. Here. They want to talk directly to you."

"A Spectre …coming here? Did he say what he wanted?"

"He was a she and no, not directly. Only that your nephew was a member of her crew and she has insight on your quest. She wants a meeting." The mercenary looked down at his very wealthy employer and for the first time in a decade pressed his overbearing stature against the round sentient. "This isn't something you want to cast out of turn because you hate distractions. A Spectre is not one to trifle with. They have no understanding of patience and they are ALLOWED to break the law. They answer only to the Council - no other. She will come down here _sir_ by invite or by conquest. I for one don't want things to get bloody. I looked her up. Commander Samantha Shepard is a very powerful biotic who travels with asari commandos and C-sec most of them turian agents as well as salarian STG. It is in your best interests to answer this call instead of dismissing it as you did other Council investigators. And if you deny her, I and my men won't fight, we'll stand down."

"Shepard? Sounds like an Earth-clan name. Are you sure she's a Spectre? As far as I know there are no Earth-clan Spectres."

"She is the first. She killed Agent Saren who had gone rogue."

"I know of Saren he's the best of the Spectres." Shol said. "And Shepard killed him?"

"From what I heard she also cut down his krogan battlemasters and geth hordes by the dozens. As I said sir, either you give her this meeting or me and my men pull out. You don't pay us enough to battle a Spectre with full command over biotics."

"I never thought to hear a Palaven-clan to act so cowardly, especially towards Earth-clan" Shol scoffed. "You've fought biotics before, but you yield to this one?"

"It's not cowardly, it's simple smarts. Shepard isn't one of those crazy human L2s, she's a Spectre and that means the Council. If she goes down they will send in another. Best get it over with just like ripping off a dermal-patch."

"Fine, fine - tell the Spectre she can have her audience." Shol waved his three digit hand dismissively before returning to his computer.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEM

"Good news Spectre, after our three day lay-over our round-tound little eccentric has finally answered our hails and granted us an audience with his squatness." Joker announced when he caught sight of Shepard striding as confidently as ever onto the Bridge.

"It's about time." She said with out a trace of patience. "I hope for his sake he is in a forthcoming mood."

Joker didn't know if he should be slightly alarmed when he saw a smirk slip onto the Spectre's face. Mostly he was curious.

She even chuckled. "Let's give our little _friend_ something to think about. I want you to do a flyby on his encampment with a two raptor escort. Swing up and pass by again dropping one of the M36 makos twenty meters from their camp perimeter. Perhaps twenty years removed from the grid made him forget what a Spectre is."

Joker's face lit up, his own smile large and toothy. "Got to love your ideas when you get them Commander! You got it. Slowing down to approach vector now."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMMEME

Shiala smiled behind the helmet of her hardsuit. It wouldn't be long before she was completely grounded so what little flight time she had she took enthusiastically, even if it was just a babysitting job in a flyby. Of course she wasn't completely out of flying; she took her shifts at times on the bridge taking the helm of the _Victory._ But there was something wholly different about being in a bird. Granted the raptors were nothing like sitting in the seat of a viper, still the huntress loved the freedom of a smaller ship, the power of it.

The young Naga'sadow was flying her wing on the starboard side of the _Victory_. The younger huntress was an accomplished pilot and could easily handle the mission. As CAG it was apart of Shiala's duties to know her flight crew and she knew the battle over Ilos had shaken the younger asari a bit. This flyby should just be the trick to get her comfortable behind a fighter's yoke once more. Of course she had all her crew do extensive simulator maneuvers but sometimes there was no substitute for the real thing.

A slight commotion near the soon to be dropped mako caught the huntress's keen eye. Shepard was there along with Garrus, Wrex, Tali, and Nual and a protesting Jahleed. She heard the Spectre's voice growing very wearing almost growling.

"Look either you get on that ship agreeably or I have Wrex bowl your ass into the cargo hold, your choice Jahleed."

"Commander …I…my uncle may not wish to see me. He doesn't get along with my father you see and well I am my father's son and …and..."stammered the quickly panicking volas.

"Come on Shepard, I hadn't tossed a volas in a long time, I can cram his sorry ass in the hold easy." Wrex took one menacing step forward causing the cowering volas to stumble backwards, bumbling into the overly large wheel of the mako.

"Save room if you did stuff him in the hold, Skipper means more room in the crew pit, and means I can join the ground team."

"Sorry Lieutenant, even if there were room, regs say you have the deck. Shiala's running escort, I can't have all my command crew off the ship."

Shiala couldn't pick up what the gruff younger female said but by her body language said she clearly wasn't happy about being left behind, especially not on a hostile planet where 'her' skipper could run afoul of something dangerous. Thinking for a moment about the situation, Shiala made a snap decision. Putting her own pleasures aside she strode up to the Spectre and the rest of the mako crew. Besides with Ashley Williams at Shepard's side, Liara was less likely to overly fret over her wife's welfare which was better for the baby growing within her.

"Spectre, may I have a quick word?"

"Yeah." The answer was short but not short of tone.

"Naga'sadow needs the flight-time but I believe it best if Odan-urr accompanies her on the run. They work well together but they still need cohesion as each other wings. Flying escort might seem to be as an easy task but they still need the time. With your permission I will stand down from the mission."

Williams grinned, and Shepard smirked slightly. She tilted her head in a slight acknowledgment of what was truly being offered then turned to her XO. "Williams suit up, Shiala you have the deck."

"As you wish, Commander."

"Aye, aye Skipper."

"Aw see now you have a full crew, there isn't room for me." Jahleed said still trying to back out of the mission.

"What are you truly afraid of, Jahleed? And I warn you lie to me this time and you won't have to worry about being tossed into a cargo hold by a krogan because I'll toss you into the brig for misinterpretation, dereliction of duty and fraud." The Spectre crossed her arms over her chest her gaze glacial.

"As I said Uncle Kumun and father had a falling out when he set out for this expedition. My father is the elder son and thus the inheritor of the tribe. He—he disowned my uncle and wanted to commit him for this lunacy over his visions of the Beings of Light. It darkens the status of our tribe you see. My father even considered trading him in the markets to gain back that loss status. My uncle is a wealthy by his own means but he still answers to birth order of our tribe or he should. But because he's way out here in the Kepler Verge he poses no bartering threat to the tribe as a whole so my father can't favorably trade him. Uncle Kumun may hold a grudge over me for being my father son. So you see I could be endangering the mission if I come along. He isn't very cooperative at the best of times."

"Why didn't you mention this before!" Williams snapped.

Jahleed wrung his hands nervously. "Because….I…you terrify me even as you inspire me Commander Shepard. I didn't want you angry with me for lying to you again after what happened with the keepers. I wanted to help, I believe in this mission to stop the Reapers. I never thought you'd actually make me confront my uncle."

"If Kumun Shol is truly uncooperative, Commander we can always trade Jahleed for the information we seek." Garrus said in all seriousness. "The volus do not see slavery as odious as perhaps the humans or other sentients do. To them trading other tribe members is as normal as arranged marriages."

"You… you wouldn't would you?" Jahleed was nearly in a full blown panic attack. "Earth–clan abhors the idea of slavery!"

"I don't deal in the slave trade, I won't abide it. That doesn't mean we can't pull a Jahleed and Chorban and rearrange the truth to suit our needs, say allow Kumun Shol to believe we might be leaning towards it if necessary. Sometimes duplicity is the only way to get what you need or achieve the objective." Unfolding her arms Shepard approached the now quivering volas. "Alright Jahleed, you made a point you stand relieved of duty. For now. But I warn you pull any more of this crap and I'll pull out some very old traditions of 'Earth-clan' maritime customs and maroon you on the next planet and you find your own way back to the Citadel. Is that clear?"

"Yes ma'am!" The thick neck wobbled as Jahleed nodded his head vigorously.

"Dismissed."

As quickly as he could the still shuddering volas waddled his way out of the flight deck.

"You would truly maroon him on some lone planet, Commander?" Nual spoke up for the first time since the argument with the volas started. For the asari's answer all she got was a smirking Spectre, as she climbed into the cockpit of the mako.

"I think you can count that as a yes." Tali said. "It isn't wise to test the resolve of our Commander Shepard. She is very decisive in her actions."

"Pissing off a Spectre-not a healthy choice if you ask me. Doing so repeatedly is just plain stupid." Wrex added as he too climbed into the mako. "I wish she _would_ drop his sorry ass off someplace, here is as good a place as any. That little lard-ball is starting to get in my craw. I don't even know why she puts up with him."

"Of this we are in an agreement, krogan." Garrus said following the battlemaster into the mako's crew-pit.

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On the bridge Joker adjusted the velocity and let the ship fall into the planet's gravity well, angling towards the planet's southern hemisphere where storms tattered edges meant wind and snow and numbing cold. The heat shielding held up against reentry, but flared in amber on the holographic readout on the viewscreen. He turned off the alarms and hung on while the ship buckled down through the churning atmosphere. The pilot interface translated into mere numbers the hazards of wind sheer and gravity and all kinds of resistance so his struggle to keep the ship from spinning was more mental than physical. Still the muscles of his arms tensed anyway corded with effort even though his touch remained light and nimble on the controls. Fortunately the inertial dampers held so they weren't pulled into two directions at the same time when the ship barrel-rolled and the internal gravity fought with the planet's. Joker got the _Victory_ flying straight and upright again, skimming a ceiling of rolling clouds and buffeted by sheets of frozen rain.

It was going to be one hell of a mako drop just as it had been on Ilos on their first time. Fortunately the mass-effect generator on the mako would make things go smoothly - hopefully. All the same it would be one impressive show of power and determination. The pilot didn't envy the ground crew one moment they would be forced to endure on this forsaken planet. The high air pressure alone would have crushed his brittle bones into a fine powder. Even with the newly enhanced Prothean medical and kenotic exoskeleton inlays in the hardsuits the ground team would be pressed hard to even walk without taxing their body to the limits. Because of the lower gravity they would all feel as if someone had tied lead weights to their ankles and told them to go deep sea diving.

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Kumun Shol's first reaction when he saw the sleek lines of a Thessia-clan frigate escorted by two Palaven -clan raptors was to flee and order his men to attack. He watched the three ships zoom past the camp only to swing by once more this time the frigate dropped an Earth-clan mako not twenty meters from their base camp. Dust billowed up around him coating the volas in a cloak of cloying swirls obscuring his view of the rover. The roar of the frigate's maneuvering thrusters fired up and taking once more to a low orbital position overpowered the sound of the land vehicle so much so Kumun was shocked to see it was now parked not five meters from where he stood. It had slowly crawled up to the edge of the camp reminding the billionaire of a stalking predator tasting the air for its prey as it moved in for the ambush and kill. It took the volas a moment to realize the air-show was all a distraction – a well maneuvered one at that for it allowed the mako to creep up on him and his band of mercenaries. If the Spectre wanted him dead, the camp would have been laid to waste by now. It was an obvious show of power. Why else have the frigate escorted by two raptors?

It was clearly a mistake to underestimate this Spectre simply because she was Earth-clan. He watched as the hatch opened with a pneumatic hiss, but even before it was fully opened out stepped a lone female figure in a black and red colossus hardsuit. Three beats later two other females appeared at her right and left flanks. It was so difficult from this vantage point to see whether the female figures were Earth or Thessia clan. Their faces completely covered by their helmets they looked exactly the same. What was unmistakable was the clanless quarian, Pavilion and Tuchanka clans closing in the ranks. All of them to varying degrees of weight were wearing matching colossus hard-suits.

His eyes behind the protective helmet of his own environmental suit never fell from watching the Spectre. She moved as if the very cold and toxicity of the planet and its low gravity wasn't a factor for her at all. She moved as freely as if she were striding across the Presidium of the Citadel.

"Mr. Kumun Shol, I am Spectre agent Shepard. And I have a proposition for you. I know and have faced the synthetic 'machine devils' your Beings of Light were created to protect against. Shall we have a chat?"

Kumun was so put off his game he found he could only nod his head. He led the sextet of strangers into his large circular habitat. It was one of the more popular habitations used by colonists for both domestic and scientific purposes. Like the sealed environment inside land vehicles such as makos the habitation was heated and hermetically sealed against the frigid and toxic wastes of Klencory. While the atmosphere was not toxic to the volas it was to the Pavilion-clan mercenaries he employed. To keep their morale up he allowed the atmosphere and lower air-pressure within the bottom-half of the large habitat to accommodate their respiratory needs rather than his own. Of course his own private suite on the upper floor held a secondary hermetic seal which held no such adaptations apart from heating and he was free to move about without being contained in his pressure suit.

Kumun entertained the idea of taking the Spectre up to his suite and making her and her strange entourage wear their suits while he moved about freely. He thought it only fair considering the wreck the Spectre had placed his nerves in. Let her be the uncomfortable one. Of course if he did that he wouldn't be able to read her facial expressions and it was already difficult enough to read her eyes. No, it was better if she and her crew were more comfortable in the Pavilion-clan section of the habitat. Allowing someone to be at ease was just as telling and perhaps more so than to have them on high alert. He had worked with mercenaries for the better part of twenty years now. He knew how warriors moved, thought and positioned themselves when they were at their peek alertness. It was when they were in a relaxed state that their movements and positioning were far far more telling of their true natures.

The HUD computer within the hardsuit revealed an earth-like atmosphere within the habitat. It shouldn't have surprised Shepard but it did. She had expected Shol to keep the ammonia-based ecology and the high pressure atmosphere of the outside within the complex. Assessing the reasons the Spectre concluded the eccentric billionaire was seeing to the needs of his employees rather than to his own comforts. After all keeping a band of mercenaries in high morale was paramount if you wanted to keep them loyal. Of course a hefty payroll helped as well. But sometimes that didn't help if your 'army' was in constant physical distress. There would be desertions and perhaps even mutiny.

"Let's get to the meat of the matter as to why you are here Agent Shepard. You said you had faced one of these synthetic machine devils? I find that difficult to believe." The respirator clicked and hissed after each intake of air.

Shepard contemplated a sarcastic reply about being so far removed from Citadel Space proper it was obvious he didn't get the news of recent events. Once more wisdom came to her in a heady dose of 'don't do that. It will be counterproductive to the cause.' Instead she went for diplomacy and a silver tongue. She activated the seals on her helmet deliberately as she addressed the male before her. "I assure you it's the truth. Saren's flagship was one such thing." She summarized the events of the war with Sovereign, Saren and the geth and the revelation of what lay beyond dark space. She even gave him a hologram of Sovereign as well as an OSD taken from compiled footage of the battle over the Citadel as well as Eden Prime and Virmire.

When she had finished her tale Shol remained so still, so silent she didn't know if he had drifted off to sleep or was transfixed by the dread of what the implications of thousands of these machine devils waking up and breaching the boundaries of dark space would truly mean for all organic life. The only sign of life came when he activated his Omni tool and watched the battle for himself, even after the third play-through the volas was slow to react at first.

Wrex was growing impatient with the volas inaction so much so he stood up and was about to lumber over to where Shol had pulled himself apart from the others and no doubt make the other male's day a 'whole lot worse'." But he stood down once Shepard shook her head. Grumbling Wrex backed down but didn't return to his position behind the Spectre. If he couldn't thrash the volas for a response he might be able to glower one out of him.

Having dealt with the Council's need to have irrefutable proof to get them to budge on anything Shepard learned the hard way to give evidence first then come up with the hard questions and even demands.

"As I said I have met and dealt with the machine devils or at least one of their vanguards. If your lost crypts of the Beings of Light can even hint at a way to stop them it is paramount to attain it. From what your nephew has told me you had seen visions of a higher being telling you to seek out theses crypts. Tell me, Mr. Shol did these visions come from a beacon or other such device perhaps even a metallic sphere?"

This spurred Shol into action. "What do _you_ know about that!" the hissing was more from the voice than the respirator. "Did my nephew also claim I was mad because I saw these visions? What does he know? Jahleed is just like his father, a tinkering buffoon and a liar."

"All true." Shepard didn't argue. "But no he made no personal claims that you were clinically mad. In fact I believe you about the visions. I've had my own visions; believe me there are days when I thought I might have gone mad when they replay over and over again in my mind. Visions of all organic life being torn apart, shredded until they become indoctrinated husks of life. Of synthetic beings wiping out all advanced life. These visions came to me not by some higher being but by lost and almost forgotten Prothean beacons. I have even encountered a large metallic sphere created by the Protheans that implanted genetic memories of my planet's prehistoric past. Trust me I make no accusations or inference that your visions are not the genuine thing. I simply wanted to know how you came by them."

"You already know as much. I had a vision of a higher being telling me to seek on Klencory the "lost crypts of beings of light." They were supposedly created at the dawn of time to protect organic life from synthetic "machine devils….these Reapers." He seemed to hesitate for a moment. Looking into the ice-blue eyes of the woman before him seemed to stir a deeper reaction from Shol. "I …" he paused once more shifted a little as he came to a decision. There was something familiar in the eyes of this enigmatic Spectre. A familiarity of being on the outside, struggling with knowledge few could ever appreciate and being chastised over possessing it. "Come with me." he said at long last. "You'll want to reactivate your hard-suits my chambers are not suitable for your species."

Shol led the six-person ground team to a lift in the back of the main chamber; it was easier for a volas to use an elevator than it was to climb a flight of stairs spaced apart for someone with a longer stride. Watching a volas climb staircase not suited for them was rather like watching an eighteen month old infant scaling a set of stairs, they were ungainly, ponderous and often had to crawl up them in an undignified fashion.

Once they vacated the lift and entered an airlock, Shepard understood why Shol told her to reseal her helmet. The whole of the upper deck held the same high pressure as the outside and the air was better suited for the volas's comfort. This did not mean however he removed his own helmet from his pressure suit. They wouldn't be staying long.

"This came to me a little more than twenty years ago. Once I understood it I took five years planning this expedition. My visions came from this…this…glorious object, this grand _Device_. It seems to be some sort of recording device but so much more than an OSD. I believed at first it might be an AI storage device but of that I am even not certain. Perhaps it is some sort of beacon albeit a small one, comparable to those you described to me."

The object in question was a crystal, pyramidal in shape slightly larger than a human's fist. Much like its larger Prothean ruin counterparts that they had found on several planets it had relief designs on the four sides as well as the bottom. Though not exactly the same they were similar enough even the laymen history buff knew one had inspired the other. Hesitantly Shol placed the small pyramid into Shepard's hands. There was an immediate effect. The pyramid started glowing with a milky jade light, a glow which held a warmth at the touch.

"Yes! Yes it did that for me too!" Shol was excited. "Wait and you will see …you will see!"

Jade light washed over the Spectre like a silk sheet, illuminating her until her entire body was glowing. She wasn't moving she barely seemed to be breathing.

Williams's action was immediate she reached over her shoulder, detached the assault rifle from its mount unlocked it and trained it on the volus. She would not hesitate to pull the trigger if so much as a whisper of a sound of agony came from her skipper. "What the hell is happing to her you little troglodyte?!" she snapped. The glow was too much like that of the beacons. The lieutenant knew enough not to touch Shepard but she sure as hell didn't like it. Wrex, Tali and even Nual followed suit though the latter was glowing the sapphire of biotic energy.

"Put away your weapons. She is being _visited_ just as I was. It takes moments but she will not be harmed, I wasn't."

'_I wouldn't be so sure of that you little pug. You're as whacked as Saren only you don't know it.'_ Williams cursed but said nothing of her displeasure though it was clearly shown on her expressive face. "Stand down all of you. Be ready for medical-evac."

"I tell you she is fine, this is the way the High Ones must speak. They will tell her what they told me, they will speak of the crypts of the beings of light. This _Device_ is their avatar."

Williams triggered the command collapsing her rifle back into its compact form before replacing it on her back. Having seen Shepard collapse twice with the beacons and once with that bloody sphere Ash wanted to be there ready to catch her skipper this time when she toppled over.

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As soon as Shepard touched the _Device_ she could feel the warmth ebbing into her surrounding her on an instinctive reflex she summoned the dark energy of her biotics to form a barricade around her. The effect wasn't what she anticipated. The _Device _fed off the energy just as the sconces had back on Ilos. Without hesitating she sent a tendril of energy into the _Device_. As it has with the biotic barrier it soaked it up greedily causing the milky jade glow to become brighter, the warmth more filling.

Shepard knew now what she held. It was a repository of lost and forgotten knowledge. Unlike the beacons this was different. It hadn't been constructed to transmit information but store it, a digital matrix imprinted with the personalities of those who constructed it. It was more than an OSD recording of facts, information and data much more than that, what exactly the Spectre could only speculate.

The Device began to sparkle and shimmer in response to Shepard's meditative touch. From her point a view a small beam of jade-green light projected out from the top surrounding her in tendrils of scattered and defused particles of illumination. Yet it was only the light she saw, her surroundings fallen away in the Spectre's sight leaving her in a void of pure whiteness, a vastness that stretched out in all directions with no end. There was no way to judge distance. She felt as if she were floating in a soap bubble, free-floating in shimmering iridescence.

In that void the jade light grew larger and larger, looking not unlike a hanar. It flickered, shimmered its hanar-jellyfish appearance morphed once more to an emerald version of Vigil when Shepard had first encountered the Prothean AI, to finally take the shape of an angelic being from Earth's Christian bible.

"Seek out the Beings of Light in their lost crypts. From the beginning of time they were created to seek and destroy the synthetic machine devils, the hungerers, the eaters of life, the bane of organic life. The devils from the dark, from the void will come, they will cull, they will reap. Seek not to rise above those who created the mass relays it beckons the devils. The cycle repeats always. They come and reap, seek instead the lost crypts of Beings of Light, Klencory holds their lost light, they will destroy the machine devils."

"Are you an AI or a VI?"

"Seek out the lost crypts of the Beings of Light"

"A recording then, like the messages in the beacons," Shepard concluded. "If something is lost then it can be found again." The Spectre added more to herself. "It can't be that simple or Shol would have found it by now. So what's missing? Okay brain start thinking like Liara. What's there? What isn't there? What is so hidden only an archeologist would see it?"

The entity changed shape once more, this time it was an asari child no more than five years old, but with eyes old as time itself. "Seek out the Beings of Light in their lost crypts. From the beginning of time they were created to seek and destroy the synthetic machine devils, the hungerers, the eaters of life, the bane of organic life." The entity repeated the words.

"Yes I got that bit. Okay so now you're looping, and you changed from one of my races' religious icons to that of my wife's on the mention of her name and the thought of her. Interesting." The Spectre frowned. "I only wish I understood it significance. There has to be one or what's the point?"

Once more the entity changed this time it was a combination of all she had seen before: flickering tendrils of light emanating from great angelic wings on the back of an asari huntress. "You've fought the Machine Devils but you cannot do it again. Not alone. Seek out the Beings of Light in their lost crypts. From the beginning of time they were created to seek and destroy the synthetic machine devils."

Shepard heard the words—but they brought her up short, staggered her a little because she heard them twice: once from the entity, and once a fraction before that, in her own head. The echo was discordant, grating. The jade light seemed to make everything float, fathomless and she seemed drawn towards it. She was being pulled, lulled and eased by it. It razed the warrior within her, she rebelled against the lull, fought it.

And she fell. Something caught her because she never hit the floor. Opening her eyes the Spectre was staring into the deep brown eyes of a very concerned Ashley Williams. For a small moment Shepard allowed the comfort of the arms holding her before she rose fully to her feet. She forced the queasy feeling back down into the pit of her stomach giving a direct order not to rise again.

"You alright, Skipper?" Ash whispered so only Shepard would hear.

"I'm fine."

"What happened? What did you see?" Tali asked urgently.

"A higher being telling me to see out the lost crypts of the Beings of Light here on Klencory," Shepard answered.

"See! See, just as I have seen." Shol become excited at the prospect that someone else had seen what he had. Been touched, been blessed by the higher ones.

"It's similar to the beacons, it contains a looping message but its more than that, something is there under it all. It's almost subliminal, the image changed a few times, adapting. It's an interface. If we are meant to find the lost crypts I'm positive it's through this …_Device_."

"What do you mean?" Shol was apprehensive to let his _Device_ out of his hands. Yet if the Spectre wanted to confiscate it, there was little he could do to stop her.

"I want to study this more. However your suite isn't suitable I think you can understand why."

"I…I couldn't let that leave my encampment." Shol wrung his hands nervously fearing the motives of the Spectre's plan for her more in-depth study.

"The mercenary quarters will be fine." Shepard said dismissing the male's fears of something of a trivial nature. The key to the riddle of the lost crypts lay in the Device, Shepard was sure of it and she wasn't about to let it go.

Once back in the regulated lower pressure and oxygenated air of the squads' barracks the ground crew visibly relaxed. Despite the renovations to the hardsuits it was unsettling to know the very air you were in was poisonous, the air pressure deadly.

Shepard held the pyramid out on the palm of her hand. It had responded to dark energy perhaps this was why it had reacted differently to her than it had to Shol. It was drawing her once more, beckoning her to answer its call. Shaking her head, Shepard forced herself to clear her mind. First things first.

"Williams, Wrex, Garrus, I want you to check out the rest of the camp, if we are going to be a part of this expedition I want to know what sort of resources there are from the men who are the true labor force." She gave a look to the hovering volus. "No offence, Mr. Shol but in my experience those in administrative positions are not that objective to their pet projects. I'm _sure_ sir in the spirit of cooperation you will give my people all maps you've made in the past twenty years. You can hand them over to Nual and Tali for analysis; I know you've been working on this for the past twenty years but fresh eyes may see things you have not."

Shepard's eyes fell once more upon the pyramid in her hands. And smiled.


	22. Devil is in the Details

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Twenty Two: The Devil is in the Details

Williams hesitated. Wrex and Garrus had already left the compound as ordered. Tali and Nual were at a work station poring over data logs and downloading OSDs with pertinent information that they would also transmit to the Victory for the science team to pore over.

"Requesting permission to disregard your orders ma'am." Williams stood at rigid attention.

Shepard looked to her XO with a raised eyebrow. "Cut that out before you strain something Ash."

First names - it was subtle hint that Ash could for the moment speak her mind. And that is exactly what she did. "As XO I think it's unwise to leave the Commander of the ship without back up. Technically it's against regulations, ma'am. When you're locked in that thing it's like you're not … here. I don't trust the chuckle-heads Shol hired and I don't trust Shol. I'm not leaving your six." Ash crossed her arms giving her best commanding NCO glare she had used on her squad mates back when she led a team on Eden Prime.

The Spectre grinned. "Duly noted, Lieutenant. Take your post."

"Ma'am." The corners of Ash's lips creased into a smile.

Moving with deliberate care, the Spectre set the _Device_ gingerly on the floor, then sat down tailor style beside it. Her breath was slow and measured - deep, the way Liara and Shiala had taught her. She placed herself into a meditative trance. Gathering and focusing her energy, she projected a wave of biotic power out to engulf the delicate relic on the floor. As it has in Shol's study it began to sparkle and shimmer with the same milky jade light.

Swirls of light swarmed, spiraled, enfolded the Spectre in a kaleidoscope of color and sound. The light began to spin and shift just as before and as before the particles scattered and defused, cloaking the Spectre. Once more Shepard found herself in the vast void of white nothingness.

It sparkled. Shimmered jellyfish like, tendrils of white light emanating from a globe of swirling jade. "Seek the lost crypts of the beings of light."

"Who are the beings of light?" Shepard demanded.

"They were created at the dawn of time. They are with the Glow."

"I didn't ask when they were created, I asked _who_ they were, _who_ they are. Answer." the voice belonged to a military commander, a Spectre, one born to a uniform. One who was accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed without question. Her voice was crisp and clear.

"Their creation is who they are." The entity said.

"If they were created to fight synthetics are they synthetics themselves or genetic constructs?

"Synthetics they are not."

"If they were created then who are they?" Shepard repeated the question.

"Beings from the dawn of time. They are of the Glow."

Shepard wanted scream in frustration. She hated circular logic. She scrubbed her face with gloved hands taking in a deep steadying breath. "Okay, let's try something else. Crypts are filled with the dead. If you want us to seek out their crypts then there is something there to find amongst the dead, or is it that the crypts are something like cryogenic chambers or a hiding place? Or are they a sanctuary of a sort? Like the ancient stories back on Earth, pacifistic refugees hid in the tombs of the dead to avoid their own slaughter.

"If the beings of the light are dead, then what lies amongst their remains that we need to seek? And if they are in stasis that means they might be revived, if their cryogenic chambers are still active, that is. And if they are in hiding what are they waiting for? The end of the cycle? Like the last of the Protheans? They hid, put themselves in stasis only to have Vigil revive them so they could create and activate the conduit. It was their last ditch effort to stop the Reapers… the machine devils."

"The Protheans are not known to us." The entity said.

"Of course you predate them probably by fifty-thousand years or something like that. Am I right? Liara said there were those that came before the Protheans. I'm guessing the beings of light are one of them."

"The beings of light were created at the dawn of time."

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"What are we looking for?" Wrex growled. "I'm no tomb raider. What the hell does Shepard want?"

"The crypts. I thought that much was obvious, even for a krogan," Garrus shot back as the two made their way through the outskirts of the encampment towards one of the fifty-seven excavation sites.

"I hate the dead. They aint got nothing I want if I hadn't killed 'em first."

"Spoken like a true krogan thug."

"Listen here you turian _turd_," Wrex whirled around stabbing Garrus in the chest with one of his fingers emphasizing his point, "the only reason I haven't broken your bird bones is because of Shepard. And you're somewhat useful in a fight. I promised her I wouldn't shoot ya, but I don't need a gun to end your life. Our Spectre aint the only biotic here." Wrex caused his body to glow a cyan blue.

"I could arrest you for threatening a C-Sec officer." Garrus took a step back, but wasn't backing down.

"Go ahead and try."

Garrus folded his arms Shepard style and stared at the battlemaster through his full face visor not making a move or sound. It was Wrex who moved first, snorting he turned away from the turian. A beat later Garrus was in his wake.

Near the enclosure's motor pool Hieronymus's men had gathered waiting apparently for the Spectre's squad to make a show of themselves. It was apparently obvious the sergeant of the Guizhou wasn't expecting a krogan and turian to be working in tandem much less get along as well as they were.

"The Spectre desires to know about the excavations sites." Wrex barked out.

"Mr. Shol said as much, he said we are to extend every courtesy and take you to the first three that are closest to the camp." Hieronymus said. "One is as good as any of the others; they all contain the same thing: a big fat zero and swarms of annoying little bugs. If you want to waste your time in this fracking cold that's your business. Don't expect us to haul your sorry asses out of this toxic land-dump if your suits fail."

"Understood." Garrus answered for both himself and Wrex. "Lead the way we'll follow in our own rover."

"I thought we'd be taking ours." Hieronymus commented, the confusion evident in his voice.

"As you said, we're on our own. Our rover, our terms." Garrus countered

"Suit yourselves. But do try not to get lost; I have no intention of filling out all that paper work if you end up lost or dead."

"So much for extending every courtesy," Wrex rumbled.

"What do you expect from hired reprobates? They don't even have the honored badge of bounty hunter. At least your kind is good for something." Garrus snorted. "Come on, Shepard's counting on us."

The valley of the first excavation site lay sprawled out before them, hidden between the canopies of the sloping tufts of the iceberg. The ruins were boxed in, seemingly dug out of the high ice cliffs on either side. A grand archway at the entrance had been built out of the cliff face, but the chambers that housed the remains of the crypts wound their way deep into the frozen mountains. All constructed out of the ice.

From the HUD inside the mako the two from _Victory _could make out the intricate designs carved into the archway. Garrus made sure he scanned and downloaded the glyphs, he didn't know what they meant and he doubted anyone did but they were significant enough to carve into solid ice they must be so to remember. Besides Dr. T'Soni might be able to make heads or tails of it. The C-Sec officer surmised at the height of the shining ones Empire the pristine craftsmanship would have been awe inspiring, but eons of frozen desert winds had worn away most of the detail as it had the ice spires of this once glorious citadel.

From the HUD display there were signs of life though small. Must be the insect infestation Hieronymus spoke of. Insignificant but curious. It never ceased to surprise either the krogan or the turian how such tiny things could live on such an inhospitable planet as Klencory. They must be suitable to the environment much like the chrome monkeys on Electra. They must have some kind of hive within the tombs, just as the monkeys had had a colony inside the abandoned mineshaft. Hopefully they wouldn't be as much of a hindrance the mission as those blasted metallic monkeys had been.

*As you can see for yourselves, there is nothing here but the ice more ice and ice-fleas.* Hieronymus's voice crackled over the mako's comm-system.

"Nevertheless we want to see the interior," Garrus said "for a proper recon."

*Suit yourselves.* the words seemed to be a popular turn of phrase for the merc sergeant.

Wrex turned to his companion from his place in the driver's seat. "What do you expect to find?"

"Nothing." Garrus answered honestly. "But that isn't our task. Shepard is counting on us. You want to disappoint her?"

The krogan shook his massive head. "Not on the souls of any potential get I sire. Let's do it."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Success in battle really came down to two things: training and leadership. Oh it helped to have access to Spectre issue armor and weapons. But even with the massive army and tech at his disposal Saren still lost. Training and leadership that's what it came down to.

It was that training and under Shepard's tutelage and leadership came the very keen eye. Truth be told, Williams didn't like the vibe she got off of Shol. The guy creeped her out. He continuously wrung his hands, paced and mumbled under his breath. If she hadn't known better she could have sworn he was an VI on a feedback loop, because he kept repeating a phrase over and over again. '_I_ must seek the crypts. _I_ must seek the crypts…_.I_ must seek the crypts…'

Slowly Williams's hand slipped to her hip, unfastened the pistol from its holster: her finger flagging the trigger. If that little creep tried to make a move on the skipper it would be the very last thing he did in this life time. Williams wouldn't hesitate to brutally murder the bastard if she believed in her heart he'd make a hostile move on her Shepard. She wasn't called the Spectre's Trusted for nothing.

She was a soldier, through and through, born to her uniform as surely as Shepard had been. Ash didn't understand half the biotic powers or the pull that tugged at the skipper or Liara for that matter. She didn't have to understand biotics to be wary of effects melding with things like beacons, spheres, and _Devices_. Ash didn't like to think of the long term affects such things had upon Shepard's mind. Of course if what the skipper and Liara said was true then Sam's brain was more like an asari's than human ever since the gestalt. Perhaps there wasn't a great deal to be overly concerned with. Maybe. But Ash wasn't going to hold her breath.

Even as her mind internalized her thoughts her eyes never left the volas, or his two lingering bodyguards. Yeah sure the turians towered over Williams by two feet but she knew how to play the imposing and looming guard just as well as two hired goons. Better. She had a better motive than credits. Her dark brown eyes fell upon the silent Samantha Shepard. Yes… a far stronger motivator.

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The Illusive Man knew it was only a matter of time before the full truth concerning that magnificent flagship of Saren's came before him. Oh yes to be sure Ambassador Udina had said Shepard claimed it to be the true threat, that it was a living thing … sentient. But the Illusive Man didn't get where he was by taking the word of a single man. A man that held a grudge was a man not to trust the word of. Two high level Alliance personnel had confirmed the story of the living-ship, then further confirmed that this race of synthetics were responsible for not only causing the Prothean extinction, but _they_ not the Prothean had constructed the Mass Relays and the Citadel!

And in the middle of it all was the first human Spectre. The fruition of Udina's little war with Shepard would have to wait. She was far more useful alive and actively pursuing her quest to stop the Reapers. For now. Though the scrimmages the ambassador created with his bounty hunters were also beneficial in distracting the Spectre from Cerberus's penultimate agenda in the creation of the superior warrior.

There was more information to be harvested. Turning to the Shadow Broker was fruitful but costly - a tithing the Illusive Man wasn't yet ready to pay. The information he sought revolved around Shepard's seeming biotic evolution and her ties to the asari. All that work with Grayson and the _asset _had been a great blow to the Illusive Man's carefully constructed machinations. Fortunately however his agent in the Ascension Project had managed to transmit several caches of data before his … early _retirement_ from his services to Cerberus.

Dr. Jiro Toshiwa had been useful to the Illusive Man but he was not of sufficient value to warrant keeping alive for much longer. Fear of retribution wasn't enough insurance to keep the man silent. SOP - silence any possible leaks that could endanger the mission. It was how Cerberus had maintained its existence as long as it had within the Alliance Military and how it existed outside of it.

The Illusive Man recalled files on his computer. While the Ascension Project was important to the overall goals of Cerberus it was by no means the only path towards that goal. Agents in either ExoGeni or Binary Helix respectively had over the months managed to gain access to some of the most intriguing research on indoctrination.

Indoctrination led to new programs, one of which was to program sleeper agents with suggestions and commands initiated via white noise. So far the results had been astoundingly successful. It was time to step the project up to the next level. Cerberus scientists and engineers had per his instructions installed White noise broadcasting systems in the dormitories, recreation centers and studios of one of the outlying villages on **Amaterasu dedicated to musicians, artists and philosophers. The secluded woodland village was far from the colony proper, which made it perfect for the needs of the WNIP experiments. Taking the most docile people and turning them into programmable assassins and agents was something very much bankable. **

Opening a new file on the Genesis Warriors, the Illusive Man stifled a groan. This project was rife with problems, from innumerable deaths, mutations, insanity to inexcusable failures. Some of those failures lay at the feet of one Samantha Shepard: the Council's newest pet. Yes, Udina's little war with the Spectre would prove quite the beneficial distraction. Despite the problems she had created for Cerberus, the Illusive Man needed her alive. And though he needed her alive for the moment, he didn't need those she trusted the most to be counted amongst the living. What was a soldier without a hand to wield a weapon? While Udina concentrated his wrath towards a single asari maiden the Illusive Man set his sights on a far different target.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Ashley stretched her arms over her head as she rolled it from left to right. She had been 'babysitting' the skipper for the past three hours. The dark haired Spectre hadn't moved a muscle in all that time. If it wasn't for the barely audible sigh of breath, Williams would not have believed Shepard to be alive. Her breath was five times slower than it would have been if she were asleep. If Williams hadn't seen the meditative trance between Liara and the skipper before she would have been concerned.

"She's been like that too long." Shol complained for the twenty-ninth time. The funny thing was Williams agreed with the volus. He might be a bit weird but he was right. Shepard had been in that thing far too long. "You should get her out, Lt. Williams." Shol demanded. "Now."

"I can't do that."

Shol wasn't accustomed to having his demands blithely dismissed. He wouldn't stand for it. "Then I shall."

Williams's pistol was raised, aimed and locked on target. "Not one step further!"

Both bodyguards raised their own rifles, locking on Ash's head. She didn't flinch, didn't lower her weapon. She fired a warning shot past the head of guard on the right and a second shot past the shoulder on the one on the left. "I _said_ no one takes a step. You are going to lower your weapons, put them back in their holsters and go back to your little corners or I put you down right now."

Both males looked to their employer before complying with the Spectre's lieutenant. She was a quick, steady draw and aggressively protective.

"Good boys." Williams smiled mockingly. Brown eyes turned their attention to Shol. "I said no one touches her. It's too dangerous. You've been in that thing Shol; you know what it's like."

Shol cut a glance at the meditating Spectre. The Earth-clan lieutenant was right it was too dangerous to disturb the Spectre, but he was right as well she had been too long in the hold of the _Device_. It had never held him as long as this. "Too long. Too long," he muttered walking away, wringing his hands. "Too long."

It was another hour before the Spectre moved. The fog swirled around her as Shepard pulled away from the _Device_. As it had in the past the sensations left her dazed and not a little nauseous. Once more Ash was at her side instantly; in her hand was Shepard's own canteen.

"Drink." Ash said in a mixed tone of concern and command. She knew she was treading a very thin line taking liberties as she was giving her skipper an 'order,' but she gladly take the backlash if only make sure Shepard was on this side of 'I'm fine.'

Shepard greedily drank the high energy-protein drink, nearly choking on its contents as she drained it. Without a second breath of hesitation Ash surrendered one of her own protein bars from her supply kit.

"Thanks, Ash." The corners of her lips curled upwards

"No problem." A wide smile returned the soft one the skipper had offered her.

From the corner of the room Shol started to take a step forward but paused when he saw the hand of the young lieutenant reach for her pistol. Having seen the slight movement Shepard raised an eyebrow.

"You want to explain what that was about, Lieutenant?"

"Just a reminder about personal space, Ma'am."

"Right. Difference of opinion?"

"Something like that, yes." Williams nodded.

"Do I need the full details?" the Spectre whispered for her XO's ears only.

"No ma'am."

Shepard simply nodded.

"You were in the _Device_ too long, Spectre." Shol regained some of his bravery now that Shepard was back to keep the young varren bitch at bay. "You needed to be pulled out."

Ah no wonder Ash was ready for a swift assault. The Spectre smiled inwardly approving of her Trusted's actions. "That would have been foolish at the very least. I didn't take you to be a fool Mr. Shol, was I mistaken?"

"I have never been within the _Device_ for so long." Shol ignored the question placed before him as rhetorical. Though he did take two respectable paces back. To fear a Spectre was expected, but it was her followers that Shol was truly intimidated by. She had inspired such fierce loyalty in them that had nothing to do with bank accounts. The varren bitch had pulled the trigger of her gun without so much of a flicker of emotion or hesitation and she would do so again. Shol knew it in his soul. She was the one to keep his eye on. After all the Spectre was reliable she would do what was necessary to fulfill her mission. Her followers on the other hand were unpredictable, and aggressively protective of their mistress. A very lethal combination.

Shepard turned to Ash. "How long was I out?"

"Approximately four hours, Commander."

"Are you serious? It didn't seem that long." Now the concern that shown in Williams's brown eyes was reflected in Shepard's blue.

"What did you learn?" Shol asked. "What was shown to you that was not to me?"

For the next hour Shepard explained all that she had seen and heard and hypothesized. The _Device _was directly related to the crypts and the shining ones. The how eluded her. The Spectre didn't see it, none of them did. Not even Tali or Nual when they rejoined them.

"I apologize Commander, there is nothing in the records Mr. Shol gathered that can shed insight on the purpose or function of the _Device_ other than it is an interface." Nual said.

"Mr. Shol what have you discovered about the glyphs covering the surface of the _Device_?"

It was difficult to tell, but it appeared the volus gave a shrug of his shoulders as he answered the question. "I have papers written by an asari matriarch that date back at least three thousand years ago. In truth the papers and the _Device_ came to me at the same time. In them she speaks of the _Device _and the crypts. She decreed the Lost Crypts to be sacrosanct, as were those of the zeioph who have elaborate crypts on Armeni. Both races it seems were destroyed by these machine devils ...the Reapers. I thought the two related somehow."

"These papers you discovered were they written by Matriarch Dilinga?" Shepard asked.

"Yes," the volus nodded his squat head vigorously. "I found the matriarch's papers to be less than useless considering she didn't pursue the search. For someone so seemingly wise she seemed to be rather naïve." Shol said. "I left them behind on my ship."

Nual scowled. "Matriarch Dilinga was one the most iconic and respected matriarchs in an age! Her wisdom expands lifetimes, only Matriarch Benezia was her equal."

"Back it up, Lieutenant," Shepard warned the asari huntress, "it's not worth it."

The young asari continued to glare, but obeyed the command.

"You will clarify what you meant by accusing a respected matriarch of being naïve." The Spectre demanded in her most commanding tone.

"She must have received the same message we have been blessed with and yet because of the decree that gravesites are sacrosanct she wouldn't trespass into the caverns to seek out that which was lost. This is why I call her naive. If we were not meant to find the lost crypts why receive a plea from the _Device_? She heard it whisper to her and yet she turned her back upon that call. Does that sound like something the very wise would do?"

"It sounds like something the very faithful would do. And the asari are far seeing, they lay in wait for things they set in motion years even decades before. They are glorious strategists; they set layers within layers within layers. What you do not understand in Matriarch Dilinga's actions maybe revealed within her writings. In her writing she speaks of the beings of light and their lost crypts. What more did she understand that you dismissed because she would not desecrate a necropolis?"

"Commander, if we download the glyphs and transmit them to Dr. T'Soni perhaps she can reference the matriarch's writings," Tali spoke up, "and find a translation. Perhaps find a more solid ground with what we are looking for and how to find it. Surely the matriarch found it, even if she didn't pursue it."

"If anyone can find out how to read this thing, it's Liara." Ash nodded in agreement. She took the _Device_ from the Spectre's hand, examining it.

Shol muffled a mewling sound of protest, all his attention on the hands that were now fingering his _Device_ as if desecrating it. He began wringing his hands as he rocked back and forth on his feet. He took a small step back from the varren bitch, watching her contemptuously. Beneath his pressure suit his lips creased into a grimace. He said nothing as his twitching grew steadily worse.

Ash turned the pyramid in her hands. "You'd have to be an ant to read these things properly. How in the hell did they carve ruins into its surface? You think they used something like a magnetron magnifying glass?"

Shepard started. "What did you say?" she took the pyramid from the younger woman's hand and stared at it. Hard.

"I asked how they carved the ruins into it."

"No before that."

Ash frowned, a little stymied by the question. "Um… you'd have to be an ant to read it properly." Williams's statement sounded more as if it were a question.

"Ants…ants…" Shepard stared at the _Device _with a far more critical eye than when she had first examined it. "Ants…ants..." her voice was a soft whisper now. The Spectre stared hard at the relic in her hands. For several moments she didn't move a muscle, didn't seem to even draw breath. Deathly silence clocked her. "Oh YES!" the exclamation caused everyone to jump. "You're brilliant Ash. It hadn't occurred to me before … it's relative. All of it."

It took a moment before all recovered from the outburst. "I do not understand." Nual was the first to speak.

"Einstein." Shepard grinned almost manically, predatorily. "I've been such a dull stone. Tali scan it. I want a holographic enlargement. I also want you to send a copy to Liara and to the mako. Mr. Shol, you been looking in the wrong places, and I've been asking the wrong questions."

"Commander … care to share with the rest of the class?" Williams said looking deep into the blue eyes of her commanding officer.

"The theory of relativity; time and space … size. I'm not an astrophysicist but I get the basics. The thing is we've been looking at this _Device _as if it was a mere interface and a scale model the protheans based their own pyramids on. Well they might have, that isn't the point." The predatory smile was back. "We've been a bit short sighted."

"I'm still not following you." Tali said.

"We've been using the wrong perspective. If we were as small as ants, like Williams said the pyramid would be in the true perspective. What if the beings that created the pyramid were as small as ants? We've been looking at this as something left behind by sentients of our own relative size, but what if they weren't? What if the beings of light were very very small?"

"Then their lost crypts would be as equally small." Nual said.

"Is that _Device_… is that the crypt then?" Ash asked.

"No, it's not a crypt but it is the key to the crypts. We need to bring it to them."

"One little hiccup in that plan there Skipper, we still don't know where we need to take the _Device._"

The large predatory grin on the Spectre's face returned. "Oh that is about to be remedied. Trust me. I've got a plan."

Shol began wringing his hands.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Of course, Commander." Liara answered the order. "I took the liberty to transcribe and download all of the writings of Matriarch Dilinga we recovered, when we were still on the _Normandy_. I'll cross reference them now. Do you desire only the papers we found on Shol's derelict ship or do you wish me to scan them all?"

*Those we found on the ship first, but she may have spoken of the beings of light in other writings.* Shepard voice came over Liara's private radio.

"Yes that was my thought as well. Hold on this will only take a moment to find. I stamped each recovered document with the location, time and condition when it was found."

*Gotta love archeologists.*

Liara didn't need to see it to know there was a smile behind the comment. She smiled back. "Indeed, Spectre."

The young Prothean expert typed in the commands into the computer, accessing the archives as she set the search engine to locate matriarchal writings found near Klencory. She got a result instantly. Broadening the search parameters in the documents to find any mention of the beings of light, lost crypts she discovered exactly what her lover and commanding officer needed. Even as she transmitted the needed files to Samantha, Liara read them.

"This is quite interesting," the asari said, "the matriarch said not only do the entries within the _Device _respond to biotics, she says they come from it - from the ebbing flow of the summoning power. She writes about something on this planet awakened eons ago… from the dawn of time to a massive exposure to element zero at its core. She mentions being told to seek out the lost crypts but refused to trespass against the gravesites. 'Whether the _Device_ is only an interface from eons ago, or a reservoir of lost knowledge I can not in good conscience commit trespass against the sanctified grounds of another for mere scientific conquest to uncover the past."

*That's where Shol must have lost interest. Though it does beg a question. The matriarch's papers were written something like three thousand years ago. How did he manage to read it? Hasn't the language changed? Hell even the English language has changed from three thousand years ago. I still struggle with parts of Chaucer.*

"Look to the basics my love, he probably hired a translator or he studied the asari language. And no it has not changed in three thousand years." Liara grinned. "We are a very long lived species it would be illogical to change the language within the span of only three matriarchs' lifetimes."

*Oh … yeah. Right.* there was a blush under the chagrined voice on the other end of the radio.

Liara chuckled softly, loving her wife for her all her little egocentricities. Her blue eyes were drawn to the computer screen; she paused for a moment as a look of contemplation crossed her youthful face. She had felt something before when she knew her wife to be meditating. Its ghostly presence was still there, lingering like the scent in the air after the rain had passed.

"Tell me Samantha, what changes have you noticed in your biotics."

*Nothing much, I'm a little more energized. But then I always am after the meditations Why?*

"If hundred thousand years ago the core experienced an implosion of massive amounts element zero there must be areas of super-concentration not unlike volcanic fizzers. The beings of light would be drawn to them, just as you are, just as any biotic would be."

*I thought of something like that. I wanted to bring the _Device_ to one of the excavation sites and activate it.*

"Yes. When you do so, look for very high concentrations of raw element zero. It should lead you to the crypts, if not open them. I believe you are correct in assuming the _Device _is the key to the crypts, perhaps more literally than figuratively."

*That's what I've betting on. Just like the sconces back on Ilos.*

MEMEMEMEMMEMEMEMEMEME

"At least we now know what we're looking for." Garrus said after receiving the transmission from Tali concerning the dig sites.

"Probing for EZ hot spots isn't exactly what I had in mind." Wrex grumbled. "I like shooting things, digging crap up is T'Soni's job."

"Yes, but Shepard isn't about to sacrifice her unborn child is she?"

"You know?" Wrex was a little surprised. Oh a krogan male can scent when a female was in brooding, but the battlemaster was a little surprised to know a turian could do the same.

"Shepard hovers over her mate as only an expecting sire would. Liara's scent has changed slightly as well as has Shepard's. If I didn't know better I'd think she was carrying too. Only I know she isn't."

"I noticed that too." Wrex commented. "Shepard isn't exactly brooding, but it's like she is. It's that bond between them. But she isn't the only one."

"Lieutenant Williams." Garrus said, nodding "There is something there."

"Heat," Wrex said knowingly. "Shepard and T'Soni responded to it. I don't understand why they don't do something about it."

"Two humans and asari…what do you expect? It's not like they have a turian or krogan nose. The only asari I know who can sense such things are the matrons and matriarchs, those maidens can't smell a damn thing." The C-sec officer said.

"Way I hear it it's only the matrons that go into brooding mode wanting to throw a clutch. Human noses are blunt and limited, so are the asari. Or maybe it's only because they are all female. Well sorta. T'Soni says she isn't exactly female; it had no real meaning for her kind. Still only females go into brooding. Maybe only males can pick up on the scent."

"I don't know about that Wrex, Shepard and Liara do very well in that department."

"You've forgotten all that melding shit? They're so tied together that transcends brooding scent. But nether one of 'em melded with Williams, if they did it'd solve a few things."

"Most likely, but talk like this is a good way to get on the bad side of Spectre, a brooding asari, and trigger happy mateless human female deep in season. Like I said, Shepard isn't carrying but she _is _brooding and a brooding female is an exceptionally dangerous beast." Garrus said sagely.

"Especially one with biotics." Wrex said. "Counting Matron Shiala that's three of 'em, and Williams will go along for the ride. Where her 'Skipper' goes she goes."

"Come on, we better get back to work, as you said disappointing the Spectre isn't something either one of us wants to do."

It wasn't the personal fear of repercussions from their Spectre that two warriors feared, but rather her conviction in their quest and in her troops, in them. If they failed her, they failed the quest; they failed all sentient organic life. Her way was the only way. Whatever she told them to do, asked of them, they would do without hesitation, remorse, second thoughts. If they had to die like Alenko so the mission would succeed both males knew in their hearts, in their gut they would do so willingly - gladly. They believed in Samantha Shepard.


	23. Lost Crypts of the Beings of Light

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Twenty Three: The Lost Crypts of the Beings of Light

"I can not allow you to take the _Device._ You have no right!" Shol growled as much as a volus was capable of growling. Which was to say not much - it was more of a petulant squeal.

"You forget my station_, sir_. I am a Spectre your permission is not required. I am confiscating the _Device_ to fulfill the mission. Once I have what I need, the _Device_ will be returned to you." Shepard said, sternness coloring her voice.

Shol started pacing, "You mean once you've opened the crypts?"

"That is not what I said, sir. Once the use of the _Device_ is finished you may have it returned. Until such a time it will remain in my custody and that could be for quite some time. You may accompany us to the dig site, but where we take the _Device_ after that you can not."

"But it belongs to me!" Shol all but stamped his feet in a tantrum

"No, it belongs to the beings of light you were merely its custodian and now I am." Shepard shot back.

"That isn't fair, Spectre!"

"Nor is war." The Spectre turned away from the volus to her second in command. "Lieutenant, summon the others. Now that we have a heading we ride out."

"Yes ma'am." Williams snapped a crisp salute before carrying out her orders. "Tali, Nual, gather your things. Wrex, Garrus insure the mako is ready for heavy combat; I want full power to kinetic barriers and firepower. We go in expecting thresher maws, hopeful we get only chrome monkeys. Move out!" pressing the seals around the neck of her hardsuit, the younger marine summoned the accordion style helmet to fold forward, covering her face completely.

Despite the orders she had just given half her crew or the fact it had so recently been used in a recon mission or perhaps because of it, Williams wanted to inspect the serviceability of the mako, herself. She also wanted to inspect the viability of Shol's ROSEs, (or Remote Operated Systems Equipment).

ROSEs were used for construction, mining, excavation and exploration purposes on inhospitable planets. They were remotely controlled by a VR neural-suit interface. The bipedal mechanized bots did all the work while the 'pilots' sat safely inside a contained environment such as a mako, low orbital ship or a self contained encampment. It was how Shol had been able to survive for two decades on Klencory. Williams had a deep seated feeling they would be needed before this mission played out.

Shol not satisfied with the Spectre's answer placed himself in front of her even as she made for the entrance of the fortification. "I must protest, Spectre! I was sent the divine message from the high ones to seek out the crypts! Me not you ! ME!"

"And before you, there was Matriarch Dilinga. She followed the convictions of her beliefs, just as you have and just as I am. The Reapers will be stopped. You are not biotic, you can not open the crypts nor can you find them without a biotic's control over dark energy. Had you studied Matriarch Dilinga's writings for the treasure they are, you might have actually understood what she wrote. You would have further saved yourself years of fruitless searching, with only ROSEs. To the matriarch the crypts were sacrosanct. To me the galaxy is. I will do what whatever is required of me to fulfill that obligation. If that means trespassing on graves or pissing off a few people, it's a very small price to pay. Now step aside, let me do my job or I will have you arrested for impeding a Spectre in the line of duty. I have no sympathy for you sir or your feculent mercenary maggots and no more patience to pretend otherwise."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

"Feculent mercenary maggots? You actually said that to him?" Ash asked a little astonished at her skipper, after the older woman climbed into the cockpit of the mako.

"Yes," the answer was given with a shrug. "I did. Pulling a Gunny Ellison sometimes works pretty damn well."

Both women shared a knowing smile.

"Too bad there wasn't any muck to send him face first into." Ash snickered under her breath.

"Whatever happened to going through all the 'red tape'?" the question came from Garrus. It was a question Nual wanted to ask as well.

"It was going to take too long. I decided to make someone's day a whole lot worse."

Wrex's crocodilian lips curled in to a very toothy smile. "Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Don't get too comfortable there Wrex, I try not to make it a habit. As I told Shol, I will do whatever is necessary to stop the Reapers." To herself she added '_Even if that means trespassing against my own virtues to do it. Not a choice I wanted but one I'm willing to do. Spirits of my ancestors forgive me._' Considering some of the choices she may have to make in the future Shepard wondered if the Spirits of her mother's people would forgive her or would they condemn her to everlasting torment. Druid, Salish or Athame: Mother Earth, the Ancestor Spirits, and the Goddess were the same, and they would hold her to the same standards. They would hold her accountable.

'I _will do whatever is necessary; whatever is required of me to save the galaxy from the Reapers. My eternal soul for the continued existence of all sentient organic life - a fair trade_.' Shepard's thoughts ran to her wife, her unborn child and her dearest friend. '_Yes a fair trade indeed. Like you Kaiden I will hold no regrets.'_ Aloud yet almost inaudibly she added: "Sometimes doing whatever is necessary means you have to become the shark."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

High concentrations of element zero weren't that difficult to locate with the sensors onboard the mako, but even without them there were three on board the rover who could feel the ebb and flow of the element. Their abilities were almost more accurate than the computer.

Williams, Tali and Garrus gave each other nervous looks when they saw a very slight glimmer of cyan glow surrounding their companions. Like cloud-shadows passing over the landscape the aura of energy blinked into and out of existence.

"Williams take the wheel." Shepard's voice was slightly strained. The glow of biotic power flickered once more around the Spectre's hands. If an unintentional arc of power went from her into the mako's controls it could be disastrous.

"Aye, aye." The other answered, swiftly obeying her CO. A quick command into the holographic command console and the power transferred from Shepard's station to William's. The younger woman's hands quickly gripped the wheel.

"Commander, I'm reading an increased activity of those ice gnats." Tali said. The operations station continuously fed the quarian information concerning the conditions of the hostile environment outside the rover. "They seem to be massing near a small spike of Eee-Zo.

"A Fissure just like Liara said. Excellent. Head directly for the center mass of the swarm," Shepard ordered. "That is where we need to be."

"I don't understand." Nual said. "What have the insects to do with the beings of light?"

"It wasn't until Liara transmitted the Matriarch's Dilinga's translations of the glyphs engraved on the _Device _that I truly understood what they were telling me, during the meditations. They said: 'We come from the Glow. We are what is in the light. What is always in the light.' The glow … is evidently clear." The Spectre's body shimmered in the cyan glimmer of unreleased biotic power as did Nual's and Wrex's. As they drew closer and closer to the high concentrations of Ee-Zo, the particles within the biotics were steadily becoming hyperactive.

"They are particles that live in the beam's light. Beings of light." Shepard continued to explain exactly what the entity had said. After establishing the Glow was in fact biotic ability it became clearer and clearer just what the beings of light were, at least to the Spectre's eyes.

"Beams of light?" Ash glanced out of the mako's window apprehensively at the shafts of light reflecting off of the ice causing the frozen surface to shimmer and sparkle, in a very familiar shade of blue. "Are you telling me all those shafts of light are …what those ice-bugs …_they_ are the beings of light!? They are in all those light beams?

"Not every beam of light but _any_ beam of light. What we're seeing isn't actually a beam of light; so much as it is a swarm. Ice reflects and refracts light just like crystal. In that refraction you can see small clusters of them… like the dust in sunbeams." Shepard said.

"Oh come on, Skipper! That isn't possible, how can they fight the Reapers? The damn machines live in _dark_ space. When they find a way to breach the barrier and come here how in the hell can dusty ice bugs in light-beams destroy them?" Ash was incensed at the sheer ludicrous notion of dust being a weapon of mass destruction.

"Microspores hatching in the light." the Spectre was speaking more to herself than to her companion. "Millions of millions of lifeforms. They conform together in swarms – swarms of light. Think about your basic entomology chapter back in biology classes in school. Swarms are very good at destroying things. Concentrated light can destroy that which is in the dark; these beings were created specifically to destroy the Reapers. Creatures from dark space." The Spectre grinned. "A little ironic if you think about how they are created from dark energy."

"I still don't see how swarms of microspores or specks of light, whatever you want to call those ice-fleas can destroy the Reapers." Williams frowned.

Beneath the tinted visor, Tali looked increasingly uncomfortable. Microspores could devastate the entire Flotilla. She knew exactly how deadly such a thing could be. To use a bio-weapon was to the young quarian abominable.

"Think about it Ash, cancer, hell even the common flu bug can still destroy the immune system, even with all of our medical tech and knowledge we can't completely wipe it out. The genophage is a viral infection and it's destroying the krogan. Perhaps there is something to that veil that separates dark space from our own, something that creates a vulnerability in the Reapers that only specks of light can exploit. The geth, the Reapers - all such synthetics will be vulnerable to them."

"Commander, the beings of light…can they …will they harm others? If such a weapon were to get into the wrong hands, the magnitude of what you speak of could mean genocide for the innocent. I shudder to think if Cerberus were ever to get their hands on them." the underlying terror in Tali's voice was unmistakable.

A comforting hand gently almost motherly touched the young woman's shoulder. "I understand your fear Tali. I even share it. But you forget the beings of light are no mere weapon, they are sentient. We need only to convey to them that their time to destroy the machine devils has come and point them in the right direction." Shepard said. "It was what they were meant to do."

Tali only hoped the Spectre was right. She couldn't help but think of the geth and what they were meant to do and how that ended up. The young woman prayed history was not repeating itself. This time if things went wrong, it was ultimately far worse than the geth crisis. Tali trusted in Shepard. So far despite how controversial some of her decisions were they have proven to be the correct ones. Hope lingered in the girl's eyes that this was one of those times.

"That may very well be the case Commander, but we still need to talk to them, not their voicemail." Garrus said, hinting at the _Device_.

Ashley glanced out the window a second time. "I was never particularly fond of bugs. Having a tête-à-tête with those born out of dark energy microspore-dust seems even less enticing."

Wrex clapped a massive three fingered hand on the young human's shoulder. "It's a good thing then that Shepard will be doing all the talking."

"Truthfully Skipper, how loquacious do you think ice bugs are?" Ash asked.

Shepard tilted her head and grinned. "Only one way to find out, Lieutenant. It isn't as ridiculous as it sounds if you think about it. After all I've conversed with a giant rachni queen, and then of course there are the salarians."

The Spectre had a point. Having congress with insects wasn't as ludicrous as it sounded.

"Did the entities in the _Device_ mention any sort of a relationship between the ice, crystal formations and element zero?" Garrus asked, "If there is we'll have to make some sort of accommodations. That will be very difficult to achieve given the resources of the _Victory_."

Shepard shook her head, "They didn't say anything about why they chose to construct their crypts out of ice and crystal other than what is self-explanatory. It was the only available building material."

"Like the ancient indigenous Intuits tribes back in Alaska who made igloos out of ice." Williams said "Makes sense. Hell on this planet you don't have worry about it melting away either."

"Indeed." Tali nodded. "Commander, even if they are agreeable to travel in the cold storage units on board the _Victory_ they still don't share Klencory's chlorine and argon environment. We in engineering may be able to synthesize something close given enough time."

"I may have a suggestion, Commander. You said it yourself there is more to the _Device_ than an interface and dare I be so bold as to say more than a crypt key. The ice-like crystalline nature of the crypts is perhaps indicative of other beings of light technology, or perhaps of the third law of thermodynamics, which states that the entropy of a system approaches a minimum value or zero in the case of a perfect crystalline substance." Nual said.

Becoming more animated the asari continued her explanations in such away it reminded the others very much of Liara. "I highly suspect the _Device_ is suitable for whoever uses it. In the privacy of his own quarters surely Mr. Shol was not wearing his pressure suit. It is logical to assume then that the _Device_ met his needs just as it met yours. Granted your minds were within the Device and not your physical bodies. But microspores are exceptionally small. It is perhaps safe to assume it will meet the needs of the beings of light. Perhaps more so as it was meant for them, just as the Prothean beacons were meant for Protheans."

"That's a good theory Nual, but moot if we first can't establish a line of communication." Shepard said.

"Great more yammering, just how I wanted to spend my afternoon. Did I tell you krogans hate the cold, Shepard?" Wrex protested. "Give me something to shoot at to warm my blood."

"Sorry this time it isn't your guns I need, Wrex. It's your biotics." The Spectre turned to the young asari huntress on her squad. "Yours too, Nual. If we mean to pull this off it will take more than what've got."

"With all the Ee-Zo around here you need my biotic powers?" the battlemaster was a little mystified.

"I need your control over it. That's raw Ee-Zo, out there and it's unstable. Look at us, Wrex. We're fluxing, and we've on the cusp of the hot zone. I don't know what will happen if we tap into that much power directly. And frankly I don't think we should find out."

"But with all that Ee-Zo spilling out of the fissure how can you be positive they will come to you?"

"Raw element zero has sustained them, it's like empty calories. It may fill you up but it will only sustain you for so long. Now directed biotics flow, controlled dark energy and that's a steak dinner with all the trimmings. Trust me, they will go for the feast and leave the _candy_ behind.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Williams navigated the mako as close as she could to the Ee-Zo hot zone without compromising the safety of the hull or the occupants. Fortunately for them one of the hot zones was very near the seventeenth excavation site which happened to have a small self-contained habitat.

"Suit up and file out, everyone stay sharp. I want a perimeter sweep then secure that base." Shepard gave the order.

Williams stopped the rover, opened the hatch and had her skipper's six faster than either Wrex or Garrus could scramble to obey orders. Her Mark HMWAR assault rifle raised and ready, as her training dictated she swept her view back and forth just as the Spectre was doing on her left. The difference was Shepard like Nual and Wrex were unintentionally emanating the glow of biotic energy. This close to an Ee-Zo fissure was having effects on the three biotics Williams wasn't at all pleased with. A sentiment shared by both Tali and Garrus.

Shepard turned to her XO and touched her shoulder. "If things go south, I'm giving you a direct order to make a hard pull out if you have to. Do not hesitate." Her face oddly illuminated by the cyan aura. "You get me soldier?"

Williams swallowed hard; she didn't like it, not one bit but she was a marine, she would obey her CO. "Yes ma'am, hard pull out. Orders received and understood, Commander." Williams answered crisply. She knew what that meant. Even if Shepard or the others became compromised by their own biotics they were to be pacified by stunners, brought back to the _Victory's_ infirmary and revived. Ash prayed it wouldn't come to that, but she'd not hesitate to do what was required of her.

The other four members of the ground team had spread out as per orders. Garrus tailed Wrex, Tali had Nual's six: one biotic, one norm. Tali and Garrus were watching their partners as much as they were watching the surrounding area. So far the only cause of concern was the almost constant glow the biotics were giving off.

"You must feel differently." Tali said to Nual as they made for the compound.

"Energized, yes. But more than that. It is difficult to explain."

"Can you not control the barriers you keep throwing up?"

The asari shook her head, "Instinctual response. It is the same with the Spectre and the krogan."

Tali looked towards the west and spotted the very familiar hue of cyan: Wrex. To the north another glow: Shepard.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Aboard the _Victory_ in the privacy of her own quarters Liara flared a bright cyan blue. Shiala rushed her student taking the young maiden in her arms. Fear and anxiety filled the matron, never before had she encountered such involuntary use of biotic power within an asari. They were born to it; it was something that never happened.

"Little Wing?"

"It is Samantha, she found a fissure of element zero. She is shielding herself and yet at the same time tapping into its power. I don't think she realizes she is actually doing so."

"They probably all are."

"No with her … it is different. She is channeling it."

"Like she did during the echo game."

Liara nodded.

"She did not gain this ability through the gestalt or the knowledge your mother passed on to you, did she? This is all together different."

Again Liara nodded. She took deep settling breaths calming the storm rising in her. "We both know where it comes from."

Maiden and matron stared at one another.

"The cipher." Shiala whispered.

"The cipher." Liara repeated.

"It has changed our abilities as well. I have felt it for some time, but was hesitant to tap into its power for not understanding it fully."

For a third time Liara nodded her head, "The Protheans abilities are not unlike our own. Both our species are natural born biotics. To use this knowledge without full understanding is unwise."

"And yet Shepard uses it." Shiala said reproachful, though not unkindly.

"It is as my mother said: the young do not always follow the paths of wisdom or do as they are told. She is _only_ thirty, Shiala. I love her dearly but she is human, and humans tend to boldly step into realms where others tread with more caution."

"And what of Sparrow?"

Liara instinctively placed her hand over her womb. "Protected. Not only by me but by the shielding Samantha has utilized since she moved into the element zero hot zone. Because of our bond, we are able to shield each other by the sheer expression of willpower and desire to protect. Samantha will forever be my protector; I have come to accept this inevitability. She can not, not be otherwise. It is also so with our child and that I fully accept with an open heart and arms. Sparrow is well shielded."

Shiala frowned, not fully accepting of the young asari's convictions. "All the same I will take you to the infirmary for a full check-up. Biotics fluxing is not something you ideally accept Liara. You know this. For the sake of your daughter, you will comply."

"Perhaps a little prudence is not unwarranted." The archeologist answered sagely, that and she knew a futile argument when she saw it. Quoting the famous Shepard: 'I'm fine,' simply would not cut it with Matron Shiala, nor would it with either Chakwas or Aleena (aka Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa)

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMME

*Clear."* Wrex belted out of over his hard suit's radio *Entering the bunker.*

"Clear!" Nual announced, after she and Tali swept their designated area.

*Understood.* Shepard responded. *We're clear as well. Wrex, Garrus secure that bunker. Tali status on the swarm?*

"Stationary, they are hovering near the fissure, no movement beyond that. I'll broaden the scanning to include other areas of concentrated light sources."

*Step-two Tali, our suits only have a fifty-seven minute window before compromised. You have ten minuets tops then I want you inside the compound. We can set up a steady picket with the ROSEs.*

"Understood, Commander." the young quarian answered. There was a blip on her OMNI tool, it wasn't the swarm. "Commander, Mr. Shol's convoy caught up to us, they're headed towards your location." Having spent time with the Spectre and the crew of the _Normandy_ the young girl had picked up on military-speak. It was easier to converse with military types when you spoke their language.

*Copy that, we read them. We're keeping things real friendly. Wrex?*

*Krogan, don't mean blood thirsty sociopath. I'm just bored.*

Over the comm-channels the laughter of a Spectre could be heard. *Security is a high priority, but do nothing hasty. Shol is still an ally, a little whacked but an ally.*

*Commander, when we returned to Shol's primary base-camp I saw his sergeant—at-arms. Do not trust him, he is unmarked, his face naked.*

Shepard knew enough about turian culture to know that a turian male or female that did not bear facial tattooing was a pariah and never to be trusted as they forsaken their duty to Hierarchy. * You didn't see the need to tell me this before?*

*You ordered us to fall out, there wasn't time and by the time we were rolling it hardly seemed important as we were leaving them behind.*

*That isn't your call, _Agent _Vakarian! You report anything that is or _might be_ a risk factor.*

Garrus winced slightly. The Spectre knew he had seriously pissed off the woman when she used his family name. She had only ever addressed by Vakarian when he shot Fist's hired thug, the one who had been holding Dr. Michelle hostage. He had acted without thinking. Once more he had done the same - action without thought. It was a pet peeve of the Spectre. She believed in acting like a sentient of thought and thinking like a sentient of action. To do otherwise was a sin in her books.

"Yes, Ma'am." Garrus's flanging voice answered over the radio.

"You fracked this time turian." Wrex guffawed.

Beneath his full faced helm the C-Sec officer wanted to snarl at the battlemaster's jibes but found no voice for it because damn his blackening shell Wrex was right.

Tali and Nual having finished their rounds entered the base already secured by the males of the ground team. Both young women had diplomatically ignored their fellow crewmate's chastisement. They made the time frame of ten minutes within nine. Behind them was the Spectre and Lieutenant Williams making the deadline mark fifteen seconds later. The base was not only secured it was environmentally stable for the majority of Council races, indicative that it was set for the comfort of the research workers, and mercenaries Shol had hired rather than himself.

Not wasting precious moments recapping the agenda of the mission. Garrus, Tali and Williams donned the VR interface suits that would allow them to power up the ROSEs. Three bipedal mechanical drones whirled to life: freed from their dormant sleep and climbed off of the trailer the MAKO had been pulling.

"Locked and Loaded, Commander. Waiting orders" Williams's said, her voice carrying a tinny flanging that emanated from her ROSE.

"ROSE operatives stand ready: biotics team we move out on my mark, we will establish contact, if we have not made contact in thirty-seven minutes despite our condition ROSEs you will bug out even if that means a hard pull."

Wrex snorted his disproval of Shepard's latest orders.

"You've got a problem with this Wrex?" Shepard turned on the seasoned battle master.

"Hard Pull. You're talking about stunners."

"Yes."

"Nobody stuns me, Shepard."

"Then stand down and gear up a ROSE if you can't handle the job."

Wrex stepped forward nearly pressing his reptilian head into Shepard's personal space. As she had on Virmire, Shepard did not back down. In fact she took a bold step forward, making sure she was challenging the battlemaster.

"I signed on to do the mission, Shepard. But no turian stuns me. Put the quarian on me."

"The name is Tali!" the petulant protest sounded comical coming from the mechanoid.

"Tali, I know he can be a pain in the ass but he's good. Cover him. I need everyone five by five on this."

"I won't let you down, Shepard." Tali said the tiny chuckle coming from the mechanoid sounding chillingly eerie. "Besides the potential of stunning _the krogan_, is a bonus."

Too late the thought crossed Wrex's mind, perhaps he was better off having a turian cover his six than a pissed off teenager.

Knowing Nual and Wrex were flanking her, Shepard activated not only her hardsuit's kinetic barriers but her biotic ones as well. Behind the three biotics, three ROSEs took secondary flanking positions.

The slight impact tremor of the two ton hydraulic feet reminded the Spectre why she never liked walking in front of those things. She always felt like one of the Lilliputians scrambling to stay far from Gulliver's massive feet as he strode through their munchkin-tudor cities. For some reason she was very glad Wrex wasn't in one of the ROSEs. He could be deceptively graceful but mix a bored krogan battlemaster and heavy machinery and you were just begging for an 'accident' to happen. Given Wrex's mind set it would probably happen to either Garrus or Shol and his men.

The dig site led directly into a massive atrium, stretching out a hundred yards in diameter with an arched transparent crystal ceiling that revealed a rolling milky jade sky, lit in the east by a sliver of amber wash. They were standing on a mezzanine that circled the room in all directions. Nual risked a small peek over the ledge. They were up about eight stories from the floor of the chamber, far below them spires of ice reached upwards stretching for the heavens. The ice held a brilliant cyan glow. It was a swarm.

Shepard moved for the center of the chamber. Under her boots, the ubiquitous mosaic on the mezzanine floor stuttered around crystal formations and disappeared like interrupted sentences able to tell a story there in the pictures, and another sadder one in the way it had been broken and remade by Shol's clumsy and abandoned attempts at restoration. Liara would know how to read both. To the Spectre it seemed both past and present had been layered together like graffiti on a Rembrandt.

Shepard wasted no time in acting. The _Device_ already in hand she started not to meditate but to send a wave of biotic power into it, taking that as their cue the other two biotics followed suit. As before the milky jade glow matching that of the sky above shimmered around the pyramid shape. Six breaths - the cyan glow from the ice spires below them darkened. Thirteen breaths - the glow circled around _Victory's_ flagship ground team like so much water vapor.

The brilliance of the swarm was barely dimmed by the tinted visors of the hardsuits. The light expanded swallowing up the ice gnats and the shards. It was like watching an old style stop motion animation or backwards origami, the ice-crystals shuddered unfolding and grinding…growing… becoming. The shards formed a humanoid shape: not just any humanoid shape, but that of Shepard in her hardsuit. A mimic.

"Beings of light, I presume." Shepard greeted the life-form before her. "I am Commander Samantha Shepard of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance agency. I have come here to seek you and your people out. I heard the message within the _Device_. Seek out the lost crypts of the beings of light. You are what is in the glow, what is always in the glow." Shepard drew on the essence of dark energy borrowing from Wrex and Nual and filling her own body with it. "I am that which glows."

The shard-swarm tilted its crystalline head. "So you are, Commander Samantha Shepard of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance agency. We are of the light. You hear our words, understand our nature, we will speak."

"I can not, not in this environment. It is poisonous to my kind."

An ice arm raised, frozen fingers pointed towards the small lab. "There?"

"There will do."

The being of light passed the six and entered the complex.

Shepard found herself snorting in amusement. "How's that for first contact?"

"I would say it is a good start, Commander." Williams's mechanical voice answered. "Ma'am, what of Shol? I know you want to keep the lines of cooperation open with the man, but he could seriously frack things up. His ego won't stand for you taking the grandstand with the beings of light."

"I know. That's unfortunate but the way it has to play out. Wrex, once we're inside get into a ROSE. You and Garrus will stall Shol. Don't let him enter the complex. Do not initiate in direct hostilities, but pacify him if he attempts to interfere. This is too important for us to lose this chance. Once inside Nual and Tali take point at the entrance, do not allow any unauthorized personnel in. Williams, take the guard." Orders given Shepard headed out of the excavation site and into the small lab.

Once everyone was within, they all scrambled to obey their orders. Wrex suited up, while Tali and Williams disengaged their VR interface and took their corresponding positions, either near the secondary entrance of the lab or at Shepard's right hand.

The being of light waited patiently still resembling the Spectre as if she had become an ice-sculpture. Through the transparent material coursing like blood was the ebbing flow of dark energy, giving the being a very surreal bluish glow.

"Do you have a name or a title I might know you by?" the Spectre asked not wanting to appear rude in not addressing the ambassador of the beings of light appropriately.

"We are."

"Right." Shepard's hand went to the back of her neck easing the increasingly building tension mounting there. "So no name then."

"You seek to call us by a name? To name something is to own it." It was odd hearing the Spectre's voice coming from the crystalline-ice swarm. It had the hollow-echoing sound as if speaking though a long metal tube.

Shepard shook her head frantically. "No! No, I don't seek to own the beings of light, or anyone, but it is difficult not to speak a name or a title to a fellow sentient."

"We have only what we are. We are the beings of light, we are what is in the glow. If you wish to call us a name, give us a name."

"Weareth'Bol." Williams offered. "You know like Spectre. It's an acronym. Weareth'Bol - short for we are the beings of light."

"It is strange to taste the word on our tongues but it is acceptable." The swarm said.

Shepard turned to her XO, whispering out of the side of her mouth. "Remind me to put you in for a pay-rise, Lieutenant."

Ashley beamed at the praise. "Yes, Ma'am."

"Tell us Commander Samantha Shepard of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance agency. You sought us out, why?"

"I should clear something up first. It isn't necessary to call be by both full rank and title and name. Commander or Agent Shepard, is fine. As to why I sought you out, it is said you were created at the dawn of time to hunt and destroy the synthetic Machine Devils. They are wakening and will breach the barriers between our space and theirs. When they do we will need you to fulfill your destiny."

Knowing that proof of words was a better argument than taking one at their face value was worth more credits, Shepard played for Weareth'Bol footage of Sovereign's attack on Eden Prime as well as that of the Citadel. She also played the recordings she had taken of Sovereign's own words back on Virmire of what and who its people were.

The silence and stillness that followed was as an atomic blast.

"This is grave indeed." Weareth'Bol said at long last. "If our time has come all hives must know of this. We must meet with the other queens. The dim one can not speak as you have to us, but another has, she glowed as you do, warrior. The crone spoke not of this; her movements did not dance of this. Why?"

"Crone?" Nual whispered.

"I think she means Matriarch Dilinga." It was Ash who answered.

Shepard nodded agreeing with the assumption. "The crone you spoke of did not 'dance' of this information because three thousand years ago the Machine Devils had yet to wake. The vanguard Sovereign was destroyed but there are many others. I vowed to find a way to stop them. You were made to do so. Let us join forces so we both answer our obligations. If the other queens need convincing, then I will show them what I have shown you."

"We are many. It will take many rotations of this world for you show all. That which you hold in your hand holds knowledge. Give this knowledge to the avatar it will dance for the queens and all hives will know, before the completion of one rotation."

It sounded feasible. The _Device_, Shepard reasoned must be similarly linked to other _Devices_ like the extranet or directly into each hive queen's neuro-pathways. If the beings of light shared a hive mind as did many insect species it was therefore logical to assume that this knowledge would quickly spread throughout each hive. Weareth'Bol mention of dances reminded the Spectre of honey-bees dancing to tell their hive of particular fields of flowers or dangers. The rachni communicated in song, color and obviously pheromones. No doubt the beings of light communicated through pheromones and dance. She hoped this wouldn't be a language barrier, though like the rachni queen basic speech was something adapted and adjusted to.

If she understood Weareth'Bol correctly one rotation equaled a day. Amassing an armada within a day's time, that was a good score for any fleet commander. Now if she could just convince them to fly for her that would be a true mark for the organics. A banner of hope.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"You are not the Spectre! You are not her varren bitch! You can not keep me from that which is mine!" Shol shouted out at the two ROSEs guarding the entrance to the field laboratory. The volus knew the varren bitch would never leave the Spectre's side, he was certain of it. "I demand you step aside!"

"Not going to happen." Wrex shot back. How he loved the way his voice carried in the mechanical thunder of the ROSE's comm system.

Shol turned to his turian contingent. "Sergeant! They stand between me and mine. There are only two of them, take them! Take them now."

Sergeant Hieronymus Terraxsus of the mercenary band: Guizhou was terrified of Spectres, but the lap dogs of such … a krogan and a pious-self-righteous turian that was another story. Besides they were in the ROSEs, ROSEs that belonged to Mr. Shol it couldn't be called a true assault, more like—like the reclamation of lost property.

Wrex didn't even wait for the opposition to act before he opened fire on the enemy MAKO. All he had to justify his actions were Shepard's orders to hold back Shol and the volus's own orders for his men to take the complex. Like he said, it aint going to happen.

ROSEs were not designed for military operations all they had were sonic-particle-mining lasers. But he didn't need weapons, not when elementary physics was on your side. The lumbering bi-pedal mechanoid marched forward, its four-digit 'hands' formed a C-clamp, gripped the front of the rover and hydraulically hoisted it into the air. Pivoting the ball-jointed waist Wrex commanded his ROSE to twist around and around with such centrifugal force if he let go of the rover it would be far-flung into the wastes of Klencory. That is exactly what the battlemaster did. What happened to the rover or its crew after that wasn't his concern.

There was a small mushroom cloud on the horizon to the south.

"Anyone else want to play?" Garrus offered in what he thought was a Shepard joke.

Several hands went up into the air in surrender.

"Too bad, I was just beginning to warm up." Wrex snorted.

Garrus's ROSE scanned the immediate area. "Hey where's the fidgety little vermin?"

"My job - stop the thugs, your job babysitting Shol. Three guesses who failed and the first two don't count."

It was an odd sound to hear a ROSE snort in contempt.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

The ROSEs were occupied with his men, Shol slipped unnoticed into the foyer of the field-lab. He opened the secondary door and stopped dead in his tracks. Two female forms blockaded his path: one undoubtedly Flotilla-clan the other - hard to tell if it was Thessia or Earth clan as she still had her full-faced helmet on. He would wager all of his tribe's credits it was the young asari not the varren bitch standing there before him.

"It is unwise to precede further, Mr. Shol."

The Thessia clan. Nothing to fear here. Not truly. Oh huntresses were hardy warriors practically unbeatable, but they wouldn't strike down an unarmed, unskilled opponent. She wasn't the varren bitch. That female was seething in rage, Shol knew if she crossed his path he was already headed for the Great Auditor in the Beyond.

"You will let me pass youngling. You are trespassing on private property. And last time I checked Thessia-clan have no jurisdiction here. Or have you forgotten I actually own this planet!" He but all stomped his feet. "This is intolerable!"

"I have my orders sir." Nual calmly dictated. "The Spectre has commandeered these premises until further notice. It is to your advantage to heed this mandate."

In a whisper of a breath both females raised their weapons.

"To insure the success of our mission we will not hesitate to neutralize opposition." The Flotilla-clan female snapped. "I am sure as a person of business you can understand the gravity of a smooth negotiation of terms. If not we will happily introduce employment of a hostile take-over."

'Wonderful, two more varren bitches! Does this blasted Shepard collect them?' Shol pointed a finger in the direction of the two females barring his way. "Rest assured I will be lodging a complaint to the Council about this!"

"Please do." Tali shot back. "Send them our regards. Oh can you pass along the message of mission success?"

Shol snarled. "May you always be in the vile Debtor's red eye!" He turned and stormed from the guarding party back into the foyer

Once Shol had gone; Tali turned to her asari teammate. "I don't think he was very pleased. Do you?"

"Indeed not."

Both in near choreographed turn of the head looked behind them to the Spectre, Lieutenant Williams ever guarding her skipper and the glowing milky-jade _Device_.

"Then again his pleasure is not relevant." Nual said.

Tali grinned behind her face plate. "Indeed not."


	24. The Risk of Musings and Needs of Time

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Twenty Four: The Rise of Musings and Needs of Time

The impact on the side of the derelict ship created an ear-splitting roar. The milky-jade beings of light clung to the metal structure and began to feast like famine plagued locusts. A shimmering wave if them soon engulfing the hull and still more covering remotely jettisoned escape pods like a dripping silver coat of paint. There was nothing left of the volas's derelict cruiser, only empty space where it once had orbited Klencory. The beings of light flashed as a dying firefly's last gasp. The swarm moved for the _Victory's_ stern hanger deck, harmlessly passing the barriers.

The recording changed from the exterior of the Spectre's ship to the interior of the hanger deck. Swiftly the swarm entered a hive _Device_ held in the palm of the Spectre herself. From there the screen within the Councilors' private chambers went black.

"It is impressive to say the least. She has exceeded all expectations," Sparatus the Councilor for the turian Hierarchy said not bothering to disguise his astonishment. The display he had witnessed replaying itself in the theater of his minds eye.

The Council had recently received the newest mission reports from Agent Shepard. Not only had she made contact with a very eccentric- high functioning autistic volus billionaire, she got him to surrender that precious artifactof his. Further more and far more importantly Shepard made first contact with a species long thought dead.

David Anderson was grinning like a proud papa. "You should never underestimate her." His voice was filled as much pride as was visible in his expression. "She made first contact with another race. And might I add _without_ bloodshed."

"Not entirely. Shol lost men. Apparently Shepard's krogan was activating a ROSE and threw a rover three kilometers killing all within." Velarn the salarian representative said almost lambently. "Mr. Shol lodged a formal complaint with the volus ambassador."

"As is often with those who oppose the actions of any other Spectre in the line of duty." Tevos commented defending the newest member to the Spectres. "In the Agent Shepard's reports even those of Mr. Shol admitted he had ample warnings and notifications of what was required and necessary. He ignored those warnings. When events did not play out to his satisfaction he attempted to interfere. When he did so he was stopped, by force. I do not fault our Spectre. Look to the achievements. First contact, with a people thought long gone. _And _they agreed to ally themselves with our cause to stop the Reapers. That is a celebration! Shepard fights many battles - should our preconceptions of humanity be one of them?"

Velarn shifted in his seat uncomfortably, as did Sparatus. Anderson only smiled. Finally due to Shepard, humanity was gaining some _true _credibility in the Council. Oh yes because of her, her orders, the sacrifice of many human lives over the Citadel humanity gained a seat upon the Council but it was virtually a silent one. Now more and more due to this one woman's actions humanity was gaining a louder voice. Soon humanity would be more than just a whisper in galactic events.

"Then allow the events to play out as they need to be. If organics are to survive this terrible prospect of the Reapers domination, then we must trust our Spectres. _All_ of them." Tevos said. Her nine-hundred and eighty seven year old voice gave a clear position on her view point and her stance. She was the longest living member of the Council as she had served it for five centuries already. Those who had ears to hear listened to her words.

"Regardless of Commander Shepard's remarkable accomplishments, I think it is prudent that we speak with this Weareth'Bol ourselves." Anderson offered knowing he had to make a stand for humanity in the Council.

"Of that we can agree." Velarn commented.

"Indeed. Shepard must bring the hive _Devices_ here, so we can speak directly with the beings of light." Sparatus said. Something in his voice almost hinted at the fact that he dared Anderson to protest.

"Isn't that up to Weareth'Bol's people?" Anderson asked. "Or are we in the business of telling new contacts what they need or need not do?"

"In a manner of speaking, we are, if only to maintain galactic peace. If it had not been for the Council's intervention the First Contact War would have gone on far longer than it had. " Tevos answered. "Weareth'Bol's people agreed to answer to their calling because of Shepard. None can tell if they are amenable to anything else, that is a risky development. We must further our understanding of them, to do that we must meet with them. Tread with care my fellows. The Dawn is breaking. "

You didn't have to be asari to know what that meant.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEME

Liara held one of the hive _Devices_ in her hands and marveled at it. Within were millions of lifeforms. A race of people long thought extinct. Her eyes drifted to her wife and the marvel grew exponentially.

"It is astounding what you have accomplished, my love: first contact, alliances and the recovery of lost knowledge. How did you convince them so swiftly? It could not have been easy to marshal an entire people."

Shepard's own gaze fell upon the pyramid held so tenderly in the blue hand. She freed the hive _Device_ and placed back with the others in the storage crate. The beings of light were well content to stay safe in their hives until the glowing Spectre called for them to act. They needed only the occasional pulse of dark energy. The _Devices_ as Nual surmised had adapted to the beings of light: inside the _Devices_ were identical replicas of the ice caverns, complete with crystal arches and spires. A home away from home.

"I had to show them the visions from the beacons."

Liara took a step closer to her wife and stroked the lightly-caramel skin. "You fell into nightmare the other night. Because of the blocks I could not reach you." Liara felt grief in the thought of her wife lingering in that nightmare realm of memories not her own. "It was difficult for Ashley to wake you." She pressed her forehead to Samantha's. "Now I know why it took you so deeply. I am grateful that our friend was there to pull you out."

"It was the only way." The Spectre said softly. "Showing them the visions was a simple matter of linking to their avatar as I had when my mind first entered the _Device_.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Simply showing the beings of light the captured footage from both the attack on Eden Prime and the Citadel would not be enough to convince the beings to go to war. From all across Klencory the queens had linked to the avatars in their individual _Devices_. Secure in the field lab Samantha Shepard and Weareth'Bol entered the _Device_ one by meditation the other physically.

She didn't waste time speaking instead the Spectre brought forward into her mind the images burned there by the beacons. The tearing of bodies, tortured into becoming husks, indoctrination, whole worlds burned the massacres of countless innocents.

"The Machine Devils will come." the Spectre said. "You have heard. You have seen what one can do from the footage, from the beacons what they all can do. From the dawn of time it was your karma, your destiny to destroy them. The organics of this galaxy need you. Will you answer that calling?"

"We will answer that call." It was the hum of millions of insect wings all beating at the same time. "The hive you named Weareth'Bol will guide you to the other hives. Collect them. The dim one has found the crypts; you need only to bring the hives together."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

In the silence and semi privacy of the physician's quarters two matrons had shared a meal together.

"Thirty-seven, hive _Devices_." Shiala breathed. Her words in her peoples tongue. "I am beginning to believe we have a chance against the Reapers."

"The Reapers are the greatest threat, but I do not believe it is the current one." Aleena said setting a cup of green ginseng tea in front of the amethyst skinned asari. "There are two hidden dangers that lurk in the shadows: complacency and hubris. With such a great success it is an easy trap to fall prey to. And we have many such successes." Aleena took a sip of her own tea.

Since Ilos, the bounty hunter-cum-doctor and huntress-former disciple of Matriarch Benezia had grown in a unique friendship. Both had once followed a darker path, one sent to hunt down and slay an innocent, one tormented-tortured and scarred by indoctrination, both diminished because of it. Both changed their course because of one woman. Both uplifted because of this same woman. Both swore an oath before the Goddess to protect this woman and those closest to her heart. Sometimes protection extended beyond the physical.

"Liara will not allow her to slip."

Aleena's pencil thin eyebrow arched. "That is a great burden for one so very young and with deep worries of her pregnancy already upon her shoulders. As mentor, Shepard will heed your council, will she not?"

Shiala nodded. "She is not deaf to wisdom. Our Spectre is stubborn, determined and very willful yes but not ignorant nor is she vain. Goddess willing this fear is only froth in the life's wake." Aleena's mind drifted to her short tour on Sovereign, giving into to and believing Matriarch Benezia's mission to turn the course of Saren. The matron inwardly flinched as Saren's words dripped as honey into her ears, making her bend to his will until she had none of her own. That could not happen here. By the Goddess it could not.

"Will it be so." The bounty hunter said. "I have noticed the young Lieutenant Williams has influence with the Spectre. As her Trusted we can also turn to Shepard to ensure she does not fall prey these shadows." Her emerald skin touched the other asari's cheek tenderly. "It is other shadows that haunt you, however."

"I fear they shall until my last breath, my friend. Even dead Sovereign and Saren lash my heart. My mind is forever haunted by the thorian's touch. There are times when I feel I am never free."

Aleena wrapped her arms around the Shiala. "When fear takes you, know you need not bear it alone." She pressed her forehead softly against she who would become her lover. "I am here; let us share this burden together so the weight may be lighter. Join with me Shiala. Let your mind and heart know peace and affection, if only for a short breath of time."

Shiala leaned into the other's arms her green eyes becoming darker "I want to know _your_ touch." She whispered, her eyes now solid black. "Let the phantoms pass from me, if only for a time."

Green and purple lips met kissed and explored.

"Give me the phantoms of your mind, _meleth_." Aleena huskily uttered her fingers softly trailing lines along Shiala's crest, down along the gentle folds in her neck.

"Meleth?" Shiala whispered the word experimentally, almost as if she had imagined Aleena uttering it. Meleth the asari word for love - it had been a long time since the disciple of Benezia had heard that word, let alone as an affectionate name.

"If you desire it."

'_I do_.' Shiala sent the words into Aleena's mind as their thoughts became one.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Ash stowed the last of her gear into her storage unit. She had lost herself in its cleaning and the maintenance of her guns. It was sort of a Zen-thing for her. By the God, it was wonderful to move freely about in BDUs, to feel the warmth and comfort of home. She was glad to see the back of Klencory in their stern.

The Skipper was once more safe on the _Victory_. This alone allowed the young woman to find peace of mind. Watching her speaking with Liara, the small show of affection brought a smile to the lieutenant's lips. Even if she privately desired that touch she knew her skipper would find more than safety in Liara's touch she would find a calm center, and rejuvenation.

Five days on that God forsaken planet and Shepard spent most of it in that blasted linking _Device_.

MEMEMEMEMMEMEMEMEMEMEME

It was draining her. Body and soul. It was draining her. Ash would be damned if she would allow such a thing to continue unchecked.

Once more Ash was there canteen in hand. "Sam." She whispered the skipper's name almost as if she were uttering a holy word. "You can't keep doing this. You get locked in that fracking things for hours and you don't realize it. The more energy you put into it the more it feeds on you. You have to stop."

"I'm fine." Shepard said willing away the wash of dizziness from her mind and nausea from her gut.

"With all due respect Ma'am, that's bullshit. You're not fine. You are far from 'I'm fine.' Sam, please listen to me. That thing is zapping everything from you." Ash moved towards their gear, rummaged through one of the first aid kits and recovered a signaling mirror and brought it before her Skipper. She didn't surrender it however but forced the Spectre to look into it.

In the reflective surface, Samantha saw dark rings under her eyes set in a gaunt face. The healthy glow to her caramel skin had become sallow. All the food she had eaten to reenergize her biotics was burning up too swiftly for her body to take any proper nutrients from it. There was an odd cyan tint to the sclera of her eyes. It was known to happen to non-asari biotics from time to time when they were expending far too much power too quickly. It was dubbed glow-eyes but known medically as cyan-syndrome. If not properly rested the glow eyes would ever remain. The syndrome was more prominent in the L2s but was it was known to happen to the L3s on occasion.

"Do you see?" Ash said dropping the mirror into her Skipper's hand. "If not for your own, then for Liara's sake, for Sparrow's, Skipper back down and stop. You need proper rest, proper meditations. We've found thirteen of those hive _Devices_. Take the day and rest." The younger woman schooled her face into a mask of command, an expression she learned from her beloved skipper. "I'm sorry but if you don't, I will do a hard pull and send you back to the _Victory_ as medically unfit." Pleading was in dark brown eyes. "I beg you don't make me do that. Don't mistake me Skipper, as your Trusted and the ship's XO I will do exactly that! Besides it's self preservation. You go back to the _Victory_ like that and Liara will have my hide. I have no intention of finding out just how far she can fling me with her biotitics."

Shepard's hand fell on William's shoulder before she rested her forehead against the other woman's in the asari fashion of friendship and trust. "We wouldn't want that." Shepard's strained face warmed a little in a soft smile. "You are an excellent officer, and even a better friend. We will take a day and recoup. Give the order."

Williams grinned. "Aye, aye Ma'am."

The orders were given, patrols set with the ROSEs walking the picket. Following SOP the six advanced assault drones had been activated, and deployed to facilitate the patrol's effectiveness. Two more sentry drones patrolled the inner lobby of the field lab. Gear was rolled out; people started to hunker down and allowed themselves to relax. Nual went into a meditation. Tali fidgeted with the lab's gear, improving the efficiency of the ROSEs. The mako had been hooked up to the generator leaving them independent from Shol's power grid. The volus had rebelliously cut off the power to the field laboratories. But each lab had an autonomous generator that could be powered by the mako. Garrus took first watch leaving Wrex to the crews' weapon maintenance.

It was late, most of the crew asleep. Ash had made a final bed check before she bunkered down. She gave a glance to the skipper and frowned. She was twitching in her sleep, a whimper escaped her lips.

Ash crawled to the older woman's side. "Skipper?"

Shepard said something but it wasn't in Basic or Asarian. Only once had Williams heard those exact words. It was the warning crying out from the security station on Ilos.

"Skipper, wake up you're having a nightmare." Ash tried shaking the Spectre but the nightmare had its talons deep into her and would not let go. 'God, how does Liara get you out of this?'

Shepard continued to mutter out the cries and warnings of the dying Prothean people. Her body folded in on itself into a fetal position. Her breathing was becoming rapid, she was hyper ventilating.

"Skipper, I can't link my mind to yours." Ash whispered, once more trying to jostle the woman awake. It wasn't working. For a moment Williams toyed with waking Nual to get her to link with the Skipper but she tossed that idea as soon as it entered her mind. The Spectre need not be seen so vulnerable.

"Contact. You need contact." Stripping off her BDU blouse and black tee-shirt she moved towards her skipper took the other woman's limp hand and placed it against her breast, so that she could feel Ash's beating heart. Touching the Skipper's hand at the wrist Ash could feel the pulse; it was thready - too rapid.

"Sam, feel my heart. Let it lead you back from that dark place. Come on, Sam make your heart beat with mine. Come on wake up. Come on …come on … pull yourself out of there. You just have to follow the beating of my heart. Okay?" Ash leaned her forehead against her skipper's. "Sam. It's okay. That isn't your people dying, it isn't your time. That is long past. We won't let that happen again. You have to come back now. You have no place in that darkness. Those aren't your memories, so you have to give them back."

Shepard gasped, her body shocked back into the world of the waking. It took her a moment to realize she was being cradled by Ash, another to realize where her hand was. She quickly snatched it back, her face becoming bright red.

"I…I…am sorry."

"Don't be. I …ah …I used my heartbeat to bring you back. I …can't link with you. Not like Liara. And I couldn't leave you there." Ash looked down not meeting Shepard's eyes as she reached for her tee-shirt.

Shepard's hand reached under her chin and lifted the younger woman's head. "I owe you. You are my Trusted Ash, thank you for what you did for me." Blue eyes stared into brown. "You're always watching my six, Ash."

"That's my job, Skipper."

"Tonight was above and beyond."

Ash was silent for moment, "Truth be told, Sam it scared the hell out of me. Your heart was racing, you were hyperventilating. I thought you're going to go into de-fib. Is it always like that?"

"Every damn time."

"Shit."

"Yeah." Shepard rubbed her face with her hands, taking a deep settling breath. "Anything in that canteen?" Shepard pointed with her chin at the canteen lying on its side by their gear.

"Sorry Skipper. It's bone dry. I'll see what we have in the reserves _Victory_ dropped for us yesterday."

"Hell with protean drinks and water, I could really use a swig of grease monkey grog about now."

"Can't help there Skipper." Ash commented from where the gear was as she fished out a fresh canteen, and tossed it to the Spectre. "That'll have to wait until we get back to the _Victory_. Me and Adams made a good batch last week, should be nice and fermented by now."

Shepard smirked. "As long there ships and sailors there will be contraband grog."

"Maritime tradition." Ash shot back.

Shepard took a swig from the canteen as she offered the BDU blouse in exchange. "You'll catch your death."

Ash blushed - a little, it wasn't from shame.

Shepard moved once more to her XO's side, asari like she pressed her forehead to other as she had before. "For what you've done for me, I know I said it before, but Ash…"

"I couldn't leave you there, Sam." Ash ducked her head her voice so low that could scarcely be considered a whisper as it was more of a barely audible sigh. "You're more to me than just my skipper."

Just as quietly, Sam answered. "I know." Her hand touched Ash's cheek tenderly. "I know."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Alone in their quarters, Liara gazed at her wife and made a sound of disapproval. "How long?"

"How long what?" Samantha asked mystified.

"Between meditations, sleep and going into that linking _Device?_ Your eyes tell me everything. You are on the verge of cyan syndrome."

"A while. I had to get the mission done."

"At the cost of your health?" Liara folded her arms over her chest frowning. "That is something this crew can not afford."

"I saw a bit of reason. I took a day for a proper rest and meditations."

"Because of Ashley."

Samantha nodded. "You and the baby?" the Spectre moved for her wife, touching the tiny swell in the asari's belly. "Frack me, the blocks they didn't hold?"

"They held, but fragments got through. Shiala helped strength them. Doctors Chakwas and S'thasa assure me we are both fine. And we should be both grateful for Ashley's watching over her skipper."

The dark head nodded as she took a seat on the bunk. "Her skipper…"

Liara knelt beside her wife taking the human's hands into her own. "She is deeply in love with you."

The Spectre nodded.

And Liara smiled warmly. "As you are with her."

"Liara …"

Blue fingers touched red lips. "I know. There is no betrayal in your heart or mind. Treachery lingers not in your soul. There is only a deep love."

Samantha said nothing.

Liara kissed Samantha deeply, the kiss was eagerly returned. Ever so gently Liara pushed her beloved back onto the bed, then crawled up so she was straddling her.

"Betrayal will be on her mind however. The guilt of it will motivate Ashley to react rather than respond. When we hit the Citadel she will ask for a transfer because she can not bear the thought of a betrayal to her beloved skipper and her friend. We can not allow this to happen. We need her. You, I and Sparrow… this family needs her. She _is_ family."

Blue eyes went wide as the Spectre stared into the azure orbs of her wife. "Are you suggesting what I think you are? What like your Mom, Aethyta and Shi'ara?"

Liara pressed her forehead to Samantha's and closed her eyes, a tickle of a smile upon the corners of her lips. "En Aenil anno meren an meleth bal hu h aglareb ant na adaneth. Hin an manadh hael h gwaedh na en emel, nauth, h faer, no tovon mil. Neled melethril ertho hervo. Sui Hen no dabo sui neled sui adaneth. En gweadh sui neled uireb." Liara uttered softly. Her mind linking with that of her wife's so she would know the truth of it.

In that meld, Samantha translated the words, and they echoed in her soul. _The Goddess gives joyous love with her divine voice a glorious gift to maidens of three houses. They are fated to make a bond to the heart, mind and soul with deep affection. Three lovers united. Three joined. As She is three so shall it be with the maidens of three houses. The oath of the trinity is eternal. _

"Liara …"

"Our love is unbreakable, and eternal. The love you and Ashley share is just as pure. The Goddess has united our three hearts beloved. Ashley and I may not love as deeply as we do or you to her, and she to you but there is a great and deep affection in our spirits for each other. The Goddess has seen this is so and so granted us the rare gift-the bond of three houses.

Samantha shifted up so Liara was now sitting on her lap, her hands upon the asari's hips.

"I feel no jealousy for Ashley, only sadness for she will only able to touch the edge of what we have. She will never share the fullness of our bond." Liara's hands stroked her wife's cheeks as she leaned in kissing her beloved deeply. "I fear she will only agree to this out of loyalty."

"I don't want the trinity out of loyalty." Samantha said. "If we make this happen, then it must be for the right reasons. I can't offer it; you must show her, Babe. Our bond allows us to know instantly our emotions, our true thoughts one for the other, she won't have that. The only way she can is if you link with her. Let her feel it. Let her know the truth of it."

Liara flicked her tongue out, licking Samantha's lower lip before she pulled it between her teeth and gently bit causing the human to moan in pleasure. Liara shifted off her wife's lap, her fingers softly trailing a line along the strong jaw as she crawled off the bed completely.

"I shall do so."

"What? Now!" it was almost a squeal.

Liara smiled impishly. "Yes now, when our emotions and wants are running the deepest and strongest. She must taste it now."

Samantha fell back onto the mattress. "Bugger it."

Liara blushed. "You can always self-medicate."

Shepard gave her a look. "Tease." There was a smile. "Go to Ash, my love. Show her."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Ashley Williams, self-admittedly was not a word person, clung to words other people wrote to convey the meaning of her thoughts and emotions of her heart. The words came to her were the words of a Greek poetess. Believing she was alone in the comm-room as she stared out the porthole uttered softly those words.

"Unto one whom the Muse of Love hath betrayed!

Ah me, I know not what to do

Who am wildered all, in a strait betwixt two!

I cry from a homeless heart storm-tossed

As a child for her mother, a young child lost.

Yet not after all-unattainable things

Do I strain, nor I hope on passion's wings

To soar to the heavens' empyreal blue.

But oh, I yearn, how I yearn to slake

My thirst where Love's feet brush the dew!"

"Sappho, if I'm not mistaken." Liara said. "One of Samantha's favored authors."

"Frack me! You sure as hell know how to give a girl a heart-attack, Miss Prothean Expert."

"I apologize. I didn't mean to give you a start, Ashley."

The young offered a half-hearted smile before sinking down the chair closest to her. Out of coincidence it just so happened she was sitting in the Commander's chair. She let out a breath, heavy and laden with guilt.

"Once we dock at the Citadel it will be my call to port."

"That would mark you AWOL. A court martiable offence. I highly doubt the Commander will relieve her XO of service."

"I can't stay here." Hands laid in lap, eyes cast to the floor.

"She needs you."

"You have to know what I feel for her; why else would you be here? You don't have to worry, Sam will never ever stray. Even if she were tempted, she won't. Her love for you, I've never seen the like." Ashley buried her face in her hands. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to happen."

Liara took those hands into her own before she spoke. But it wasn't her own words she uttered:

"For _she _who the strength of the mighty can break,

_She_ whose bitter sweetness no tongue may tell,

The dragon whose onslaught none may quell,

Love — mine whole being doth Love's breath shake.

"Ah, sleep I cannot: soft-cushioned bed

Wooes never my wearied frame to sleep;

No pillow brings rest to my throbbing head.

From my couch, as one in a nightmare, I leap.

Ever Eros is tossing to and fro

My spirit, as when great storm-winds blow

O'er a tempest-tormented mountain-steep,

And down on its groaning oak-woods sweep;

So groaneth my spirit, love-scourged so.

"Is it not how the poem ends? I do not mock you my friend. Do you think I came here to challenge you? Or warn you from Samantha? No. That is not my cause for this visit. 'Love — mine whole being doth Love's breath shake'." Liara caressed Ashley's cheek. "The rest of this conversation is best served in privacy and not in the comm-room." With that Liara stood, turned and walked out.

Lieutenant Ashley Madeline Williams Executive Officer of the CSV _Victory _had no recourse but to follow.

Liara all but escorted Ash to the lieutenant's quarters. She waited patiently as Williams keyed in the access code that opened the door to her private room and gestured for the asari scientist to enter. "Lights." She said commanding the automated system. "Can I get you anything?"

"Tea, perhaps."

Ash went to the synthesizer and ordered green tea with ginseng knowing Liara favored it. "Food? Isn't it the asari way that having a little meal helps strained moments?"

Liara smiled then shook her head. She stepped up to Ashley placing her hand upon the other woman's. "This need not become complicated. The poem you recited, speaks of unrequited love, a love unattainable. That does not have to be. Such love is yours, you need only claim it."

"What are you telling me?" Ash moved past Liara frowning. "Are you saying it doesn't bother you someone wanting your wife? That you don't care someone has dreams they aught not have."

"No I did not say that. You are not _just_ someone. You are Samantha's Trusted, and more than that. That love is not out of your grasp."

Ash stared hard at the asari before her. "What are you selling me? You know I must have been absent that day in Sunday school when they said adultery was okay."

Liara set her tea cup on the tiny table near the center of the room. "I have never attended Sunday school."

Ashley rolled her eyes. "Don't play semantics with me, you know what I mean."

"Yes I do. You also know what I am offering. You will not become the mistress, the 'bit on the side'. You are not to play the concubine. You will be a full partner in our marriage. Ashley the love you have for her is returned to you. She loves you. Embrace it."

"This is insane. Liara, this is the Alliance Military, not asari. You don't do The Deed with your fellow troops, especially if you're under them in rank. Of for that matter if you're above 'em too. There's all sorts of problems that can happen when two people in the same unit get together. Think of Virmire. The Skipper said she chose me because she told me I was the better soldier. To let everyone else escape, she had to make a choice. Kadian got left behind for the mission. That still sits on me no matter what she says. Do you think if she had to make that kind of choice again she will chose someone she's sleeping with? If she ever has to make that choice again it can't be muddled up by magic-sparkly-hearts-and-stars feelings. Yeah okay she makes me feel very tingly but …but… she …"

"If you don't do _The Deed_ with someone in your unit then why did she not only do so with me but marry me?"

"You're not military. You're like under a civilian contract."

"Technically Samantha is no longer Alliance Military. She is a Spectre"

"Yeah well…"

"Ashley, before you spoke of faith. It _is_ a matter of faith. You know I am as observant in my faith as you are in yours. So you know when I tell you it is a matter of faith, it is. I am proposing you maintain an open mind and listen. I wish to join my mind with yours so that you comprehend, without any misunderstandings, pressure or what you may think is service out of loyalty."

"Mind melding?" Ash frowned. "Yeah…I guess…okay. It won't hurt will it?"

Liara shook her head. "No."

"Sometimes, the Skipper looks a little green around the gills when she pulls out of a meld." Williams winced a bit as she realized she was talking to someone whose people _did _have green flesh as well as purple and blue and whose prehistoric ancestors actually had gills. "I mean…"

"I understand the colloquialism." Liara smiled. "I have learned much of human jokes and phrases through the many melds I have shared with Samantha. I am not as naive about such matters as I was when we first met."

Ash smiled shyly. "When you first came on board I said something to the Skipper and she said you wouldn't understand teasing."

"At the time I wouldn't have." Liara blushed slightly. "Even asari humor is often times lost on me. The Sciences, prothean archeology, I understand. My faith I understand. I have never been very good with people regardless of species. I always seem to make a fool of myself." She smiled slightly. "It is not seeming for a matriarch's daughter to be so very socially awkward. I know this conversation is awkward in of itself. What is fated for the three of us, I understand. Now I wish for you to understand, my dear friend. Only truth can be given in a mind meld."

Ashley nodded, "Okay I'm ready. Just tell me what to do."

Lithely Liara stepped up to the young human, tenderly stroking her cheek. "Try to relax Ashley. Slow deep breaths. Let go of your physical shell. Reach out to grasp the threads that bind us one to another. Every action sends ripples across the galaxy. Every idea must touch another mind to live. Each emotion must mark another's spirit. We are all connected, every living being united in a single glorious existence. Open yourself to the universe. Embrace eternity."

Blue eyes went solid black. Brown eyes became dilated and darker. Ash's mind swam with images, emotions. Running in her was the fullness of the truth behind the trinity. The words Asarian and Basic:

'_En Aenil anno meren an meleth bal hu h aglareb ant na adaneth. Hin an manadh hael h gwaedh na en emel, nauth, h faer, no tovon mil. Neled melethril ertho hervo. Sui Hen no dabo sui neled sui adaneth. En gweadh sui neled uireb._

'_The Goddess gives joyous love with Her divine voice a glorious gift to maidens of three houses. They are fated to make a bond to the heart, mind and soul with deep affection. Three lovers united. Three joined. As She is three so shall it be with the maidens of three houses. The oath of the trinity is eternal. _

'_She loves you.'_

'_I know.'_

"_You love her.'_

'_Yes.'_

'_Ashley and I have great affection for each other. The Goddess has given us this gift, Beloved. I am not jealousy of Ashley. There lingers no pain, no self doubt because I am not human and she is. We are powerful together.'_

'_Liara…you are the truth of my heart's love and yet I have fallen in love with Ash…'_

'_As I have boundless affection for her, we are hand-fasted my sweet Samantha, and she will be our third. As the Goddesses Athame and Danu are three so shall we. Women of three houses. You, I and Sparrow-this family needs her. She is family. I feel no jealousy for Ashley, only sadness for she will only able to touch the edge of what we have. She will never share the fullness of our bond.'_

'_I fear only she will only agree to this out of loyalty. I don't want the trinity out of loyalty. If we make this happen, then it must be for the right reasons.'_

'_The pureness of love.'_

'_That can be the only reason.'_

Liara pulled softly away from Ashley's mind as one lover would her beloved after making love. As that same lover pulls away she still holds her beloved, close to her chest. Ashley fell to her knees and Liara fell with her. The Marine's head swimming with the intensity of the meld she clung onto Liara drawing in deep settling breaths.

"I…I need time." Ash managed, her voice muffled in Liara's embrace.

"I know. Take the time you need, process everything you need to process. But take this into your heart my dear friend. Not for one moment will you feel guilt for your love of your Skipper… for Sam. If you do then you belittle everything. You, me … Samantha and that which we hold in our hearts. Guilt has no place here. No sin has been committed Ashley you will not pressured into this, you felt in the meld, Samantha's own thoughts on the matter. She does not want you to agree out of any sense of loyalty or of duty. It must be with a clear mind and heart and you must follow your heart. Ashley, I ask you to think of this with an open mind. In your faith's ancient past there were patriarchs such as the male called Abraham who had several wives. And there were others. Why should this allowance be limited to the males of your species?"

Ash was silent but Liara could feel the young human's heart and her mind working upon the words spoken between them. The asari said nothing more as she attempted to slip from the lieutenant's quarters.

"Wait." Ash spoke out abruptly.

Liara knew the question that was going to be asked even before it was uttered by the young human.

"Why? Why are you okay with this?"

"Because the Goddess gave it."

"Liara, stop with the religious shit. I need to know why. I need to know how. Because if our positions were reversed I really doubt I would be as gracious and understanding, shit as accommodating! So why the frack are you okay with this and not pissed off or Good Lord devastated that your Samantha is in love with someone else? If it was me and Sam told me 'O hey sorry Babe, but Liara is in love with me and I her, I …I would have been pissed as hell!"

Liara smiled understandingly. "If it were anyone but her Trusted, I would have much to say against this. As you told me through the bond, Samantha is the love of your life. Ashley, I shared with you the truth of all, you felt my mind and heart. Because of the meld you felt Samantha… Sam's mind and heart. No other would have other been accepted by either of us, nor you."

"I…I know… I felt it all through the bond. Even still it's hard to fathom it all. I. …I need time."

"As I said before Ashley time is yours to have."

"Li …I have one more question. A request really"

"Anything."

Williams swallowed hard. "Show me Sam's nightmares."

Liara opened her mouth, closed it and opened it once more. "Ashley, those images you don't want them."

"No I don't, but I need to know. I saw her locked in that nightmare. It scared the hell out of me. I thought her heart would give out the way it was racing. She cried out in prothean the same words we heard in the warning on Ilos. She said they are always that bad. I need to know. I need to see what she sees. If we do this trinity thing, I need to be a part of the bad as well as the good."

Liara nodded, her face growing grim. "To see them will hurt you. For in them often the protheans' victims are replaced by those she cares for: you, I, young Tali, Shiala, her mother, sometimes the crew. The other images were burned into her mind by the beacons; you will see them as vivid as she has, as I and Shiala have. But it is more than that. What you will see are the memories of her dreams not direct images from the beacons. Because of that you will feel all her sorrow, her anger and frustration and the terror these nightmares give her. "

"I'm ready."

"No Ashley, one is never ready for this."

Once more Liara uttered the words that would prepare her friend for the link. Unlike the warm comforting bond of revealing the truth of the proposed trinity, this was cold, the visions of oblivion screaming, tearing, burning into Ashley's mind. The roar of blood washing over whole worlds. Spikes rose up from the burning earth, upon their shafts impaled were Liara, Tali, Shiala and Ashley herself as was Shepard. Placed there by indoctrinated versions of the same who had been impaled. The screams of the dead and dying protheans and those precious to the Spectre. Behind it all the Reapers. They were coming. They were always coming. Ripping, tearing destroying leaving in their wake utter desolation.

As softly as she had withdrawn her touch before Liara withdrew now. She knew what would come next. Overcome by the images, the emotions rolling around in her heart Ash broke down. Liara said nothing as she cradled Ashley in her arms.


	25. Cohesion and Special Congruent Reality

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter Twenty Five: Cohesion and its Special Congruent Reality

Shepard took to wandering the ship checking the various duty stations, unlike the skeleton crew she had aboard the _Normandy_, the _Victory_ had a full crew complement. Even in this late hour they were fully manned. The shipboard computer placed the time to be just after oh-three-hundred hours. Liara had yet to return from Ashley's quarters. The conversation she had previously sat heavily on the Spectre's shoulders. She never for one moment had entertained the idea of a trinity. Or dreamed that Liara would have brought the topic forward as its advocate. A part of her had rebelled against the trinity because of the heartsick pain it would inevitably bring to a soul so tender, one she thought delicate. Shepard never believed Liara's forbearance as weak, yet the Spectre couldn't help but take point and protect.

'My sweet, sweet Liara. You are an incredible woman, my love.'

In her wandering of the decks, Shepard found herself near the quarters of the asari commandos. Being the Commander she had the prerogative to enter the communal quarters of the crew without having to first announce her arrival as would others of lower ranks.

As the _Victory_ was of asari design the bunks of the flight crew were together stacked up against the bulkheads five high, in rows of four along both sides allowing for the center of the quarters to be open for tables and work stations. The far bulkhead had a separate cubical for the CAG.

As soon as Shepard entered the quarters those that saw her, stood and tilted their heads in acknowledgment of her rank.

"I need to speak with Commander Shiala." The Spectre said

Naga'sadow spoke up, "I'm sorry Commander but Matron Shiala has gone to see Dr. S'thasa."

"Not for her daughter?" concern rose in the Spectre's voice.

"No, Ma'am I believe the visit is of a _personal_ nature."

"Oh. Right." Shepard nodded her understanding. Her blue eyes narrowed slightly. She had been so preoccupied with the mission she hadn't even noticed the growing closeness between the lost disciple of Benezia and the bounty hunter. "Since when has this relationship developed?"

"I can not say Commander; the knowledge is not mine to give. However, I would mark Ilos as a foundation for their growing companionship." Naga'sadow conveyed.

"Is there anything we can assist with, Commander?" Morwen asked.

A moment's hesitation stayed the Spectre's tongue before she spoke. "No. Thank you."

As she turned to leave Morwen placed a violet hand upon Shepard's arm, whispering. "If it is counsel you seek may I suggest that perhaps Priestess Kerubiel can assist? Her words have brought clarity to many, Spectre."

Once more Shepard paused, reminding herself that the asari military was not the Alliance and that the touching of a superior officer was not an offence. In keeping with the theme of harmony on her ship, Shepard turned and slipped her hand behind Morwen's neck and pressed her forehead against the commando's in the style of asari military as to convey trust. She knew the asari military closely resembled a collection of tribal warrior bands with no national structure. When two such units joined their forces trust was an important foundation, as it was so now. Adopting the some of the traditional ways of other militaries kept the relative peace between various factions on _Victory_. It was also quite in keeping with how odd this day had proven so far to be.

"Perhaps I shall. Thank you."

When she left ten asari commandos gave each other speculative looks. "She seems very worn. Her triumph with the beings of light has left their physical marks upon our Commander," voiced Odan-urr.

Solusar looked at the door the Spectre had just vacated. "Did you see her eyes?"

"She is close to suffering from the _al-elleth's angol-fliw_." Naga'sadow commented. _The non-people's biotic sickness _the Asarian words for those suffering cyan syndrome.

"She is more asari than _al-elleth_. Never mistake that Naga'sadow!" Nual said. "On that Goddess cursed planet she suffered to ensure the mission's success. There was a full day and night we took respite because Lieutenant Williams was quite instant she take one. That night our Spectre was plagued by those nightmares. I heard her soft sounds of distress, her Trusted answered that call and wrested her from those dark images. If she suffered from _angol-fliw_ it is because she demands of herself great tasks and drives herself into sheer exhaustion until they are completed."

"My words meant no disrespect, Nual. I say only she suffers needlessly." The pilot retorted.

"Hush maidens, you do our Commander a disservice speaking of her when she is not present. Dr. T'Soni will see to her needs as they are required. Her need to speak with our Matron Commander Shiala no doubt concerns guiding her from this suffrage of the _angol-fl_iw and if it is not it is not our concern, until she says it is. We were all disciples of Matriarch Benezia now we follow her daughter's wife. We will not disrespect our stations, duty or our oaths of service. This means we keep such things as our knowledge of her nightmares to ourselves. Lest this gives cause for our enemies within and without the ship to move against our Spectre in the belief she is weak, despite all we know to the contrary."

The gathered commandos dipped their heads as they pressed their fingers tips to their foreheads and brought their cupped hands forward acknowledging the wisdom of their superior officer.

"Forgive me, Matron but what enemies within do you speak of?" this came from Udan-vir. "Surely all are loyal to the Spectre."

"It would seem so yes. But consider this. Many corporations did the Spectre make enemies of as well as rogue agencies such as this Cerberus. The waves speak rumors of it. It is foolish to think one of them had not sent a sleeper agent on board. As we were vigilant with Matriarch Benezia so shall we be with Samantha Shepard." Morwen vowed.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEMEME

Having no luck with finding Shiala, Shepard made her way a deck below not to the chapel as suggested by the matron Morwen but rather the galley. For a hit of coffee.

There was a crash from the direction of the galley followed by shouting. Something in the Spectre perhaps the very part of her was waiting for the first shoe to drop propelled her across the deck, down the corridor in a speed that might have left dust spiraling along the floor if there were dust to be had. What met her eyes was a tableau of various shades of guilt.

Tables and chairs would have been over turned had they not been bolted to the floor. As it was trays, food and glasses were strewn across the galley. The room was divided; on one side of the galley were Corporals: Ian Carr, Mira Bass and Joss Merkson, holding back Gunnery Chief Phineus Ragnos between their straining arms. On the opposite side of the mess hall was the turian Sergeant Ruusan Vos who was being restrained by legionaries Thingol (one of the few females) Vutar, Ada Yarvin and Omgaeglin. They weren't the only ones in the room. Doctors Lizbeth Bynum and Ororo along with Tali were near the far wall trying to hold back Abby Williams from getting into the fracas.

The important thing is not to shout at this point, Shepard told herself. Do not go apeshit. Treat this as a learning exercise. Find out why the galaxy is not as you thought it was. Assemble the facts, digest the information, consider the implications, _then_ go apeshit. But with precision.

What was a cacophony before became a very deafening silence. "Right!" Shepard's voice rising in that dead silence. "Who will be the first to fabricate the facts?" blue eyes scanned the room. "Williams!" she barked. "What the hell is going on?"

"Um… ah …Commander…"

The scientists let the young woman go.

"If you are going to lie at least do it quickly. As for the rest of you why the hell are you not standing at attention?"

The galley filled with the sound of quickly scurrying-scuffling as fourteen feet quickly repositioned themselves so that their owners were at full attention including the scientists.

"Better. Dr. Williams, SitRep."

"See it's like this. Sergeant Vos and Gunnery Chief Ragnos were sitting at the same table see and um …got their … er…soup bowls got mixed up. Well the turian diet being different than humans and… being vigilant crewmates as we are we um… er intervened a little um…more vigorously than maybe we should have." Abby quickly sped up the words spilling from her mouth as if she were twelve once more and uttering excuses to her father to avoid being grounded. It was quite shocking to see how well practiced she was. "And things got over turned as they were. None here wanted to see Sergeant Vos come to harm by ingesting the wrong food."

Inwardly Shepard sighed. The story had the merits of a complete and utter lie- no turian nor quarian would ever ingest food not suitable for dextro-amino acids digestive tracts. As unbelievable as it was, the lame story wasn't actually all that bad.

"Is that the whole of it?" Shepard moved shark like amongst the crew, their faces awash in shame. She stepped up face to face with Ragnos. "No one here insulted the virtue of someone else's mother? Hum? Or questioned the quality of the gene pool of ancestors? No stupid shit like that?"

Chief Ragnos shook his head, as he stood straighter at attention staring directly above the Spectre's head.

"No?" Spinning on her heel she was now face to face with the two meter tall Vos. She was pleased to see him sweating with the effort of not moving. "No one here proclaimed their father was on the bridge of a ship that killed someone else's father, in First Contact? Uttered the name of a certain garrison, mocking it or the sacrifice of its general?"

Vos turned his face away unable to allow the Spectre to see him.

"Just good vigilant camaraderie between crewmates before a near fatal accident occurred? Is that it?" This time her gaze fell on Abby and the gathered scientists in the corner. "Is that what you're telling me Williams?"

"Um…yes?" Abby stammered.

"Right. Sergeant Vos, to better help you understand the difference in suitable dietary needs you will for the period of thirty days serve KP duty for the humans."

The turian's mandibles flared in great displeasure, a snort of anger.

"Something to say, Vos? Hmm? Something other than what Dr. Williams told me what occurred here? Something perhaps that explains dereliction of duty? "

"No my Commander." His voice was grave.

"No, I thought not. Chief Gunnery Ragnos, formally of the _SSV Kilimanjaro_, I happen to know _who_ your former XO was. I happened to know _personally _just how disciplined the captain can be. I sincerely doubt brawling was acceptable on that ship. I wonder if I am as forgiving as she?"

"Ma'am." Ragnos swallowed hard

"Since you were ever so eager to be of service to your fellow turian crewmate insuring he did not partake of the wrong food, you will continue in that capacity of servitude to all turians for the same said period of time."

"Yes Ma'am."

"As for the squad-mates of you two, you will see to the detailing of every viper, every raptor and every mako. And do so carefully with sonic toothbrushes." Shepard's eyes fell on Merkson. 'Oh here's a lovely thing, one of the would be traitors.' "Merkson, you will supply them _and_ show them how it is done."

The quarter master opened his mouth then snapped it shut quickly.

"You have something to say, corporal? Perhaps tell me you were not involved in the brawl that _didn't_ happen here?"

"No, Ma'am."

"No, I didn't think so Merkson. Dr. Williams, you and your fellow scientists clean up this mess. We don't want any near accidents to happen again. It is so _easy_ to have such things when minds are not on duty! Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes Ma'am." The whole room echoed with the sound of it.

"Dr. Williams as the troopers do with vehicles so shall you do with this place once the food is cleared."

The young woman nodded her head, sullenly.

"Dismissed!"

Taking in a great heavy sigh the Spectre turned from the galley; slightly put out she had not retrieved the cup of coffee she had come for in the first place. And more than a little frustrated at the scene she had interrupted. While harmony was brewing in the private life of the Spectre it was evaporating on her ship it seemed.

"It won't take much for this whole bloody crew to be at each others throats." She grumbled to herself.

Shepard meant to go back to her quarters. The day had been long, emotionally draining and not to put a finer point on it surreal. How she came to be in front of medical bay, the Spectre couldn't truthfully comment. Aleena was with Shiala, Chakwas was most likely asleep, so why in blazes was she here?

"You going to lurk or are you coming in?" Chakwas asked as she stepped into the corridor. "Someone might think you're up to something." The aging physician said quoting words she had heard the Spectre say once upon a time.

Shepard followed Chakwas to her office. More like a cubicle to be truthful but it was more than she had on the _Normandy_. The older woman sat down in her chair and gestured for the Spectre to take one opposite the desk. Shepard draped one leg over one of the arms and leaned her back against the other.

"You, going to tell me about the eyes?" Chakwas opened the gambit.

"No."

"Do I need to tell you about the eyes?"

"No."

"Bad day?"

"Odd day."

"Well at least I got more out of you than a 'no'." Chakwas grinned gaining a soft dry chuckle from her C.O. "You know I can help you with that."

"I said I don't want to talk about the eyes."

"Did you hear me say word one about them, Commander?" Chakwas grinned. She reached the bottom drawer of her desk and pulled out a bottle: it was brown and contained alcohol; it was followed by two goblets.

Shepard grinned. "Just what the doctor ordered."

"Indeed it is. There have been more than a few nights and very early mornings I sat with Captain Anderson just like this, when he had his _odd_ days."

"And how did those days and nights end?"

"That with all due respect Commander, is between our former C.O. and my self. Such is true whatever transpires now. Sit and drink in silence, or sit, drink and speak of those _odd _things."

"You play councilor now?"

"My dear Commander we are only having a drink."

Shepard sat in silence sipping her bourbon.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEME

Liara slipped into the bed where wife was already sound asleep. As she lay her head down, she felt Samantha's arm curl around her waist, and pull her lithe body next to her more muscular one. "My beloved." She whispered snuggling deeper into the embrace that held her fast.

"What happened with Ash?" Samantha whispered into the back of her wife's neck.

"She needs time."

"She has all she needs."

"I told her the same." Liara turned in her beloved's arms kissing Samantha full on the lips. "She made a request though not an ultimatum or contingency on her decision. She made it out of her love for you …for us."

"The nightmares."

Blue eyes stared into blue eyes. "Yes. I opened my mind to her, allowing her to see them. When it passed, I held her as she wept for you. I left her sleeping in the comfort of her bed after tucking her in as would a nursemaid. I do not think she realized I guided her there and helped her to lay down."

"She is a proud woman. I'll not bring shame to her for her display." Samantha said. "We've all had a few them."

Liara softly kissed the satin lips of her Spectre. "Indeed we have, beloved."

Samantha cradled her wife tightly to her. Her hands gently trailing a path down Liara's torso to her belly, to rest gingerly against the child growing within. The Spectre closed her eyes content to have her family in her arms as she allowed herself to surrender to much needed sleep.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Abby woke to someone kicking her mattress. "Who the hell?" She opened her brown eyes, groggy with sleep.

"Get up!" Lieutenant Williams barked.

The younger Williams surprised at the sharpness of her sister's voice all but tumbled out of bed. "What the hell is your problem?"

"You got into a brawl last night. That's the problem."

"I didn't get into a brawl. I was held back."

"A fight ensued, you said words." Ash snarled.

"So did others. And I wasn't the only one it was that tur…"

"Don't even allow those words to escape your lips, Abigail!"

"Since when have you become an advocate of the turians?"

"I am no advocate, I am however the executive office of this ship! This ship you serve as a civilian conscript. And you got into a damn fracking brawl or near enough. I've worked hard, just like Dad did to make the name Williams something of honor again and you would cast it aside just like that?"

Abby turned on her sister. "I've done nothing you haven't done in the past. Hell you'd be the first to tell some to shut their pie hole if they mentioned Shanxi and Grandpa."

"I've learned how to pick my battles. And you don't do it on a ship with a bloody fracking Spectre. You get that? You're my sister, which makes me responsible for you and all your actions. I read the reports of last night's little 'accident'. Do you know why the Commander asked you to lie for the rest of them? Because you're _my_ sister, she gave _you _a pardon specifically. Don't ever trade on that relationship again."

"Sis, she would have asked someone else for a lie for what happened. Tali for instance, she was there as well. Wasn't she Dr. T'Soni's maid-of-honor or something like that? Why aren't you chewing her out?" the younger Williams scowled.

"Because she _isn't_ my sister, you dull stone. Your actions reflect on me, just like Dad said a Williams has to be twice as good as any soldier to be considered an equal. And like I said any misdeed on your part, reflects very poorly on me and I can't afford that. I was raised up as a lieutenant by merit, but many believe I am not fit for the position as the XO and I got it only by my closeness to the Skipper. Things are going on, things you can't know. But especially now I can't afford this crew or the Alliance Military to question my position. So you can't frack up anymore and if you do you have to accept full responsibility and punishment for your actions."

Abby was silent, her face awash in shame once more as it had been last night. "I'm sorry, Sis. I didn't mean to make things difficult for you." Abby shifted on her feet slightly. "I'll apologize to the Commander."

"You will do no such thing. It's done and dusted. Don't insult her by bringing attention back to it. She cracked the whip but she also let it slide with her punishments. Two troopers are off rotation for a month to serve in the mess rather than in the brig, where you would have ended up as well, and all of you with black spots on your records. Leave it be and don't speak more of it."

Abby bit her inner lip. "Ah …."

"Don't tell me you emailed home." Ash was incensed.

"I wrote a letter to Sarah, but I haven't sent it."

"Don't. Delete it. All our mail is sent though the Alliance military network. There it gets censored at the transmission source for security purposes. That goes for replays as well. Nothing slips by the Brass. You bitch or say how lucky you were last night they see it. Then the Brass may question the Skipper's actions. Even if that _Brass_ isn't the Alliance but the Council we don't need them on her case, either."

Abby nodded. "I get it. So if it's not supposed to be talked about how come you know?"

"Hello, have we met? I'm the ship's XO. It means one of my tasks is the actual duty roster. Shepard told me the truth about why the men were pulled and then the lie she ordered you to tell. Clever making sure it was unbelievable."

"Worked for Dad, when he needed an excuse but not the truth for whatever wrong we did. Thought it might work for the Commander, what with them both born to the uniform and all, just like you."

Ash smiled softly.

"Ash, what's going on? You have a look in your eyes I haven't seen since Sarah had her troubles with that jackass two years ago. Every day of your two week leave you escorted her back and forth from school. You didn't like it when she had you stand by and let her handle things, but you did. You sorta have that look about you now. Something big is on your mind. Spill maybe I can help you out with whatever is weighing you down"

"It's confidential." The elder sister said quickly "I told you there are things going I can't talk about."

Abby was a military brat just like her sister, she knew not to pry for more details. "Alright. I read you loud and clear, Sis. And about the other stuff too."

MEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEMEMEME

Liara's science team had for the past five days indulged their scientific curiosity with the finds of Ilos. It came time to reveal some of the secrets of the ancient Prothean technology. Liara was positively beside herself with joy over what she had uncovered.

"Commander." She greeted her wife as the Spectre entered the labs' adjacent testing arena. The room was circular in shape with a raised level off the door that led down into a sunken 'pit', two meters below the main landing. The test area was equipped with strong autonomous kinetic barriers, which would allow for the test firing of weapons on armour, or other hazards that might otherwise compromise the ship. It was here with Williams's input, the new modified shields for Klencory's caustic atmosphere had been tested.

"We have made remarkable progress with the tech we found on Ilos." Liara continued. She herself was standing within the pit, with half of her personal ground team. Beside Shepard stood Aleena, Shiala and oddly enough _Victory'_s head crew-chief Lilihierax. The turian simply went by 'Lee' as he had on Novaria.

"Show me what you got." Shepard leaned forward on the railing bracing her weight with her arms.

Without explanation Liara placed one foot on the wall as if to perform a stretching exercise. Soft lilac-blue lips curled into a mischievous grin as a hand touched what looked like a disk made of chrome and amber attached to her belt. It was small, about the size of a combination lock yet only an inch in thickness. As soon as the disk was activated Liara was standing on the wall! The foot that had been raised was now taking all her weight. Liara was walking up the wall as if she were wearing magnetic boots, however as the bulkheads were made of duroplastic they would not respond to magnetism.

Gravity simply wasn't an issue. It reminded the stunned Spectre of an old M.C Escher painting she had once seen in an art history book that involved stairs and people walking or standing on them at impossible angles.

"How the hell?" Shepard stared at her beaming wife.

Liara was now perfectly perpendicular to the Spectre. She knelt so that her foot was on the ledge of the upper landing and her hand took hold of the railing which from Liara's point of view was the floor'.

"Take a hold of my waist," she said to her wife.

Shepard didn't hesitate with the order and quickly obeyed. Once more Liara activated the disk on her belt. Once she did gravity was on the same field as that of Shepard's. Liara was now holding onto the banister, braced there by her foot and supported by her wife's strong arms. All at once the Spectre hoisted Liara up over the railing to place her gently at her side.

"Okay … want to explain why you just broke a dozen laws of physics?" Shepard didn't even try to mask her astonishment.

"It is a gravity leveling device." Liara's grin grew wider. "When asked, **Ksad Ishan stated** its purpose is to redirect gravity not reduce or nullify it. It enables a person to not only stand but maneuver on walls and even ceilings. Being that you are Spectre and fully a military woman, I know you will want to hear of the martial applications rather than those of civilian uses. Commander, they are immense. This device will allow a Spectre or a solider to ambush a squad of enemies, firing on them from the ceiling or an air-vent or other such hidden locale.

"**Ksad Ishan further claims that **vehicles can be equipped with larger versions that correspond in conjunction with their mass effect accelerators. It will allow them to engage in a firefight with air-born vessels or gunships by driving up the side of buildings, other architectural constructions, as well as landmasses. We uncovered two such large gravity leveling devices, alongside the personal versions."

"It is feasible, Cap'n." Lee stated, the reason for his being away from the hanger deck now evidently clear. The mechanic's input on the logistical side of application was needed if Shepard was to be convinced. "Before we traverse to the Citadel as planned, we can make a stop at one of the planets en-route and field test each on the two makes of MAKOs. If we can make them work, I believe you can see the added advantage we have for the rest of the mission. Come on Cap'n whadd'ya say?"

Shepard smirked at her turian mechanic "Trying to polish gizzard there, Lee?"

"No ma'am. I'm just appealing to your sense of one-upmanship on the bad guys."

"Before I decide, I want a full demonstration on the personal devices."

"We have anticipated that need." Now it was Shiala who spoke. "_Your_ huntresses will gladly do so. I also believe Captain Kirrahe stands by with _his_ STG."

"A sparring match or grudge match?"

"The huntresses have no quarrel with the STG to hold a grudge over them." Shiala skillfully answered. "I think it is a test of skill, Kirrahe wishes to match."

"I see." Shepard pondered the motives of the STG's captain. She doubted it was as straight laced as a simple test of skill. The arrogance of the salarians was well known. Their pride was forever wounded when they attempted to face-off against the ninja style martial potency of the asari commandos. "I want a full battery of tests. Lieutenant Williams will take a team of humans; Garrus will have a few turians. We can forget about Wrex. I can see no practical purpose for a krogan battlemaster walking on the ceiling when he likes to charge his opponents. Besides he doesn't do well in Z-G, nevermind gravity that changes on him. I don't want krogan vomit mucking up my ship." There was a round of discreet chuckles from the scientists. "How many of the gravity levelers do we have?"

"We have fifteen." Liara answered.

"Distribute them as necessary. Oh, and for future reference refer to them as G-Ls. Remember, the military loves their initials and acronyms."

"Of course Commander. The military is every so practiced in practicality when it comes to naming things." Liara tilted her head. "G-Ls it is."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEEMME ME

The battery of tests Shepard ordered was more akin to training drills in boot camp. Fifteen participants were armed with high-powered stunner- firearms as were cadets in training. Once shot the active would be out for a day, with no true physical damage, but it sure hurt like hell. Biotics would be limited to stunning, and pulled-throws. The armor however would not be modified from preferred styles as a true test of the capabilities of the participants.

For practical purposes the demonstration was moved from the testing-pit to the rec-room. Shiala, Naga'sadow, Morwen, and Nual represented the asari. Garrus, Ruusan Vos (a reprieve from KP duty) Vutar and Thingol led the turians. Kirrahe, Rentola, Kex and Exar Nad of the salarian STG stood at the ready, Williams, Phineus Ragnos (also given the same reprieve) Leroy Hal and Mira Bass were the proud representatives of humanity. Tali also joined in the demonstration as did Shepard herself. She joined not for humanity but in the capacity of the Spectres. Below her were Liara, Aleena, Chakwas, Wrex and the Baynhams.

Moving a damn sight faster than any sentient had any business moving, four huntresses strode over to the bulkheads of the rec room. Then they were up the bulkheads and on the ceiling. Williams leading her team of marines were on their tail, Karrahe on theirs. Taking the opposite wall up was the Spectre. Spinning into action with kicks that would knock out a rabid rhino, asari huntress sprinted forward, down went Leroy Hal, Mira Bass, Vutar and Thingol, each without firing a shot. Their G-Ls still active the 'causalities' clung to the ceiling like spiders in their own webs.

Tali was far too interested in the G.L. belt to fully engage in the test. The young woman had gone to the farthest bulkhead, activated the belt and started to climb the wall. Then advanced to the ceiling.

Williams popped off Nual from her position on the wall. Like the turians and humans the asari was pinned to the ceiling, gravity holding her there. Shepard hadn't moved from her spot. Apparently all assumed she was there in an observational capacity only. Below them Liara watched not the combatants but her unmoving wife.

'Stingray.' The scientist thought. 'So, my love what do you wait for? What does a soldier's eyes see that an archeologist's cannot? Think Liara; see though the warrior's eye.'

The Spectre was waiting, not for a particular vulnerability in one military force or another but all of them. Liara watched fascinated. Shepard wasn't punitive in her strikes, she only acted on openings. Perhaps a small measure penalizing action was true in that they allowed themselves an opening. And for this the Spectre punished. Ragnos left his right flank open, Shepard struck. Hard. A stunning-warp spun the marine arse-over-head into the far bulkhead where he remained pinned. The next to fall by the 'stingray' was Rentola then Morwen; both battling each other, both downed by a single source: the Spectre.

'You took down three, favoring none above the other.' Liara wondered at her wife's tactics. 'Oh, how very cunning you are, my love. You force cohesion where breaks would splinter the crew.'

Naga'sadow hit Williams from behind an alcove, a glancing blow only but strong enough for a string of curses to issue from the marine's mouth. The spectre watched. The young huntress was one of the finest of the commandos inherited from the T'Soni bastion. She was second wing to Shiala, just as Ashley was Shepard right hand. This would be interesting.

On the floor Liara, Aleena and many of the crew watched the nearly choreographed martial ballet. The asari commandos had made an impressive use of time, taking down the majority of the opposition, STG and marine alike. Shiala had cornered and neutralized Kirrahe, Kex and Exar Nad. It wasn't hard to believe: a single thorian clone had nearly done the same to Liara, Shepard and Williams, back on Faros. If it hadn't been for the Spectre's special medical training, Williams and Liara both would have been KIA and Shepard damn near close. And that was a single clone of the matron. A few waves of them had tested Shepard and her small team to their very limits, nevermind the frenzied onslaught of the ghoulish creepers.

Naga'sadow and Williams were still in a tussle neither one gaining or losing ground. Apparently their 'mentors' were content to allow them this test of strength.

Tali had yet to act instead she had busied herself with aiding the observing soldiers recover the 'fallen'. The young woman tested a theory. With Nual safely in the hands of waiting medical aides she attempted to jam the belt, but she had no joy. She did the same with all others, the story was the same, the belts did not deactivate.

Shepard strode lazily up to Shiala, and tapped her on the shoulder. "I would say this is a successful first test."

"Indeed. It would be foolish however to be overconfident in the G.L.s true capabilities in trial. If they are designed for ambush then perhaps such test should be our next move." The matron sagely advised.

"My thoughts exactly," Shepard answered. "Stand down!" she ordered Williams and Naga'sadow immediately obeyed. Of the fifteen combatants only five remained active, each returned to the floor. "Tali, report." She knew the little engineer would be studying the feasibility of the new tech.

"Impervious to jamming, Commander," the young quarian reported.

"Good. It would be terribly inconvenient in battle if someone activates an OMNI tool and makes one fall to their deaths. This first test was acceptable but we further it, to test their true capabilities. Tali I want you to run the data I know you collected into VR simulations, then we take them into true field-testing along with those for the MAKO." The Spectre turned to the physicians, her eye catching one in particular. "Dr. S'thasa, I would be interested in _your _perspective on the G.L.s. Dr. Chakwas, what is your diagnosis?"

The white haired woman was quick to give her opinion. "Preliminary examinations reveal no permanent damage from the stunners either by sidearm or biotics. They'll wake with headaches and perhaps a bit of disorientation. Like Zee-Gee certification tests, some may suffer vertigo. Commander, show prudence when dealing with alien technology, it may have an unknown quality when responding to a physiology not specifically designed for them."

"Duly noted Doctor, which is why I need you to run full physicals on all who participated," said the Spectre

"I can assume you'll be up first?" Chakwas didn't disguise her knowing smirk.

"Of course." Shepard turned to her officers. "Opinions?"

"They have good potential for a sweep and clear, Skipper." Williams answered. "But this was a controlled situation. We were only testing capabilities not the effectiveness on the unsuspecting troops."

"To that end we need to test in their true intent." Naga'sadow said concurring with marine. "I also think we need to test which of the crew is most effective in their use."

Liara offered her own voice. "While the martial applications for strategic strikes against an enemy are profound, I suggest further thought of their potential benefit to a more civilian if not commercial use." She took in a steadying breath, knowing she was directly confronting the military mind-set. "G.L.s are prime not only for explorations, but the restoration of ancient ruins and their excavation. Not only that the G.L.s can be used in search and rescue operations. Surely even the military factions can appreciate such benefits."

Shepard appreciated her wife's pragmatic perceptive outside martial thought. "Indeed. It is why I plan on giving one each to the Alliance, the asari Embassy, the Hierarchy, and the STG as well as one to the Council. The remaining ten stay in our custody." She turned then to Liara, "Doctor T'Soni, will you say your team is better suited with a bit more time to uncover what other secrets our discoveries on Ilos hold, or do you prefer to surrender the cache to the Council?"

"I can say it is to our benefit if we have more time, Commander." Liara answered without hesitation. "Mr. Ksad Ishan has been a great help in uncovering our finds. Who is to say what other 'trinkets' will be of significant assistance to our mission? If we relinquish them too quickly it may well be to our detriment."

"If that is the advice of the esteemed Head of Sciences, I believe for the benefit of the mission and crew I shall follow it." The Spectre said slyly. "As it was suggested we have makos to test."


	26. Testing the Boundries

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter 26: TESTING BOUNDARIES

The M26 Mako bounced on the hard surface of the unique ringed planet of Chasca, of the Matano system in the Maroon Sea. **Chasca** is a large, but low density world, fundamentally similar to its inner neighbor Inti. Like Inti, Chasca was tidally-locked to Matano. The same side always faces the sun, resulting in a scorching day side and a frozen night side. In the temperate areas around the equator, temperatures average around thirty degrees Celsius. Combined with a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere, this slender band of habitable terrain allows limited colonization by humans. It was here in what seemed decades ago the crew of the _Normandy_ had discovered the tiny human colony had become a colony of the dead, inhabited by husks - the undead remnants of life created by the geth.

It had been months now since the attack of Saran's geth, the Alliance military on the behest of Admiral Hackett had sent out investigators headed by none other than Clerk Bosker. Bosker was a name recognized by Shepard, Williams and Tali to be the man who had attempted to hold Serviceman Narali Bhatia's body because it had husk related injuries during the attack on Eden Prime. That was of course until Shepard put the fear of the Spectre and a bit of a guilt trip into Bosker and made him release her body to her husband Sameash. Apparently Bosker had moved on, though his investigation had not. His presence in the 'Colony of the Dead' was of no concern to the Spectre.

Before the geth had arrived the few pioneer teams scattered across the surface had started to collate information about native hazards and ecology. At the time a massive colonist recruiting drive was gearing up back on Earth. The Department of Colonization had bragged about the uniqueness of Chasca's rings. It was unique in that it wasn't a ring such as Saturn or Uranus. It appears to be, for lack of a better term, a massive piece of alien 'installation art.' The rings were made of small pieces of synthetic material, and were almost invisible from space. From the ground however they caught and scattered the light of Matano in picturesque ways. It was not known who created the ring or when. Now however not even the splendor of the rings could encourage colonists to settle a world where the geth had once stormed and turned everyone into a husk.

The lack of interference made the planet ideal to test the G.L.s in the makos. Shepard threw the wheel, turning the mako around in a dead run for the cliff's side. If it didn't work the repulsers would lift the rover down, the Spectre was impulsive but she wasn't a fool. The mako was well equipped to handle the rugged terrain of the planet with the standard issue repulser lifts and mass accelerators even without the G.L.'s activated. Makos were designed for intense exploration ops and could scale almost any rocky surface; the G.L. would further augment that potential.

"Williams, activate the G.L.. Lets see what this baby can do."

"Aye, aye Skipper." The young lieutenant snapped the switch that powered the gravity leveler. Inside there was no outward change to indicate it was working. Shepard banked the wall of the cliff, all at once the horizon changed.

"Damn!" Shepard smirked. "This feels hell of a lot like sitting inside a fighter's cockpit." The young woman had many fine qualities which made her a very valuable asset in the ranks of the Spectres, but she was only an average pilot. Williams was a mite better at piloting the mako, it was however the Commander's prerogative that gave the privilege of testing the new G.L.

Up, up the mako climbed the face of the canyon wall, it was a good first run, if not slightly prosaic. A true test of the G.L, must be in a combat situation. Even a simulated one.

"There's the other team in the M35." Williams said as if reading her skipper's mind. "We can radio them and engage in a war-game."

The other mako contained Wrex, Garrus and Karrahe. The M36 crew consisted of Shepard, Williams, Tali, Nual, Aleena and Liara. The latter was absolutely adamant she join the squad, her argument with "Dr. S'thasa" present, the risk to her or the child was kept at a minimum. Shepard suspected her wife's true motive was directly related to the fact the sclera of her eyes hadn't completely cleared to pure white. Liara feared a biotic flare-up. If it did happen, the young asari wanted to be hands on to stop it from progressing further - she wanted to be there to calm the storm.

Reaching the top of the mesa, Tali scanned the region from the mako's ops-control. An almost gleeful tone entered her voice. "You wanted a test, Commander I think we have it."

"Well would you look at that." Shepard said as she looked out the front-viewer. "What do you think, Williams?"

"Possibly. Probably one of the bigger ones." The lieutenant said.

Nual not having the close connection the others of the crew had with Shepard, frowned missing the subtlety of the conversation. She looked out the mako's window; all she saw was an enclosed canyon. Completely flat. What did they see that she did not?

"I agree. Being able to remain on the canyon walls will be an added advantage as we will not be as vulnerable as a ground assault will place us if we do engage." This came from Dr. S'thasa. "We will be out of range of its sonic disturbance and it will not be able to erupt beneath us."

Nual looked at the physician curiously. She hadn't been with the crew any longer than the maiden had and yet the elder asari understood what it was the others were discussing. Despite her relative age to Liara, she had spent most of that time cloistered in the T'Soni Bastion, learning the skills of a priestess. Privately she was a little distressed that Liara was more of a huntress than she. The matriarch T'Soni's daughter had forsaken that path more than sixty years ago. But now T'Soni the younger was a true warrior.

"We can go around." Dr. T'Soni commented, her face pulled into a tight frown. "While, I admit we need to test the G.L., actively engaging it seems to be a needless endeavor. It is of no threat to us."

"I don't understand, Commander." Nual said. Why was Dr. T'Soni so adamantly disapproving? "What is it?" She took a position behind the Commander's chair and the second's, her hands holding to the head-rests of both. She squinted her eyes as if to see through the solid rock.

"A possible thresher maw nest." Shepard pointed at the hollow in the canyon floor below. "See the flatness of that ravine? The jagged peaks of the surrounding canyon walls makes a nest defendable and it boxes those acid-spitting slugs in. Now it may not be a nest but it has all the signs of being one."

"Do we engage?" Williams asked.

Shepard paused a moment studying the pit below. In the far past the military had a bad reputation for liberal use of animal testing; things had changed slightly in this modern age. Typically VI drones were used to test military armaments and equipment. The Luna base was a testament to such achievements. However, the only drones at the crew's current disposal were the recon-parameter variety and not practical for true test.

"We engage but do not shoot to kill. I want to see how maneuverable we will be. As it stands even without G.L, maintaining an optimal firing solution isn't always possible when clinging to a canyon wall. I don't want to be placed in a situation of unnecessary risk. Consider this an evasion exercise." The Spectre commanded.

Movement.

The rumble, thumping hum of life. Prey. Dull, soft things. Slow. The hunter waited. It was good at waiting. As were all its kind. Its last meal was so recent. Only three months ago, but it could always eat more. Those that scurry always had such brittle bones, warm sweet blood once its hard metallic shell was broken open. Soft shells, easily shattered.

The rumbling was so close. Climbers. The primitive mind cataloged the prey. Climbers, scurrying upon the walls as if to avoid the nest-the earth-crèche. Not that it mattered to the hunter. To it the prey had one true function, to feed the nest. The hunter swam through the earth. It erupted through the stony surface, where the rumbling hum was the loudest.

The thresher maw rose up, up, up swift as a missile. The rover spun on its multiple wheels clinging to the side of the canyon walls. The great wyrm roared spitting its acidic venom, it struck so hard, so fast, sharp and sudden. The mako was forced to use its thrusters to make the leap off ground zero of the nest.

The climber escaped the first attack; it would not escape a second. The blood rallied, it cried out. The climber spat back. The blast kicked up rock, plumbs of dust, striking close but not hitting. But climbers didn't know earth-crèche like the hunter. It pushed back into the earth, the warmth, the coolness of earth. It surrounded the hunter as it slithered beneath it.

From inside the mako the ground team watched the thresher maw submerge back into the earth like a terrestrial submarine.

"It's back down again." Tali said stating the obvious. Only rubble remained where the maw had erupted and disappeared again. For something so massive, its bulk moved with surprising grace and ease beneath the surface of the planet.

"Give it a volley." Williams ordered Nual.

The asari thumbed the trigger controls on the turrets: spitfire shots rang out on the ground where the beast had vanished. Fortunately aiming at this point wasn't an issue or the huntress would have missed her target by overshooting. Despite the G.L. holding the mako in place finding a firing solution when your perception was skewed was challenging to say the least. It took a talented gunner to overcome instinctual responses and fight the enemy as was needed. It was not unlike finding a target in the cockpit of a fighter, you ignored the horizon. It was only artifice.

The hunter shifted, it felt the vibrations of the climber's feeble attempts to attack, its venom harmless. The hunter crashed through more rock into the air of earth-above. Intent now on taking the interlopers more than just food now it had called a challenge. The ground shook once more as the great girth of the beast rose, rearing to strike out. The Climber was in range directly above its head. Goaded the hunter lashed out at the climber, its spit hitting the hard shell. It spat its tiny stingers in retaliation. It must be a hatchling for its strikes missed time and time again. One hit. The hunter roared and shook, lunging for the climber.

It jumped from its perch, instead of going down into the nest it was climbing higher out of range of venom.

The hunter's food seeking tongue lashed out in anger the prey was escaping. Mandibles flared fanning in and out, lusting to snatch the shelled climber, tear it open and eat the small meat inside. There would be no kill tonight.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEME

The Illusive Man watched behind the picture window separating the operations room from the surgical theater one storey below. Three of his specialists hovered around a tall lanky African-American commando with a buzz cut hair-do and beard. The young man had volunteered for the test procedures with promises that a large sum of credits would be granted to his family, enough for his son to go to an upscale university and make something of himself.

The Illusive Man had made the same sort of promises to six other operatives, it made for more pliable subjects, if they thought they stood on some moral high-ground. Incur favor with the minions and you own them.

"Let's do this thing," the young man said.

The lead doctor, a ginger haired woman with a limp in her left leg, took a hypo-gun from an attending nurse and injected the young man a dozen times with a viscous silver-green liquid. He remained conscious throughout; apparently pain was not something he felt. Ever cool the young commando didn't even flinch when the thirteenth needle was brought into his view. Three inches long, thick and sharp this was no needle for the arm. The physician brought it up to his temple, and without hesitation or warning punched it through the bone and into the brain. The liquid fed into the skull cavity …

….and the young man's cool resolve shattered. His eyes bulged as he began to scream, as if suffering a burning-searing pain so sharp, so strong and deep no soul had ever before experienced it. He fought the restraints as the strange solution mixed with his bloodstream flowing through his brainstem and into his nervous system.

The Illusive Man smiled as he witnessed the solution working through the subject's body it was as if the face had become CGIed as it changed in texture, colour and elasticity.

Beside the Illusive Man was the director of Cerberus's medical team, Dr. Henrico Vorschslagg. He had shoulder length platinum blonde hair slicked back into a tight pony tail. His face sallow and pinched, with a nose that seemed to have been broken at least twice. Brown eyes stared under heavy lids, and thick brows. The only unremarkable thing about the man was his average build. If not for the colour of this man's obviously dyed hair he could have easily slipped into any crowd and gone utterly unnoticed.

"They will show no fear, no remorse, that area of the frontal lobe is inert. The self-preservation instincts within the cerebral cortex have been neutralized. They will feel the same whether they ate an ice-cream cone, stepped on an ant or took a life. It wouldn't matter if that life was some little blue-skinned nun in a convent, their own child or a hardened cannibalistic serial killer." The scouse dialect betrayed his origins to be of Liverpool, England despite the Spanish-Germanic name.

The test-subjects had been preconditioned with the WNISCE, (white noise indoctrination stimulus control experimentation) leaving them open to suggestion and control. With the solution - the sheer strength, tenacity of combat would be unparalleled. Perfect ground forces to accompany Cerberus biotic Special Forces.

"The mutations?" The Illusive Man demurred.

"Minimal." The doctor answered. "We are unable to eliminate them all and still enhance the subjects. Their skin has not only thickened but hardened, not unlike the hide of a rhinoceros or a krogan for that matter. They now have the speed of a turtle-head battlemaster's adrenaline rush. Much like biotics, the new soldiers have an extremely high metabolism. My team have concocted an adrenal-based pharmaceutical supplement to bolster their needs. In fact it will aid the biotics as well, if you wish to purse that avenue."

The expression on the Illusive Man's face was difficult to read, and impossible to name. But it petrified the Director of Cerberus Medical.

"Have them prepped for deployment."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Kirrahe wasn't a happy man. During the field exercise his team had lost. Both Garrus and Wrex had warned the STG captain that Shepard was duplicitous when in combat. Do not trust what you see or hear if you face her in opposition. Kirrahe was confident in his expertise as a commanding officer of Special Tasks Groups. His expertise as an intelligence agent would give him the all the tactical advantage over the young human, even if she was a Spectre. His techniques served him well in Virmire against a rogue Spectre. Surely they would against a human.

_The krogan had said: 'There was a reason they made the Spectres. Who, they select to fill their ranks and why Shepard is one of them.'_

_Kirrahe had reminded them he had seen her in battle on Virmire. Lest they have forgotten. The other two males threw up their hands surrendering to the salarian and his foolishness in dismissing them so readily. It never occurred to the STG captain, that Shepard had commandeered one of Bosker's makos, had Tali remove and replace the GPS unit from the Spectre's mako onto the confiscated one. Nor had he suspected the pit Bosker's mako was in was a benign one whereas Shepard hovered near the one with the thresher maw. _

_"Wrex, remember Edolus." That was the only transmission, the Spectre sent after setting up the war game. _

Kirrahe groaned as he replaced his hard suit in his locker, his muscles were aching for every movement. It grated on him that he had been so easily outwitted.

_The krogan had tried to tell him of the set up Cerberus had made with the false distress call right in the pit of a thresher maw nest. So when he saw the GPS signal coming from a wrecked mako he didn't take the bait, the warning was given in the Spectre's message. He ordered Garrus to leave, suspecting an on –foot ambush near the downed rover. What he didn't suspect was to drive directly into the true thresher maw nest or the true Spectre's mako laying in wait in the lea of the cliff face upside-down like a basking sting ray in the shade of a coral reef. _

_In narrowly escaping the enraged thresher maw, Kirrahe drove directly into the path of the waiting Spectre, who had neutralized not only his mako, but in the mock battle had 'killed' the team. _

_The Spectre had opened the hatch of the M35 mako and smiled, 'I told you to remember Edolus, and yet you drove directly into the nest of a thresher maw anyway. Tsk tsk.' _

Kirrahe had overplayed his own hand, his expertise and ignored the warnings given by the members of the flagship team. When in battle Shepard was duplicitous, out-maneuvering her operatives with sleight of hand, smoke and mirrors. What Shepard allowed you to see wasn't always true and sometimes it was the truth she created and only allowed you to see a glimpse of it and your mind made up the rest. That was exactly what had happened on Chasca.

"See Dr. Chakwas or S'thasa about that shoulder, Captain." Shepard said when she rounded the corner.

"You knew I would go into that nest." The STG captain said.

"Of course. Salarians discount krogans, which was why I told Wrex to remember Edolus. He wasn't with me on that mission. Garrus was. You would have listened to a turian, what with him being in C-Sec and one of the council races. But a krogan…" Shepard paused and smirked. "…your arrogance and prejudices would have completely discounted anything he said, especially about my tactics. I counted on that. It got you and your ground team 'killed' and the tech now in the hands of the 'enemy.' It is exactly the same tactics I used against the batarian pirates and their cohorts on Elysium."

The expression on the salarian changed from irritation to one of awe and admiration. "What your people say about you is true. You are a commander who is resourceful, thoughtful, and good at seizing opportunities for combat. Of the two of us, I clearly see who is the more sagacious. I find it fascinating that in the short time we have spent together you know my every response, my every reaction and action and yet I still do not know or understand your thought processes. How is that? I trained my entire adult life to spot such nuances, details. It is what being a member of the STG means. I cannot read you, why?"

She shrugged slightly. "Presuming what I would and would not, gets those who stand opposed killed."

"And yet you did the same with me."

This time there was a mischievous smile. "And so I did." She started to turn and walk away, but not before repeating her early command. "Go see one of the docs, get that shoulder seen to, Kirrahe."

Shepard made her way to the CIC and the galaxy map. She activated the Mantano system they were currently in, pulled out of the Marroon Sea and into the spiral arms of the Milky Way. She studied it for a time, knowing she had to go to the Citadel soon. The Council was anxious to meet both Ksad Ishan and Weareth'Bol. They were also quite anxious to see for themselves the finds from Ilos. She called up the Serpent Nebula, Window and then the Citadel itself. It would be easy to confirm the flight plan and order the _Victory_ to the nearest mass relay and head for the nebula. Shepard shifted the galaxy map once more showed the spiral arms of the Milky Way, zeroed in Attican Beta Cluster further into Theseus System. Five planets in the system, one made her shudder. Feros. A planet that left permanent scars on so many people. A part of her mistrusted that the 'Old Growth' still did not linger somehow, someway. Spores perhaps waiting for the right time to sprout, perhaps all it needed to grow once more was an indeterminate incubation period.

ExoGeni had collected enough samples to create legions of thorian creepers. It would be a surprise if the corporation had not collected samples of the Old Growth itself and incited a cloning sequence. In fact she was sure it was so, but there was no proof and without proof the Council wouldn't budge. Still she had warned the Council of her suspicions. For the moment there were other concerns warranting her attention.

Shepard turned from the massive holographic display of the galaxy map to Shiala's station. One soul had suffered more than most at the clutches of the Old Growth. The nightmare existence she suffered was clearly evident in those haunted green eyes.

Feros wasn't the target this time. It was its sister planet Quana. Reading the dossier the Spectre found the atmosphere was composed of nitrogen and carbon monoxide. **The **frozen surface was rich with heavy metals, and the planet's higher than average density suggested further mineral richness in the depths. It was the reason there was a well-developed Prothean mining infrastructure dotting the planet. Their abandoned mines were still connected to dead cities by collapsed maglev lines.

Unlike the crumbling skyscrapers of Feros, Quana's ruins were reasonably intact. Unfortunately, this only made it easier for looters to strip the silent necropoli of anything valuable. That was the official report. Liara was positive there was more there than met the eye. It had to do with hidden doors behind dark energy locks.

One more planet then back to the Citadel. Besides it would be another coup if they came back with more Prothean finds in their means to defeat the Reapers. If there was a hidden vault like they found on Ilos then a detour was well worth it. Sometimes it was easier to ask forgiveness than permission. Shepard accessed the course which would send a direct link to the bridge, thus issuing the change of course to Joker.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Sitting in the pilot's chair Joker frowned slightly at the command his HUD had given him.

"What is it?" the question came from Naga'sadow who was sitting second chair.

"The Commander plotted a course to the Theseus system, to Quana."

"Why is that out of the ordinary?" The young huntress asked.

"I just figured we'd be going back to the Citadel after the mako test. I'm fairly certain the Council wanted us back."

"Perhaps they do, or perhaps our Spectre received orders we are not privy to. You are not always on shift; she could have received a private communiqué when you were off shift thus unaware of any transmissions. Of course speculation is a fool's game. We are given orders and we obey them without questioning the motives of our commanding officer."

"Yeah? I still think it's weird to suddenly change course. What's on Quana anyway but frozen rocks and dead cities?"

"We found the beings of light on a planet of ice, who is to say what discoveries we will make on Quana?" the asari responded. "Is it customary for human junior officers to always question their commanding officer as you constantly do with the Spectre?"

"No. Actually it can piss them off big time and can get you tossed in the brig for insubordination."

"Then why do so with the Spectre?" Naga'sadow's tone was almost demanding, her pale blue eyes narrowing in suspicion. In her mind she heard the warming of Matron Morwen speaking of enemies within as well as without.

Joker's youthful face pulled into a frown. "I wasn't… I mean I wasn't really questioning her, I only wonder why the sudden changes, is all. I know the science team came up with a list of planets we have to visit: there was an itinerary. Now she's gone off that itinerary and spontaneously going to these planets. I guess it's a Spectre thing."

Once more Naga'sadow's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Perhaps as a Spectre she does not wish to be so easily tracked. There are those who do not wish for her to succeed. Cerberus for example." The asari said, dropping the temperature on the bridge a few degrees.

"That makes perfect sense, lay a false trail. Bad guys go one direction, we another. Being spontaneous makes us hard to track."

"I believe that is the point, is it not?"

_'We were all disciples of Matriarch Benezia now we follow her daughter's wife. We will not disrespect our stations, duty or our oaths of service…The waves speak rumors of it. It is foolish to think one of them had not sent a sleeper agent on board… As we were vigilant with Matriarch Benezia T'Soni so shall we be with Samantha Shepard.' _ The words of Matron Morwen echoed loudly in the maiden's mind. 'In Matriarch Benezia's legacy, I will commit myself to service of the Spectre.' Her own words vibrated in her heart.

The young huntress also recalled words her former matriarch once told her disciples. '_A noble nature attracts dark forces, those susceptible to the shadow world. There are those who follow this path of nobility and those who follow her. There are those who stand against the tide of the course of the river and attempt to alter the course of that darkness. This is their calling, to stand against it—to calm the raging river of malevolence but not destroy it. Sometimes it comes upon a huntress to protect that nobility who attracts the dark forces, especially when she sees not that she is in need of that protection._'

To commit herself to this oath, Naga'sadow vowed to have her off-day flight rotation on the bridge. Vigilance had to be maintained against those who would stand against the Spectre. The only thing that didn't fit into the huntress's mind was why someone like male called Joker seemingly devoted to his Commander, would betray her?

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

It seemed to Ash that the missions were becoming almost formulaic. Find the most uninhabitable planet and scrounge it for Prothean caches, allies or other 'trinkets' that would help the fight against the Reapers.

Two days ago it was testing the mako with the new G.L., now they were on route to a new frozen planet in the hopes its secrets would now be revealed.

Of course there was something on the young marine's mind that was far from formulaic.

The trinity.

Ash lay with her arms folded under her head cushioning it as she stared up at the ceiling. Her mind going over and over the images, thoughts and emotions Liara had given to her during the mind meld.

Everything she wanted, or nearly wanted was there in her grasp, all she had to do was to reach out and snatch it and it was hers. The love of her life…hers. Not completely hers, though, she would have to share with Liara. Or rather it was Liara willing to share, Sam willing to share. Both wanting to. So what was so wrong?

It wasn't taboo for Liara's people, nor for Sam. But Ash…for her there was the taboo not only of her faith, but her own moral code. You don't interfere with a perfect marriage; you don't take someone else's wife as a lover.

"But I won't be a lover." Ash argued to herself. "I'm not the bit on the side." She sighed. "In effect I will be married to both of them, just as they will to me." Another sigh. "Married. That's what this will be a marriage. Not a fling…a marriage or it won't work. God forgive me but I am so much trouble. I love her so much… Just tell me what the hell I'm supposed to do!"

A growling cry of frustration, Ash removed the pillow from under her head and covered her face with it. Right about now she could use a few shots of the skippers twelve-year old bourbon. What she got instead was a bleep.

"Come in." a muffled sound.

Another bleep.

Ash groaned, tossed the pillow that had still covered her face to the floor and stood up to answer the door.

"Yes?" it was a snap.

Abby who was standing outside her sister's door took a shocked step back before pressing forward. "Good to see you too sis."

Ash would be the first to admit she loved and adored her sisters. There wasn't anything she wouldn't do for any of them. She would also be the first to admit sometimes they annoyed the hell out of her.

"Sorry. What do you need?"

"Nothing, just come to see you before you go on shift. Despite the fact we're on the same ship it's like we keep passing each other in the night."

"Duty calls you know that."

"Which is why, I was hoping to catch you, maybe take lunch together?" the younger Williams smiled the exact same smile Ashley on occasion sported herself.

"Not hungry." Ash admitted. "I've got a few things I have to work through. They never tell you how much paper work an XO actually has to do."

"Okay, that's an excuse. What eating you?"

Williams studied her sister for a long moment, before drawing breath and daring to broach the subject that was indeed eating away at her. "Before I say anything, you have to swear never to utter another word about this to anyone, not Mom, not the sisters, no one. Not even me, unless I bring it up."

"Ash you're spooking me."

"Swear it"

Abby held up her pinky offering it to her sister, "Okay I swear."

They hooked pinkies in an age old tradition of siblings. It was then Ash revealed everything concerning the offered trinity. Liara coming to her, the talk, and the mind meld even hinting at the nightmares she was allowed to see.

After Ashley had finished speaking Abby who by now was sitting on the edge of the bed sat staring at the floor.

"Well? Say something damn it!" The elder sister demanded hotly.

"Ash …what can I say?"

"Should I go for it?"

"Do you want to?"

"Yes! God yes!"

"But you're not. I can see why. It feels like cheating. But apparently it's not. I knew the asari were promiscuous, I didn't think they were in marriage as well."

"They aren't."

"But they breed with anyone, any gender."

"If you bothered to ask thick-head you'd know their mating isn't sexual its mind melds." Ash all but snapped. "Asari are naturally sensual. If I hear you call Liara a slut, I'll deck you so hard Mom will feel it."

"Okay - sheesh. I'm sorry. I only meant…I mean you hear things….they say…." Abby grew silent each word she uttered was making her sister's expression grow darker and more angry. "You have a thing for Liara as well I take it." she said at last.

"I - I care for her." Ashley calmed down and took a place on the bed beside her sister. "I may not be in love with her, but yes…she is important to me."

"Okay so maybe this isn't exactly what our faith says about marriage, but think back even the ancient Hebrews had multiple wives. From the Hebrews came the Jews and from the Jews the Christians came. So …it's not unheard of. And there other religions from Earth that have multiple wives, so what if all concerned are women?"

"So you have no problem with this?" Ash mumbled.

"It's not up to me big sis. If you think the three of you can be happy…then go for it."

"It's not just happiness, involved. There are careers involved. The Top Brass won't like this."

"But Shepard isn't in the Alliance Military anymore."

"But I am. They can transfer me and the Skipper can't argue the point."

"She's a Spectre she can demand your presence is necessary. And…and there is another option…."

"Are you suggesting…suggesting I give up my commission?"

"It's a thought." Abby looked at the woebegone expression on her sister's face.

"I can't do that."

"No, I don't suppose you can." Abby put an arm around the older Williams. "It's really not fair they put you in this position. Offering what you want even knowing there could be a high price to pay. Do you think they thought of it?"

"The Skipper would have." Came another mumbled answer. "Of course marginally we can claim cultural-faith immunity. Being the daughter of a highly respected matriarch, even deceased gives Liara some heavy clout. And the fact her sire parent is a highly respected consort adds to that clout, it will grant us some freedom. Sam's a Spectre so she isn't in the line of fire for the Brass though the Council may have something to say about it. I know they've give her guff about Liara. If we accepted this Trinity they might go high and to the right."

"So the Skipper and Miss Prothean Expert aren't so free and clear either."

"You don't get to call them that. To you it's Commander and Dr. T'Soni."

"My my… possessive aren't we."

There was a frown.

Abby tossed her hands up in surrender. "Sorry."

The frown remained.

"Really, Ash I'm sorry. Though it shows how much you are linked to them. Maybe you three are already a trinity. All that remains is that you consummate it. Ash, you have to know the lower deck scuttlebutt already says the three of you are in a ménage-a-troi, why not bite the bullet and go for it?"

Ash was silent for a moment. She knew a thing or two about the speed at which lower deck scuttlebutt traveled. She didn't doubt there were rumors about the skipper, Liara and herself already Joined. Hell there were probably some that said Shiala was also involved in someway.

"What do you think Mom will say?" Ashley said at last.

"Ah…um…" the other woman shrugged. "Hard to say. I think she would probably tell you follow your heart. I don't know what Dad would say. You were always the closest to him."

"He'd tell me to 'study it at every angle, tread with care and if it feels right jump in with both feet and don't let anything stop you honey'."

"Yeah he would. I do know what Lynn would say." Abby grinned.

"You lucky bitch?"

Both giggled.

"So what are you going to do?"

A heavy sign escaped Ashley's lips. "I don't know yet. I think I need to study a few more angles, before I make any decisions."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

A soft moan of sheer pleasure escaped purple lips as honey-toned fingers pressed down with the right amount of pressure against the small of her back. Liara lay on her belly, her arms folded under a pillow on which she was resting her head. Samantha kneeled above her naked thighs meticulously massaged every muscle in Liara's back, her legs and the soles of her feet, easing the tension in every pressure point.

The Spectre leaned over placing a tender kiss between her wife's shoulder blades. No words had been exchanged in thought or voice, only touches conveyed the deep love each held for the other.

This was far from tedious routine, but there wasn't a day when they were together that Samantha hadn't taken time either at night or before her duty shift to give her beloved a full body massage. Dr. Chakwas (confirmed by Aleena) had prescribed ointments made by the asari to ease a woman's changing body during her pregnancy. Not only did it ease tender muscles and tension points but it was known to reduce if not completely eradicate stretch marks.

Samantha was as meticulous in caring for her beloved Liara as any soldier cared for their weapons and armor. An odd comparison for some but when you're born to a uniform, born to be a Spectre it wasn't all that strange, considering. In the privacy of their quarters, Samantha lavished attention on her Liara and their unborn daughter. The massage mixed with liberal amounts of trailing kisses against her flesh tended to leave Liara feeling boneless and not a bit sleepy.

"She's developing beautifully." Sam softly whispered into her beloved's ear. After the course was set to their new destination, the two had attended to Liara's weekly check-up. Three months pregnant there was now a clear indication of the fetus's body. The tiny crest had what Samantha termed a cute sweep to it. While it was true asari were pregnant for twelve months, many of the stages were equal to that of a human's development. Anyone looking at either Liara or Shiala could easily tell both women were pregnant.

Liara reached to the bedside table and took a small rectangle holo-print into her hands, involuntarily her lips curled into a smile. Sam leaned over pressing her nude body against the still lithe blue frame, so she might peer over Liara's shoulder to gaze the photo for herself. A century past such pictures of a fetus would have been monochrome blue and grainy. While still monochrome, holo-pics of developing fetuses were far from grainy. This shot was well defined and the child growing within clearly visible. By this time the expecting mothers had a growing photo album of such snapshots. No doubt pulled out at their daughter's expense and possible embarrassment and mothers' pride when she became a teenager. It was after all a tradition amongst human families.

"Yes she is." Liara beamed. She subtly shifted her body telling her wife she wanted to turn over. Sam lifted up slightly but did not fully remove herself from her position. Once Liara was on her back, Sam lowed herself easily back down, the weight of her body still resting on her bent knees. "Sometimes I find myself in awe she is there. We have created life. However accidentally it might have been at the time… she is there, a part of us."

The Spectre's own ruby lips pulled into a full blown grin. "The best part of us." Once more Sam shifted her body weight this time so she could plant a tender kiss on the swell of Liara's abdomen. She gasped as she felt something flutter suddenly against her cheek "She moved!"

"She is starting to become active." Liara nodded. "It feels so strange, at first I didn't know what to make of it. It does not happen often. Dr. Chakwas said it will become more frequent the further Sparrow develops."

The Spectre chuckled. "I still think we need to find a more suitable name for our daughter, Angel Eyes."

Liara giggled. "A name will come to us; we have seven more months to discover it, my love. Perhaps she will let us know what her name is to be."

"Li," Samantha stated as she now moved so she was lying beside her wife. "Before I allow you on that mako…."

"I know you want to make sure it is safe. I understand." Liara took the Spectre's hand and placed it firmly over the swell of her belly. "But if there are no indications of sentient life down there as I suspect, I will join the ground team when they first touch down. I will stay within the mako until you have your marines swarm the place and affirm we are alone. But I want to be there if I can for first touch down. Samantha, I have been to this place before. During that time I have never encountered either raiders or any other salvage teams."

"You stay on the mako until the all clear? Your word?"

'_My word, beloved.'_ Liara sent the words into the Spectre's mind.

For a moment they cuddled close, softly caressing well explored flesh. Each enjoying the touch in the giving and the taking. "_Melethril," _Liara used the Asarian word for lover. The words that followed were also in her mother tongue. "Im nifred an Shiala. Tulo rinno na he' sad tat ceri na hen. Ha her presto saer."

{I worry for Shiala coming back to this place, what it will do to her. It will affect her bitterly)

Samantha nodded her head. Her fingers tracing the sweeping curves of Liara's crest and folds along her neck. "Im nifred an hen sui eithel. Nnin bereth. Min tat awartho her na baul. Hen nin nos. Hen nin nas. Im berio sabo."

(I worry for her as well, my wife. We will not abandon her to this torment. She is family. She is of my crew. I protect what is mine.)

"Even if they do not need a protector?" Liara returned to galactic standard.

"Especially then." Samantha answered. "I have found that is when they need it the most." She kissed her beloved.

*Commander, ETA to Quana twenty-three minutes.* Joker's voice came over the ship's inner-comm system. It was only way to reach them as being naked there was no way to speak to them via their uniform-radios.

"Understood, Shepard out."

"Duty calls, beloved." Liara teased.

"Indeed, it does." Samantha rolled off the bed and headed for the head.

"Not getting dressed?" Liara smirked a little.

"I can't show up for duty with the scent of our lovemaking upon me, now can I?"

Liara might have wished for more time so she might join her beloved in the shower. Of course it would lead to more distractions that duty would not allow. By the time the languid asari rolled out of bed, Samantha was walking out of their ensuite a with a towel rubbing the excess water from her hair. In less than a minute she was fully garbed.

Silently, Liara took up a comb and began to groom her beloved's ebony locks into a semblance of order. It was one of the very few sentimentally fawning luxuries they afforded each other. At first Sam had balked at the idea but relented in understanding that such a practice was utterly foreign to a people whose only body hair was very fine eyebrows and eyelashes. Indulging this want was such a very small thing, Samantha found herself unable to say no. After all Liara relented to Samantha's need to give the asari full body massages every night.

"I had Ash redesign a hardsuit for both you and Shiala. It's a larger size than you typically wear; it won't be that much heavier than what you're used to. Don't wear it, you don't go." Sam said as Liara gently yet swiftly raked the comb through the wet hair.

"I understand. I have no problem with it. So will I be wearing the heavy stuff such as our Ashley wears?"

"Close, I had her fix the cuirass with heavy shielding. Ash had to use a size-up from what you typically wear. As I said before they don't make maternity hardsuits, so for now you have to look a little bulky."

"I will adapt, and I shall not complain about it, do not fear." A quick peck on the neck indicated the task of grooming had finished. Shepard now looked like the commanding officer she was.

"I'm going to hold you that that." Sam said leaning in and placing a final kiss on her wife's purple lips before heading out.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

Shepard approached Shiala now standing before the galaxy map, unmoving. The Spectre had seen others with similar stance, expressions of face and posture. It was the remembrance of pain. Some called it the face of PTSD. Worn, drawn and filled with a deepening despair. Shiala had been sporting that expression for the past two days since they plotted course to Quana.

"You need not go down." Shepard said as she approached the matron.

"You believe I am uncertain?" the purple skinned asari didn't turn to the new comer or avert her emerald eyes from the galaxy map.

By now the Spectre was standing directly at her side, close enough so the words they shared could only be heard by the two of them.

"As anyone entering the vicinity of where their rape took place, yes. It is natural. Shiala - _my mentor_, I can not possibly fathom the pain you suffered before. You don't need to be here. I need someone to command the ship when the flagship team is groundside. Williams will come down with me."

Only now did the matron turned her emerald gaze upon the Spectre. "You do not doubt my capacity." It was not a question.

"No. Never. But I know pain when I see it - when I _feel i_t. We are in the same system as of Faros. You suffered greatly here. When we entered this system you feel it still, what the thorian and Saren did to you." In a more hushed an apologetic tone, the human added, "What I was forced to do to stop your clones."

The matron did not deny it. "You said you felt my pain." Shiala's green eyes held the same expression as they had on Faros: wonder, fear and confusion.

"Yes." Shepard nodded. "Maybe it has something do with the transferring of the cipher. I don't know. But there are times I can feel your emotions as strongly as those of Liara."

It was evidently clear that the matron had long ago considered this. There was a connection to Shepard and herself, as it was with all those touched by the cipher. Being touched by nightmare, by darkness, it was a despair that tied the souls deeper than the bone. Its wake left deep scars upon the heart.

"The cipher." Shiala said the word slowly; it was a sharp barbed word. To some it was a mundane word meaning only to understand the images in the beacons. There were those that knew better, that knew in that understanding came the branding of nightmares and memories not of their own. Indoctrination, the cipher, the many 'deaths' Shiala felt at the hands of her 'savior,' the tainting touch of the thorian, tormented the matron deeper than even Shepard's experience. There were times not even Aleena's comforting embrace could ease such pains. The matron wondered if Liara came across such difficulties when confronting the Spectre's terrors. Pushing such dangerous thoughts to the back of her mind, Benezia's former Second, forced her attention on the mission that now lay before them.

"If you are taking Williams with you, one can assume our Head of Sciences will also be accompanying you?"

"Trying to keep her confined on the ship will be counterproductive." Shepard said earnestly. "Because of the nature of the way Ksad Ishan will be traveling, I'm only taking those that know of his true form: S'thasa, Garrus, and Tali. I'm ordering two other ground-team patrols out, Williams will see to the details. I also want a flight team deployed to do regular sweeps. Keep the Victory in a low orbit and cloaked. ExoGeni is still prowling Faros, I don't want them interfering. If they do attempt anything explain it to them that Spectres are the dominion of the Council and no other."

"It will be done, Commander." The matron tilted her head slightly, an equivalent to a human military salute.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Ashley Williams a consummate perfectionist when it came to her duty had not only gone over the readiness of the makos twice but thrice. The safety of her skipper was paramount to her, not simply because it was her duty to cover her CO's six, or that Sam was going to be a mother, or even because the younger marine cared for her skipper more than she should but because it was a sacred trust.

Williams was the XO, technically it should be her and not the Commander heading the groundside teams, it was after all regulations. But the Commander was a Spectre and Alliance military regulations need not apply. Still trust and duty commanded the young woman in all her actions, it had since the day, she became a part of the crew of the Normandy, as it has since she enlisted.

Knowing they were heading for yet another frozen planet, Williams stockpiled the makos with previsions necessary for an arctic environment. Yes she could have delegated the task to another, but Williams would have none of it. After all the final check was done by Shepard herself, not because she didn't trust her XO to handle the details but out of habit when she held the position. Williams smirked to herself in the knowledge that when Shepard did check everything would be perfect, as did she did the task herself.

"Gear, guns and munitions in order, Williams?" Shepard called out as she approached the mako. She was already battle-ready in her red and black Colossus issue armor, HMW assault rifle and shotgun locked on her back and pistol on her hip.

"Aye, aye Skipper, we're locked and loaded-ready for deployment. Short of deliberately hitting an avalanche dead-on we're fully prepped for anything that planet can hurl at us."

The older woman clapped a hand on her XO's shoulder giving her approval. "Carry on then." She said and then did something that surprised the lieutenant; she turned and headed in the direction of the flight crew who were to run escort on the drop-site.

"Ma'am?"

The Spectre, merely gave a hint of a shrug, "As you said, we're ready for deployment, I don't need to double check this is so."

Williams smiled proudly. "Yes, Ma'am."

The younger marine watched her skipper interact with the young asari pilot, Naga'sadow. It was interesting to watch how Shepard adapted to her crew's military background; she barked orders to the turians, growling at them with antiquated words just as Gunnery Sergeant Ellison did to new cadets. To the asari she was very tactile, to the humans she as a little of both. With the salarians she cold and practically dismissive as if she were speaking to a VI and thus beneath her, just as the salarians were of most other species.

Just as Shepard had when Williams was first assigned to the Normandy and thus the flagship ground team, she assured Naga'sadow she as ready for the position she was given-if the huntress wasn't she wouldn't be given the task. Naga'sadow and her crew had to protect the ground team, thus they would protect the ground team.

In response Naga'sadow saluted her Commander with a human salute, turned her back and addressed her squad. "You heard our Commander, troopers we have our orders. Mount up, we deploy now."

Human, asari, turian rushed the raptors and vipers, climbed into the cockpits, and readied their launch. The hanger-deck became a cacophony of gear, radio and weapons checks as each pilot made roll-call.

Williams was making her own roll-call. It was to her to assign the teams to the makos. The first team chosen was the one she lead on Ilos: the turian female Galador, one of the STG salarians by the name of Kex, an asari huntress, Handir and a human marine Moya Pingilton and talking her place as squad leader was Wrex. She knew them to be trustworthy in their dedication to duty. And leaving Wrex on the ship was not worth the bellyache bitching he'd give if he was left behind. Best take the old hound with them, lest he whine he didn't get to play. Of course if he complained about the cold, Williams thought she could always tell him is nice and warm on the ship, and Garrus wouldn't mind having all the 'fun' by himself.

The second team had also been on Ilos, Urwen, Omeglin, and Ian Carr: two turians and a human. Idril of the STG who served with them on Ilos would be forced to remain on the ship as they were taking one of the M35's, which only had room for three.

Williams drew her attention back to the team assembling near the flagship team's M36, leading them was not Shepard, but Liara. At the Prothean expert's side was the veiled form of Ksad Ishan. Even disguised and reassurances the geth body was a shell only; it still unnerved the young marine to see him so freely walking near her friend. It didn't help matters that it looked like a brute of a turian, either. Without ceremony or word Ksad Ishan, folded his hidden geth form and slid easily, if not compactly into the belly-box of the mako.

"Ready to go Miss Prothean Expert?" Williams said in a way of greeting.

"Indeed I am. I have been to this planet before - numerous times in fact, nearly forty-five years ago." Liara said storing her kit-bag in the belly box near Ksad Ishan. "This time however I believe it will be more productive than previous years."

"Damn, sometimes I forget just how old really you are."

The asari smiled warmly. "You also seem to forget, I am quite young to my own people."

"What are you talking about? You've got my adopted niece in there," Ashley gestured to the other woman's belly, the swell that was the child carefully hidden and protected under a Colossus hardsuit. "You are my people."

The smile retained on the blue face. Liara reached out and touched the proud woman on the shoulder, oddly enough in the exact same spot where the Spectre had touched her. "I feel the same, _Muinthel_. And thank you for the new suit."

"Hey I have to protect what's mine." Ash said unknowingly repeating the words Samantha had uttered to her earlier.

Liara chuckled softly. "I see it is a commonality you share with your Skipper, _Muinthel_. Perhaps I shall simply have to surrender to it, to otherwise is futile."

Ash beamed at the comparison and became slightly skittish about the closeness that was ensuing between her and Miss Prothean Expert. "So…um about this place when you were here before. I have to ask have you never thought to use those dark-energy sconces?"

"Actually I have, but they did not work. I knew then I was missing something. Something so very close I could not see it for the details."

"So how are we going to be more productive than your previous ventures?"

"Because forty-five years ago I didn't have a Prothean AI or a Council Spectre with me. Both of which have unique ways of looking at things. And because of visions from the beacons and the cipher our Spectre can think as a Prothean."

"But you have the cipher now and you seen the visions."

Liara smiled, "Yes, but we both know Samantha thinks of ways out of situations that is uniquely… hers. Perhaps she will see this puzzle in a very different light, I did not see."

"And if she doesn't, I guess the clanker will come into play." Williams looked to the folded up machine. No matter how you sliced it, it still gave her the creeps. All she could think of was her lost unit the 212, and all those civilians back on Eden Prime slaughtered by the geth.

The young marine watched Liara climb into the mako, a moment later she was followed by the skipper. Rooted on the spot, Williams hadn't moved until she heard Shepard call out: "You joining us, Williams or you staying behind?"

Now that, Ash thought was a loaded question.

Join them? Or remain behind? Perhaps her dilemma might be best answered by seeking advice from Shakespeare.

A heartbeat later Williams was onboard the mako readying for atmo.


	27. Clandestine Objectives

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter 27: Clandestine Objectives

Five hours before hitting atmo on Quana, in the private quarters of Matron Shiala.

_"She has a powerful presence. There is little we do not believe in when she speaks with conviction. They follow her because she is a leader. Their kind always need such. You can see what they see, hear their voice when they speak to her. Notice the change when they speak to one of us. I speak with a passion that goes unnoticed. My voice will never move others. They obey her because she is a leader and perhaps something more. Have you noticed what is happening? Have you felt it in them?" Shiala said to her mate._

_ "Their behavior is changing." Aleena solemnly agreed with a conviction of knowledge. "They worship her greatly. They obey her. They are echoes of her actions, of her will. Watch them carefully. See their patterns and recognize the strength in it. Influence can be a weapon, and she will touch many others before our journey is done." _

_"She has done this without indoctrination. I know that influence, that lack of will. I know what it is to pound upon the glass as your body commits atrocities as you feel drained and you believe the will of the other. This is different." The matron said her voice a hushed whisper. _

_Aleena might have asked how such a thing was different. But she need not do so. She understood. With their many Joinings, the bounty hunter knew precisely how different Samantha Shepard was to the torture Shiala had suffered at the hands of the Thorian, Saren and Sovereign. Like Saren however, Shepard was compelling, persuasive and charismatic. The Spectre was the sort of person that follows you through a revolving door and comes out first. _

_Aleena touched the small of her lover's back. She knew the memories were surfacing again. 'The old Growth…those that scurry, those that dig, the cold ones. Those that tended the next cycle. Air pushed as lies.' _

_"Shiala, you are free." Aleena pulled the woman into her embrace, holding her tightly to her chest. "Cling to what is before you, my love for you, your love for me, your daughter growing within you… our mission, the path before us is real. Our Spectre is real. The thorian… you are freed from it, it holds you no longer. Sovereign can not touch you now, the Prothean memories are not your memories let them go." Aleena pressed her forehead to the other matron. "And if you find you can not then share them with me fully. I will share this darkness of the Old Growth has left you in, the scars Sovereign has marked you with, the pain Saren left you with. If you wish it_, _if you allow it I will become arda to your daughter." _

_"Aleena - you don't know what you commit yourself to."_

_"I do my love. The Joinings have allowed me to know. I go into this open minded, with an open soul and heart. All you have to do is to open your hands and accept it. Your students: Liara and Samantha, even the Spectre's young Trusted share the burden together, let us also."_

_Shiala stared at the woman before her. A woman she knew to have changed her entire appearance, her whole being for a mission. She had committed herself to the goal, to her hunt. Though her mission parameters had changed the devotion to it had not. There was no question in Shiala's mind the bounty hunter was using this as a tactic to more permanently fix herself into the lives of Shepard and Liara and thus move without suspicion so she might strike. Aleena had become a guardian. _

_"I am no slip of maiden that needs a protector." Shiala said at last._

_"No, you are not. But you can not do this alone and you do not need to. Shepard does not need a protector either and yet Liara and to a lesser extent LT. Williams serve as her protectors. You can never persuade them to do otherwise."_

_"Nor can I persuade you to do otherwise."_

_"It will be futile." the bounty hunter admitted earnestly._

_"As I am learning. It has been some time since I've allowed myself to rely on another as closely as I have come to rely on you. The last person I had such a closeness with was Matriarch Benezia. Allowing someone so close again … is difficult."_

_"I understand. But to suffer needlessly is a step in the wrong direction of wisdom." Aleena leaned in nuzzling the delicate folds of amethyst flesh at Shiala's neck, her emerald fingers traced the fine bone structure of her lover's jaw. _

_Shiala closed her eyes as she leaned into the touch. "Then perhaps I should embrace wisdom."_

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Shiala watched on the holo-emitter in the CIC what was transpiring outside the ship. The fighter squadrons controlled by Naga'sadow were patrolling as ordered by their Commander. So far there was no contact with the ExoGeni security forces on Faros, but there was no guarantee it would remain thus.

Between moments in the stillness of the ship's activity the matron's mind wandered back to time spent with the woman she had come to love. Yes their relationship had been swift in the making, perhaps too swift for matrons. Such impetuousness was more to the nature of restless maidens but it was as real and solid as what Shepard had with Liara. Shiala smiled softly to herself; then again both Shepard and Liara were indeed maidens.

It was almost scandalous Liara had chosen as a mate someone so very young. Of course humans were a short lived species. Of course at thirty maidens become curious about intimacy. At seventy they become very libidinous. For Liara to have waited until she was past her first century to engage in Joining was rare. But then again Liara had no talent for interacting with other people, so it wasn't such a shock she hadn't engaged in the joys of Joining before.

Shiala herself indulged in playful Joinings when she was near the same age as Shepard herself, young yes but not horrifically so. At least she had taken another thirty year old huntress to her bed. She had answered the call of her body's desires. Now as a matron, her soul yearned for more than simple pleasures, she wanted something far more solid. At first she thought she might have found it with her lady Benezia. They had shared Joinings, affections, thoughts and aspirations. Shiala knew she would never have the matriarch's heart. No one would ever hold the position that was once held by Liara's dame.

When Saren traded Shiala to the thorian, Benezia put up no resistance, no argument for another to be chosen in her stead. Flesh had been fairly given. Shiala had hesitated but Saren's words poured into her ears, making her believe this was the only way to find the conduit.

The Old Growth understood the visions of the Protheans. It had lived on Faros with them, it had been a part of their lives. It had seen the coming of the Reapers, of those like Sovereign. Saren had to know, he had to understand the visions. All the disciples of Benezia T'Soni believed this was so. Benezia approached Shiala, her hand softly, sensually caressing Shiala's face. The touch of lips upon her temple, the scent of the matriarch's flesh filling Shiala's nostrils flared desire and willingness in younger asari. The touch had always been a prelude to their Joinings. Not a word emanated from the elder asari's once purple now black lips, there needn't be. Shiala always conceded to her Lady's desires. Her Lady's desires were to obey Saren. Someone had to act as a translator, the memories had to be absorbed and transferred. Shiala took the memories, gave them to Saren and then suddenly the Spectre turned away.

"The asari matron is yours." Saren turned from the Old Growth, his geth soldiers following him, but the matriarch had hesitated, Shiala seen it. Saren had pulled Benezia to his side, held the matron's head between his hands uttered words too soft for anyone else to hear. Benezia gave a single nod of her head.

The matriarch looked at Shiala, their eyes met, no words were offered. Benezia watched as the Old Growth's tendrils took hold of Shiala, its mucus enveloping her, cascading down her body. Pain racked her body, lashing at her spine, hitting every nerve-ending until all she could feel was the searing agony of the poisons engulfing her bloodstream. Shiala screamed out, but no sound came forth. She remembered looking up and seeing her matriarch weep. It was the last Shiala saw of her beloved matriarch. The last thing she heard was Saren giving orders to his geth troopers to destroy the Old Growth leave no sign of its existence. Shepard must not gain the cipher, as she had the visions. She was the enemy.

And it was this enemy that freed Shiala from the thorian when she killed it. Free from indoctrination but not the scars, nightmares or memories. Shiala believed she would never be truly whole again. Strange how things change. Never whole but now neither was she wholly broken.

Now there was a chance the call in the matron's soul answered by the most unlikely of persons… a mercenary sent to hunt down her lost Lady's only daughter. Aleena transcended the role of huntress and became protector. She was now not only Liara's guardian but Shiala's as well.

The matron looked out one of the portholes at the blue-white planet below. It appeared that Aleena wasn't the only one to have self-appointed themselves as her guardian. Shepard also hovered close, which was evidently clear from her words only hours before _'…there are times I can feel your emotions as strongly as those of Liara's…_' Shiala knew there was connection between herself and the Spectre. Not as deep a bond as that shared between Shepard and Liara, but it was there nonetheless. Shiala had always felt it in the background noise of her mind, always just there as if on the edge of hearing, but she chose not to pay heed to it.

The connection… perhaps it could be honed, sharpened into something more useful than the simple sharing of nightmares and darkness. Goddess willing. If there was a safe way to test this connection - it was something to explore.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

It was as if the _Victory_ seeded the surface of the frozen planet with makos. Three of them landed within ten klicks of each other. Two of them drove off in opposite directions, leaving the third to loiter near the drop zone. It navigated deeper into the ruins of Quana, intent on reaching its very heart, to the remains of a well-developed Prothean mining infrastructure that dotted the planet's frozen surface.

Just as the scans and Liara's reports indicated, Quana's ruins were reasonably intact unlike the crumbling skyscrapers of Feros. The abandoned mines connected the dead cities by collapsed maglev lines, just as they had on Feros. Of course this only made it easier for looters to strip the silent necropoli of anything valuable, including the rich heavy metal deposits, such as cobalt. The frozen world's nitrogen and carbon monoxide atmosphere was clearly not a deterrent to the looters, explorers, ExoGeni agents or young Prothean archeologists. Like Faros the buildings arched into towering structures reaching into the sky. While husks of a former existence they were not hollowed out cavities of what was. There weren't just a few tall buildings. They were in a massive city, as big, as sprawling, as _modern _as anything on a central planet. Although covered in blankets of snow, ice and frozen fog.

Shepard gazed at the structural surroundings, her mind raced to a dozen scenarios, of how an enemy could get the jump on them. ExoGeni security, geth not at least Cerberus, would all become a deterrent to the mission. She'd been careful not to expose her own doubts; she'd projected an image of absolute confidence and composure. She had absolute trust in her team, in what they were doing, what she didn't trust was collection of enemies she seemed to be acquiring. This would be a perfect place for an ambush. The Spectre's team was an intelligent bunch, not even in her excitement would Liara drop her guard. Williams certainly wouldn't. They knew to look out for enemy insurgence. Hopefully such vigilance was only precautionary and not necessity.

"You know with these structures so intact it is a wonder Quana hasn't been marked for colonization." Garrus piped up from his gunners post.

"Other than a crazy-ass volus and crime-lords running slaves and red sand who wants to live on a frozen toxic planet?" Williams scoffed.

"What of Novaria?" asked Liara. "Many corporations have made the planet their base of operations, not to mention their employees making it their home."

"Yeah, okay. But whoever said those corporate types are sane? Williams shot back jovially.

Even during their banter, Shepard knew her people were still at battle ready and fully alert. Besides she had been wondering the same thing. Toxicity and hazard levels hadn't been a deterrent for smugglers, scavengers, pirates, organized crime bosses or corporations to make settlements in these kinds of places. She fully expected that sort of trouble here.

"Exactly. Anyone on this planet digging in for the long haul won't be firing on all thrusters. They'll be paranoid and trigger happy, just like on Novaria, Faros and Klencory." Shepard said. "Keep your eyes wide open. I highly doubt we're alone."

There was a series of aye Commanders, and understoods. Wrex and Urwen were already on the prowl. It was their primary mission to keep well alert for such dangers as it was with the air support. Such things need not become a distraction for the flagship team's primary objective.

"Liara, work your magic." The Spectre ordered as she punched commands into the amber holographic comm-kiosk and handed the mako over to her Head of Sciences to pilot. "You know where we need to go."

"Aye Commander." Liara took hold of the wheel and skillfully negotiated the M36 across the ice coated sky-ramp. Forty-five years wasn't a significant enough time for things to have changed upon the surface despite the incursions of the odd raiding parties. She veered the rover past ice formations, broken and sometimes missing areas of the sky ramp with the confidence and ease of someone who had lived all their lives upon the planet.

Liara threw the wheel down hard causing the mako to steer directly towards a line of buildings. The only problem was the very large gap in the road between that destination and the ground-team.

"Ah Liara … you do know the sky-ramp is swiftly running out of road?" Ashley questioned nervously.

"You must trust me." The asari said.

"So that five and a half meter gap right before us isn't an issue?" the marine pressed

"I've done this before, Lieutenant."

"Just checking." Ash gave a look to her CO that said 'Stop her?'

"Trust her. She knows what she's doing." Shepard said trying to sound confident. But even she looked to her bondmate with a speculative glance. "Right?"

"As you say … I have an idea."

Garrus and Tali shared expressions that stated perhaps now was a very good time to offer prayers up to their individual deities. Aleena was of all them the most amused. Her emerald eyes intently watching the young maiden before her, as would a mentor.

The ramp fell away; Liara activated the thrusters that would typically carry a mako across crevasses, drops and other near impossible terrain. Jumping nearly six meters laterally was another technical matter. Not even the M-EE accelerator or thrusters made such long jumps a practical maneuver.

It was at this moment, Liara chose to close her eyes, her hands left the wheel and holographic interface and touched the mako's frame. Everything within emanated a cyan glow. Liara was using her biotics to lift and propel the rover across the gap!

Eight wheels bounced twice before coming to a skidding halt.

"Well done, _gwen. _ I suspected this was but a trivial task." Aleena complemented using the honorific word for young-apprentice. Considering Liara was barely more than a century old it was an appropriate salutation.

All others save for the Spectre and of course Aleena stared at Liara. The young woman merely gave a shrug of the shoulders. As Aleena said it was a trivial task.

"Is this so different from when Samantha and I used biotics to control that geth dropship? As I told you then, what is mass? I also recall telling you the very idea of impossibility is only a construct of the mind. Size has no relevance for a huntress trained to use her biotics effectively."

"Yes. I recall that. I also remember you telling me biotics do not recognize big or small, heavy or light, hard or easy, fast or slow. It is a matter of inner strength of will." Garrus commented.

"So you did that before? Hurl your rover across that big arse hole in the road?" Ash questioned. "Pretty smooth operating, Miss Prothean Expert."

"I simply gave the extra boost it needed to make the jump, nothing more. The geth dropship was a little more trying. Now we shall continue our mission, with your permission, Commander."

"Let's roll." The Spectre smiled as she gave the order.

'_I do believe I'm been a bad influence on you, Angel Eyes. You've become exceedingly daring as time goes on.'_ Samantha sent to her bondmate through their bond.

'_While it is true you have been instrumental in how I now consider approaching a problematic situation, I would not go as far as to say that it was a negative one_.' The asari returned. '_Besides, that little jump I made before, long before I met you, my dearest one. I may be what you call a bookworm, but I am far from 'stuffy'."_

That actually got the Spectre to chuckle out-loud, which in turn gained her very curious looks from the others of the crew.

"No fair sharing telepathic private jokes, Skipper." Williams chided.

It was if forty-five years had not passed at all for Liara. She turned into the narrow icy streets with a strange almost surreal familiarity. They passed buildings that had a very distinct resemblance to those re-appropriated by ExoGeni on Faros.

"Hey, isn't that where we need to go?" Tali pointed to the recognizable derelict skyscraper.

"One might think so, but I believe the temple is a better location source to uncover any hidden cache. I explored these ruins extensively for two years before I vacated. The temple was the only building within the parameters of my excavations where I found sconce mechanisms. And though I was unable to unlock them at the time, I believe this time we will have better odds of doing so.

The Protheans it seemed like many sentient races had been repetitious in the construction of their buildings when they found a suitable functional architectural design. Though form and function were interlinked the Protheans did not stray far from the familiar designs. As the skyscrapers resembled those from other Prothean colonies such as Faros, the temple was nearly exact to the one the crew of _Victory_ had uncovered on Ilos.

Where the overgrowth of vegetation had completely overtaken the buildings and temples on Ilos, ice had overwhelmed the constructs on Quana. And just as on Ilos the temple rose nearly twenty-five meters into the sky, another monument of carved rock and stone. It had the same single entrance, the same broad archway at the peak of an enormous staircase. And just as it was on Ilos it had been carved into the outside wall of the temple itself. The surface of the ruin was barely visible from the banks of snow and ice.

The rover pulled to a halt just outside the grand doors to the temple. With practiced routine five crewmembers disembarked, weapons pulled as they began scouting the surrounding area for signs of life, or potential hostiles. One however remained behind, forbidden to leave the mako until the all-clear was given.

The remaining five made a one kilometer sweep before they returned to the temple satisfied for the moment they were secure. Williams and Tali opened the belly box containing both Ksad Ishan and the remote drones. Considering the hostile environment and possible threat of enemies the deployment of such drones followed regulations. Twelve drones flew in multiple directions, spiraling out from the mako.

"We'll make base camp within the temple." Shepard said. "It will provide ample shelter and cover. Once inside I want proximity sensors set up, a regular watch set and two drones sweeping the interior perimeter. Since you don't need sleep Ksad Ishan, you will keep a constant second watch. After all that was what you were named: Vigil." She turned towards her bondmate, asking, "I'm guessing if this place is identical, we'll find those same sorts of dark energy locks we saw on the Ilos temple."

"Yes and no. The locks here were damaged by biotic looters." Liara answered. "They had been attempting to open the doors by various deconstructive means. Do you recall what I told you about powering such locks with too little or too much dark energy?"

"Yes." The Spectre said. "You said the sconces redirect the energy back into the lock and unbind it. They have to be lit simultaneously with a carefully timed and balanced flow of power. Too much energy will burn out the sconces and you have to wait forty-nine hours for them to cool down. Too little power the sconces will send a biotic repulsive backlash into you."

"Yes. I surmised that the looters experienced both such occurrences numerous times and grew impatient. They tried other means of getting into the temple."

"How? Not even the geth could break in via the front door." Garrus said.

"They performed what we've come to know as 'Pulling a Shepard'." Liara said with a smile on her lips.

The Spectre crossed her arms, her eyebrow arched questioningly. "Pulling a Shepard?"

"Um … I can explain, Commander." Williams interjected. "Some of the crew have come to phrase unorthodox and improvised solutions to strange and nearly impossible tasks as …."

"Pulling a Shepard." Sam finished for her XO, rolling her eyes. "Great. I've become a colloquialism."

Liara touched her bondmate's arm. "Tis better than becoming a curse, is it not?"

"Marginally." The other woman puffed out a breath of air. "Okay so what did they do?"

"They used mining lasers and burrowed from beneath the earth up into the foundation of the temple and into the sub-basement."

"You discovered their access point forty-five years ago. By now that would have been frozen over." Aleena pointed out.

"Yes. However the door remains. While the looters destroyed the sconces and there is structural damage to the threshold we can still gain access via the traditional method." Liara said. "The front door. With our replacement sconces it should not pose a difficulty to open."

"We've got a plan, let's make it happen, people." Shepard ordered.

Tali sprinted to the rover with the knowledge that if they were to implement the plan they would need the sconces Liara had packed away in one of the overhead storage compartments. The holographic control panel was easily summoned by an OMNI–tool, a few commands and the overhead compartment sprung open. Tali stood on her tip-toes, reached in and retrieved a small bag that contained several sconces taken from Ilos. Slinging the bag over her shoulder she returned to her Commander's side.

"I have the sconces." She declared, lifting the bag up so the Spectre might see it.

Shepard nodded her approval. "Thanks, Tali."

As with the entrance of the temple on Ilos, the doors here had the same concentric circles engraved upon the surface, though was difficult to make out for the layer of ice covering it. It was like looking at a frozen waterfall.

Without saying a word both Liara and Shepard approached the door, their bodies glowing the familiar cyan of biotic energy. Aleena joined them a beat later, her own body simmering in dark energy. She knew what the other two intended to do. She was surprised to discover that a human biotic could possess such control over their powers. She had never heard of a non-asari to have such talents. On the other hand this was Shepard. The Spectre had a soul-bond with young T'Soni as well as the genetic memory of the Protheans. The bounty hunter had already surmised that the bio-chemistry of Shepard had been altered. What she did not know and perhaps it was safe to say very few did, to what extent that alteration was.

Ash, Tali and Garrus stood back and watched. All three had been present during Matriarch Benezia's funeral and knew from that experience that asari had the ability to change temperature on a micro-cellular level due to their unique nervous system. During the funeral the sacred water and wine poured over Benezia's body had been frozen by Liara and five priestesses. Ash had seen Liara use a similar method to heat the air around the Skipper when she had been plucked out of the ocean on Thessia after the Great Hunt. It was this latter method the biotics were now using to melt the ice encasing the door. What astounded the three watching was that their Commander had that power as well. As with Aleena they had never heard of, or knew any other species to have such abilities. It had to be, the three reasoned, a direct result of the gestalt.

This ability to change temperature extended only a scant few millimetres away from their bodies, and it was never lasting, a few minutes at most. It was however long enough to melt the frozen barrier.

"Thank you Dr. S'thasa." Liara addressed Aleena. "I believe we can handle the rest."

"Of course." The matron bowed her head in respect as she took a step back.

Tali took this as her cue to open the satchel she was still holding over her shoulder, retrieved the sconces and handed one each to Shepard and Liara. They in turn inserted the fixtures into the brackets on either side of the door. Once locked into place the two took a step back so they might begin the next part of their plan.

As on Ilos, Liara effortlessly summoned the dark energy within her to cause an orb of energy to emanate in her left hand. Shepard did precisely the same thing with her right hand. Once more with perfect synchronicity they sent the orbs of energy into the sconces.

Instantaneously the sconces flared to life engulfed in a now familiar purple-black flame. As expected the engraved concentric circles glowed with that same swirling purple-black energy before dimming to a slight luminescent purple humming-glow.

There was no click this time anticlimactic or otherwise.

Everyone looked at everyone else for answers, though none were forthcoming.

"Ooo-kay so what happened?" Williams asked.

"Unknown." Liara answered. She activated her own OMNI-tool and began scanning the door, sconces and energy fluctuations. She frowned. "Everything is as it should be. I do not understand it."

Tali and Garrus both summoned their OMNI-tools and began thorough scans of the immediate area, to see if they could solve the riddle of the door.

"Perhaps the looters did more damage than we first suspected." Garrus said.

Williams chuckled. "As our good Commander says, 'I have an idea'."

The others watched as the young woman approached the door and gave it a good swift shoulder bump. The door clicked and swung open. She turned, throwing a proud smirk over her shoulder for so easily solving the problem, which stumped: Miss Prothean Expert, the Skipper and the two techs. Apparently not even the four hundred year old matron or Prothean AI had a solution to the dilemma.

"When I was a kid, one of the houses we lived in had a trick backdoor. It always stuck during the winter. But mom was insistent we use it so we didn't track snow throughout the house with our boots. The wood would swell and sometimes freeze shut. We always had to smack it open with a shoulder bump." Williams shrugged. "I figured might be the same here."

It was difficult to see through the full face plate of the hardsuit's helmet but Shepard was grinning ear to ear. "Williams, you have a knack for solving problems at their simplest levels. Good job."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Running silent, Commander." Joker announced. "Unless they get an actual eyeful they won't see us. Though with our fighters out there isn't it kind of moot"

Moments ago the ship's sensors picked up comm chatter coming from between Feros, and a small frigate registered to ExoGeni. The _Victory_ may have stealth systems but the fighters did not. Stellar dust could only mask so much in the cold vacuum of space. It was inevitable the fighters would set off the proximity monitors on orbiting comm buoys and ExoGeni satellites of the Zhu's Hope colony.

Shiala stationed in the CIC looking over the rest of the crew used her suit radio. "All hands: action stations. Lieutenant Monroe as soon as they come about prepare to broadside. Gunners, open all turrets let them see the weaponry but do not fire. Remind them this is a _Council_ ship that carries a Spectre. They will stand down and return to port."

"Aye, aye Commander," Joker quickly answered the order.

"And if they do not comply?" Captain Kirrahe asked. He had taken one of the command consoles at the CIC watching the holographic projection of the scene unfolding around them. "Giving them a warning is folly. Your enemy should never be warned you are going to fire on them, strike hard…"

"I am the acting XO, Kirrahe." Shiala admonished the salarian. "Do try to remember that. And if we gun down a colonial vessel how do you think this will play out with our newest allies? The Alliance will not react well to friendly fire. They will see the number of our turrets and they will stand down. The citizens of Zhu's Hope have had enough problems; they do not need it compounded by needless acts of violence. A demonstration of our power is sufficient."

"Perhaps," Kirrahe said acidly. "But you have forgotten Shepard's standing orders. She does not want our mission to be known."

"Just how much attraction do you think we will gain if yet another Spectre starts to shed innocent blood? We will not resort to violence, instead as you like to so often spout: we will hold the line."

The STG captain had to admit the woman was correct. He already knew Shepard was having more than a few problems back on the Citadel. Some including a member of the Council believed her mind was unbalanced because of her insistence of the Reapers existence. The media, Alliance Military and the Council had insisted that Sovereign was a geth super dreadnought If war was indeed on the horizon it was with the geth not the mythical demons-ships from dark space. Kirrahe himself wasn't totally positive this wasn't the case. Perhaps the Council was right, if there was a Reaper threat it died with Sovereign. It was clear to him the beacons had scrambled both Spectres' minds.

He had yet to receive any clandestine orders from the Council, but his joining up with Shepard was not purely by his choice. His standing orders: watch that Shepard does not become as Saren. If she did he was to report back the Council, at which point another Spectre would be sent to neutralize her. Many eyes were upon the first human Spectre, more than perhaps she realized.

Of her insistence on gathering a means to fight the Reapers, they said nothing. If it meant all that she collected could be used instead to fight a war with the true enemy - the geth, they had sanctioned the mission, with the augmentation she was to locate any geth enclave and obliterate it.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Shepard tossed a look over her shoulder addressing Liara as she did so. "You know the drill."

The full face helmet hid the disfavor clearly evident on the asari's face but she knew she could brook no argument if she wanted to remain groundside. Until the all clear was given Liara was stuck within the mako. Better to sit around waiting half day than be sent back to the _Victory,_ which the Commander was well within her rights to order if she so chose.

One might have expected the interior of the temple to be as its twin on Ilos. A sanctuary cum warehouse, a place converted with ceiling high stock shelves filled to capacity with crates marked 'item—various.' This was not the case.

They found instead what one typical finds reserved for a place of worship. High arching buttresses, large rounded vaults, windows of stained glass long since broken and scavenged though shards of colored glass could still be made out. Whatever theological subject they might have depicted from sacred scriptures the Protheans once held could only be guessed at. Though an educated one if asked of Liara or Ksad Ishan, after all one had dedicated the majority of her life studying the subject and the other had been programmed by the same.

It had been rather difficult to discern the true architecture in the Ilos temple as it was cluttered with shelves and stock. The Quana temple revealed the interior had a rather rounded if not domed architecture, giving the place the distinct appearance of Earth's more Eastern religions. From the central knave were four aisles leading to the left and right almost like spokes of a broken wheel.

This was once a place of affluence and learning. Hopefully there was still something to learn within its ancient shadows. Most prevalent beyond all of this were the banks of snow within the temple, massive pylons of ice, rising up and descending as stalactites and stalagmites within a cave, or the maw of some massive dragon, the icicles as its fangs.

"Okay, this is something I didn't expect." Williams breathed as she surveyed the area. The HUD display told her it was marginally warmer within the temple than out, as there was no wind chill to drop the ambient temperature further into the negatives. She looked up into the ceiling an action shared by the rest of team.

Shepard made a noise half way between amusement and irritation. "Nothing like trying to open the front door when the roof has a great fracking hole in it."

"Tell me about it, we could just have rappelled in and saved us the trouble of all that fancy lock-picking." The lieutenant gibed

"An egress from that route would be unwise." Ksad Ishan commented not in jest. For what it was. "The structure is unsound at best. And we had no way to ascertain routes of escape or …"

"Can it, clanker." Williams ordered. "We weren't serious."

The turian holographic face contorted into an expression of confusion and curiousity.

"If you are going to be a part of this crew you'll adapt to the humans concept of humor." Garrus advised. He caught the twitching mandibles and took pity on his fellow crew-mate.

It was hard being new guy and object of Williams's mistrust. The VI had a long road ahead of it, if it wanted to earn it. In part Garrus was still earning it. Not that he blamed the young human, giving the history of her familiar legacy. The only non-human Williams trusted without hesitation was Dr. T'Soni. Of course that was a hard won trust; one apparently given openly and fully _only _after the maiden had saved the Spectre's life.

He pushed aside the small rebellious distraction of Wrex's words of a mating between the three of them, a thought that would definitely gain him a heady reproach from the Spectre. Garrus concentrated all thought on his patrol of the temple. So far like the rest of the squad they came up with zilch: no life-signs and only low energy signatures indicative of a powered down generator.

"Negative contact," Shepard announced through the radio in her helmet "First level secured, continue with the sweep and clear. I want the perimeter locked down before we set up base camp."

*I can see to that, Commander.* Liara said through the comm channel. *I'll deploy the remaining drones to keep the area secure.*

"Roger that. Liara, once that is finished rejoin the squad. As for the rest, move out!"

Under the boot-heel were the onomatopoeiaic scarrinching sounds of snow and click-clacking of marble tiles. Both combined made for a strange hollow echo within the halls of the temple. A sound quickly overshadowed by the rumble of a rover's engines nearing the massive great doors. Vibrations from its engines and wheels caused a tiny avalanche from the roof to cascade down into the alcoves. Icicles fell and shattered into great chucks that splintered into thousands of tiny shards that slid across the floor.

Garrus approached Williams, nudging her with his arm. "The 'clanker' _did_ say the roof wasn't entirely stable."

"Hum. I wonder how much of the roof is real and how much of it is ice," she answered back.

"I vote we don't find out." Tali said giving a dubious look to the blue-white dome far above their heads.

Shepard looked up at the domed ceiling. "It was only loose snow and ice that fell. Even if the roof is by a higher percentage more ice than stone it's not going to melt or shatter if it hasn't by now. Keep focused on the mission, people. "

Snow loosened from the earlier micro-avalanche rained down sporadically sparkling in shafts of light. Shepard's mind couldn't help but stray to the beings of light. In the shafts of sunlight on Klencory there were billions of billions of microscopic lifeforms. Was it the same here? Were there those like Weareth'Bol and its people in the shafts of light, or was the dust just dust? Perhaps more consciously than she might in the past the Spectre gave the light-beam a wide birth. It was not that strange perhaps to see others do likewise. Perhaps they didn't relish the idea of marching through a swarm of tiny people any more than Shepard. Or perhaps they were simply playing follow-the-leader.

Liara, having launched the remaining two drones on patrol setting, collected the perimeter beacons from the mako's belly-box and prepared to secure their base camp. Her purple lips curled into a slip of a smile as she thought how strangely her life had changed in the past year. How much of her own thinking had evolved into a more military mid-set. She almost surprised herself when she heard a giggle erupted from her own lips. Matron Sheila would be proud for the adaptive nature. An asari commando was not something Liara had ever envisioned herself in becoming but here she was following Alliance Military protocols without so much as a second thought. It wasn't just the precautions of setting up proximity alarms that was military way of doing things. You don't explore isolated worlds alone without taking the necessary precautions to ensure one's safety.

It was everything from word usage to deploying of drones and following the orders of a commanding officer and the mindset. True Liara had thirty years before she set off on her own to learn the ways of a commando, but that was a far cry from actively engaging in that lifestyle. Now however it felt as if Liara had always been living like this. It was an after-effect of the bond between her and her beloved, the maiden knew. Something left over from the gestalt.

Finished with her duties the young archeologist quickly fell in with the rest of the ground team. The others parted swiftly as she approached so she might be at her bondmate's left side. The right already occupied by Ashley as was her privilege as the Spectre's Trusted. Liara knew since she was a child Shiala had always been at her mother's right hand. Until Faros had parted them.

"Sooo...Liara," Ash started. "How much has changed in forty-five years?"

"There seems to be more snow." The asari said dryly, though the corners of her lips had curled upwards teasingly.

The others in the group chuckled, the loudest was Williams.

"I suspect your true question is: do I remember where we need to go? Given a moment to collect my bearings, I believe I can." She placed a long fingered hand upon the solid stone bricks. "Keep your eyes open for a small corridor off the main aisle. It will be nearly hidden for the walls are so closely spaced together; thus making the threshold nearly invisible by the optical illusion. In fact it is best to trust your hands, and hardsuit computers, your eyes will lie to you."

It had been years since she had tread these frozen halls it was true. And there had been many halls since then and now, some frozen others as barren as the arid worlds she stalked to find scraps of knowledge of the Protheans. She led them through smooth stoned corridors, her stride purposeful despite the unsure undertones that she knew where she was going. The cloisters were crowded with many tall, fluted marble columns like stone trees. Its floor brushed on occasion with swirling-misted snow flurries when the wind from the partially open ceiling fluted down just right.

"Are you sure of your path?" Aleena asked from behind Liara. They had been wandering the left corridors for nearly an hour. Alcoves, niches and open chambers all very familiar but none of them were the ones Liara was hunting for. They searched diligently for Liara's hidden door, but so far came up empty without any hint of where it was not even false leads.

"Maybe it's the left we should have taken." suggested Tali. "The aisles off the nave and chapels all look very much similar, especially when snow-banks cover things up. You haven't been here for four and a half decades you probably just got turned around."

"Perhaps," Liara admitted. "I was so positive it was to the right wing however."

"Liara, Williams and I will continue the search the right, Garrus you, Tali, Dr. S'thasa and Ksad Ishan take the left. Keep in regular radio contact. Find anything; do not proceed further until we're reunited."

"As you order, Shepard," Garrus titled his head. "You heard her, let's move."

Aleena came up to the turian, pointing to the two corridors leading off the nave "As there are two aisles on the right may I suggest we further split our group to cover more ground?"

"Prudent." The C-Sec officer nodded in agreement. "You and Tali, I and Ksad Ishan." The second team split as decided, with the asari and quarian taking the first aisle leaving the second to Garrus and the Prothean AI.

Liara placed her hand upon the Spectre's shoulder gaining her attention. "We also have a secondary corridor to explore. Perhaps what we seek lies there."

"One way to find out," Shepard commented. Leaning close she placed a gentling hand upon the small of her bondmate's' back even though she would not physically feel it though the hardsuit. '_Angel Eyes, don't worry that we didn't find it right away or that you got a little turned around. I'm not disappointed you didn't find it right off the bat, so stop berating yourself_.'

'_How did you know_…?'Liara snorted chiding herself. '_Of course our bond_.'

'_No. I know because I know you. You place so many burdens upon your shoulders that you don't have to. We'll find it, so stop pressuring yourself. Besides it isn't good for the baby._'

The archeologist smiled at that. '_No. it isn't._' Subconsciously her hand went to her belly. She closed her eyes briefly, feeling the tiny spark of life growing within her. '_Sparrow. Tell me, Samantha we will stop the Reapers. Stop Cerberus.'_

"I swear it." Samantha said aloud. "I will find a way."

"Now you know why I place such burdens upon my shoulders. Why I persist so." Liara said.

Williams learned as the rest of the flagship ground team that conversations between Liara and Shepard were often only half heard. They had by grown accustomed to it and had long since stopped questioning it.

Silence hung between them in the comfortable working mode of companions. Liara took the lead in the search, with Shepard and Williams flanking her each searching either side of the walls for the illusionary break. Their hardsuit onboard computers made the hunt easier as it scanned and analyzed the layout of the structure and mapped it out before them.

An hour passed and still no joy from any of the teams. Liara was growing more and more impatient. It was ridiculous she couldn't find the chamber she was looking for. She had found it before, relatively easily in fact. So why not now?

She tried to visualize when she was here forty-five years ago. There were banks of snow then as well, icicles hung from the ceiling, the same numbing cold clinging everlastingly in the air.

Liara recalled wondering in awe at the structure she discovered. She was sixty-one, wandering the galaxy on her own, on a pilgrimage to find the Protheans (much to her mother's great displeasure.). She wanted to …needed to understand what had happened to them. Quana was turning out to be a wondrous find, far better than Faros. Discovering how the doors worked had been a tricky, not to mention painful learning experience. Liara walked the snaking corridors, trailing her hand along the walls as if to touch the past. Her hand slipped…but how there was wall there? She was looking directly at it. Her eyes were lying to her. She would never have discovered it if she hadn't entertained her childish whim and traced the surface of the stone with her fingertips. She knew she couldn't trust her eyes. She had done everything she had in the past, but still the hidden alcove remained elusive.

"Maybe it's like when you put something in a safe place, then forget where that safe place is." Williams offered.

"I haven't forgotten! I know perfectly well where it is, and it isn't here!" Liara snapped. She closed her eyes, and sighed. "I'm sorry Ashley, you did not deserve that."

"No problem." The young marine waved off the flash of anger coming from the archeologist.

*We found it!* Tali's voice came over the radio. *It was hidden just like you said it was.*

"It was on the left after all." Liara said "I was so very sure it was on the right."

Shepard pointed to the aisle Tali and Aleena had taken. "It was the right-handed one they took. In way it was the right side …just on the left." The Spectre frowned. "That didn't' sound as nearly as stupid when I said it my head." She admitted.

Liara smiled as she touched her helmeted forehead to that of her bondmate's with a metallic clank. "I understand your meaning. Come we have much to do." Her next words were whispers. "I wish to be off this frozen planet."

The other two women chose not to offer comment, sometimes it was best to keep silent around a pregnant woman who was far more than irritated, cold and a touch disgruntled.

Liara was not mistaken when she believed the entrance to the hidden alcove was to the right: it was the right most aisles on the left side and it was the right side of the corridor that the illusionary wall broke open.

For all their trouble in locating the hidden alcove it was in a word: unremarkable. One might have thought it only a nook for storage of relics - a ten foot square hole in the wall. There were four holes where sconces once belonged, but that was the only thing of note. Tali who still had the bag she had collected from the mako, opened it up, withdrew the replacements and once more handed them to her Commander. Just as they had with the grand doors outside, the sconces were set into place.

Powering them up was the next step, and perhaps one of the easier tasks. For the next objective was what waylaid Liara all those years ago. To demonstrate her dilemma the asari tapped one of the now purple-flamed sconces causing a most unique reaction. The torch hummed.

"None of the others did that!" Shepard exclaimed.

"I have never encountered anything similar in all of my research." admitted Liara.

"Combination locks were common means to concealing the inner sanctuaries." Ksad Ishan commented.

"What's in there that they wanted secured?" Williams asked.

The AI answered the marines question with one of its own. "What do most sentients keep in the holiest of holies in their own temples?"

"If you want the truth, I never thought of the Protheans of being all that religious." Williams shrugged. "I suppose they believed in some sort of higher power or powers. Like you said most sentients have some kind of faith at sometime in their existence."

Liara hesitated. The Council had declared places like the planet Armeni with their crypts to a long lost race called the zeioph to be sacrosanct. According to Council law all grave sites were considered such. Despite her archeologist's curiosity Liara could not in good conscious break that law, or her own beliefs.

"Explain it anyway." Shepard ordered. Whether she felt Liara's hesitation to open the sanctuary or not was moot. This was the Spectre in full command which meant if whatever lay beyond those locks and hidden walls could be used in the battle against the Reapers, she would use it, regardless of law or belief.

"From my records that are still intact, I can relate only that they contained archives of philosophy and the Chants of Enlightenment, and quite possibly relics and icons. More than this I can not say, my files are too degraded. Nor can I extrapolate from the found data files your crew recovered as they do not contain further details on that specific subject. They do however contain some recoverable material on the Chants of Enlightenment, if you desire a recitation."

"This place is sacrosanct?" Liara asked the AI, ignoring its offer to recite Prothean Holy Scripture. In all her time she had spent studying, researching and uncovering secrets of the Protheans, Liara had never before had to disregard the law or her faith in her pursuit of that knowledge. Not even on Ilos: either time. The dead there had not deliberately entombed. Though a grave site now it wasn't an intended crypt. There was no trespass. But this…

Shepard turned to Liara, took a breath and spoke as a commanding officer to her subordinate. "You can't be an archeologist and not tread on someone's tomb or holy place sometime in your career. You don't get it both ways, Liara. If I have to make it an order I will. Find a way in. The beacons gave warnings of the Reapers and gave us a way to stop Sovereign. If there is anything like that in there, I want it."

"I understand, Commander," came a soft answer. "I will find the way."

Shepard only nodded her head as a form of acknowledgement as she would any other member of her crew. It was a line of authority both Spectre and Prothean expert understood and respected. It was a line not for wives but for the chain of command.

"Ksad Ishan, do you know that combination? When I was here before I had thought to have solved this but, I could not open the door. In fact am ashamed to admit I could not even discover the door these sconces open. I spent weeks trying to uncover it."

Shepard looked at the sconces then to her bondmate-and become absolutely stymied. Liara was incredibly intelligent, the foremost expert on Prothean technology, and this sconce-puzzle had stopped her? How was that possible?

"How?" Sam asked the question aloud. "There can only be twenty-four possible permutations with the harmonic notes. Right? Four multiplied by three times two times one leaves you with a fractal of four which equals twenty-four."

"Unless you account for how the sconces are lit, combine that with the fractal of four and it alters the number of possible of permutations, significantly." Liara said. "Believe me, Samantha during those weeks I was here previously, I have tried every possible permutation! The one I discovered that had any amount of success however limited, was to ignite them simultaneously and have the sconces harmonized at once. Still there was no door to open as there was on Ilos. I know I am missing something. I hope that either Ksad Ishan or you Samantha may see something I could not or can not. I believe the cipher may allow us to see something I missed forty-five years ago."

It was decided the best course of action was for Liara to go through everything she had done during her first visit. Shepard stood back leaning against the adjacent wall watching her bondmate in motion. The others stood back as well, after all what could they do but get in the way?

Each of the twenty-four harmonic permutations was attempted; there was only one that had any true reaction. Just as Liara had explained. It was the simplest of compositions: the highest octaves to the lowest. Four notes sang out as one voice. Purple–black light filled the corridor as if a sudden flush of oxygen hitting an open flame.

Everyone excluding Ksad Ishan jumped at the sudden flare of illumination. Martial training had most of them going on the defensive. Instinct drove them into action. They sprang away from the walls, drawing their weapons. When nothing happened save for the corridor becoming brighter, the handful of warriors stood down.

Under the full face helm it was difficult to see the slightly sheepish expression on the asari's face. "It has been a while." She reminded the others. "I have forgotten just how bright the sconces became."

Scans of the omni tools and onboard computers relayed no anomalies indicative of a concealed door. This was the problem Liara had admitted to having in the past.

"Perhaps the door is in one of the other aisles?" Tali offered.

"I thought of that but I found nothing." Liara said, her voice taking a tone of frustration and defeat.

"I suppose you sent a biotic pulse down the corridors as well?" Shepard asked. "If everything else hiding in the place responds to element zero perhaps it's just waiting to get hit."

The Prothean expert sighed and nodded her head. "I exhausted those possibilities as well."

"Oh." Was all the Spectre had to say. She returned to her previous post by the back wall and leaned against the surface, in one of her habitual poses of relaxation. Her arms folded over her chest, her mind worried over the conundrum before them. She watched the glowing black-light of the sconces as if their source of illumination could utter a hint, a clue as the location of the hidden door. "There has to be a door right?"

"Most assuredly." Ksad Ishan replied. "There has never been any other purpose for the machination."

"Turning them on was highest to lowest octave, but what if after they are on there is a secondary perhaps even a tertiary combination. Try the lowest note to the highest."

Liara looked exasperated. She had tried that forty-five years ago as well. When she turned to explain this to her bondmate, Samantha gave her a look: _just humor me._ It was an expression married couples knew how to interpret and it was best to comply or engage in a rather pointless argument.

"Very well." The asari said, and did just that.

Shepard felt something shift rapidly behind her one moment she was leaning against the wall the next….

…giving a rather undignified yelp as she tumbled ass over head down a flight of stairs with such momentum it took her down a second flight. She landed hard against stone, the air whooshing from her lungs, into the hardsuit's re-breather.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"By the Goddess!" Liara rushed to the wall where Shepard had vanished. Touching it her hand went right through it as if it were naught but a hologram. At that moment several things happened at once.

"Shepard!" Williams hit her radio. "Shepard come in! Do you read me?" Gaining no answer, the lieutenant spun on her heel, disengaged her rifle and pointed it at Ksad Ishan. "What the fuck happened to her? I know you know. Spill it."

The drone backed up nearly tripping onto Garrus in an attempt to retreat. "This is not my doing." It protested its innocence.

Liara ignored the commotion concentrating on locating her lover though other means. Their bond flared briefly: pain… can't breathe - joy when air came back - more irritating pain.

Tali approached the wall, fascinated she started scanning with her omni tool, the readings relaying back to her intrigued the young quarian. "Harmonic resonance combined with dark energy, this is truly remarkable technology. Think of the possibilities!" her engineering mind whirling at FTL speeds.

"I think it best to find our Commander before the music stops." Aleena said.

That got Ashley's attention. "Wait. What happens if Shepard tries to come back through and it does stop?"

"I suspect the reinitializing of solid matter would break apart the Spectre's body." The bounty hunter answered.

"I can fix that." Tali confidently said. "All I have to do is reconfigure the mechanism so that that the harmonic resonation is at a continuous flow." Skills born out of necessity on the Flotilla gave most quarians innate skills of tech knowledge. Even by those exacting standards, Tali was a prodigy. Working swiftly she soon reconfigured the element-zero locks to needed specifications of a constantly looping harmony.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMMEME

"Well this is just great." Shepard grumbled, rolling her shoulders and head, trying to get feeling back into her joints. The stinging-numbness of a stair fall was never a pleasant sensation, especially if you happened to be heavily armed. Granted the hardsuit took most of the damage but not all. Automatically she tapped the side of her helmet activating her radio. "This is Shepard, anyone reading this? Liara? Williams?" all she received was white noise. "Perfect." The snarky side of the Spectre shining through her more typical poise. "Just where the hell am I?

'_Samantha? Are you harmed? Are you all right?'_ Liara's voice had a slight edge of nervous worry.

'_I'm fine_." Shepard answered.

_'Is that I'm fine after being stuck with a knowledge-dump by a beacon, or are truly fine_?' There was no mistaking the slight scolding if not concerned tone of a bondmate.

'_A few bumps and bruises. Nothing serious. I took a tumble down a few flights of stairs. I think I am in some sort of sub-level. Must be directly below you_.'

'_We will be with you momentarily_.'

'_Wait. Someone with biotics will have to remain behind to reopen that door_…'

'_You need not concern yourself, Tali has seen to it. The door will remain open as long as it is necessary.'_

_'All right, but watch that first step, there are no guard railings and the steps are extremely steep and narrow.'_ Shepard looked up at the zigzagging stairwell; it reminded her of the steps one finds in the towers of medieval castles or cathedrals. She was never prone to vertigo given by heights, but something about those sorts of stairs invoked involuntary dizziness.

'_We shall be mindful.'_

As promised moments later the remainder of the party came through the holographic wall, and with great care navigated the steps.

"I think I know why you couldn't find the door all those years ago, love." Samantha teased. "You didn't have an accident prone Spectre with you to fall though the wall."

Liara's lips curled into a smile. "Indeed not." She touched her helmeted forehead to her beloved's in a brief show of affection.

Then all at once the Spectre was back in command. "Move out!"

The foyer of the stairwell opened up into yet another long corridor, this however differed from the pillared aisles in many respects. Forty beautifully carved, lifelike gray stone statues of throned figures flanked both right and left of the companions. Twenty on each side stretched down the hall as far as their eyes could see. There were as the statues found on Ilos, proud, staring, regal and cloaked so that if it had a sex it was not noticeable. Long tapered four fingered hands rested upon stone armrests as monarchs at ease in their finery and wisdom.

"I didn't ask when we on Ilos either time, but who are these people?" Ashley asked pointing towards the colossal statues lining the corridor. "Are they heroes? Gods?"

"They are Paragons." The answer came from Ksad Ishan. "In their time there were as living ancestors."

"Paragons?" asked Tali. The young quarian approached one of the statues. Her eyes drawn as were the others to the faces of a long dead race.

Much of the features on the great statues of Ilos had been marred by time, erosion and foliage. Here however the faces were fully discernable. Those who had been on Ilos had dismissed this feature for the overgrowth of virulent fauna rather than see it for that it was. To most it was a ghastly sight. Liara was intrigued. These statues however had recognizable mouths. They had four eyes but unlike the bartarians their eyes were not stacked one top of the other, but rather parallel. There was no escaping the resemblance of insects.

"From my studies I've learned that any Prothean who has made an achievement of significance can be named Paragon." Liara said as if she were tour guide or perhaps curator of an art museum in her explanations of the statues before them.

"Sort like the saints on Earth." Ashley reasoned. "So did they get their statues posthumously or during their lifetime?"

"During." Liara said in her most tutoring voice. "To become a Paragon is to be recognized as Ksad Ishan a living ancestor. Your words are considered ineffable and you are likened unto a deity. Your families, those you choose to ascend with you become the founders of a new line of nobility. Indeed every noble house of the Protheans, in their time could trace its line back to a founding Paragon. From what I understand it was a rare thing however. Paragons are uplifted even beyond the royal imperial throne." Liara gazed appreciatively up to the grand statues as only as a disciple of history could. "Statues of the Paragons are found throughout their empire, though no where so prominently as in the halls of heroes in their temples."

"So how did they become a Paragon?" Garrus asked. His three fingered hand touching his own mouth, imagining how one could speak with the tentacle like protrusions.

"The Great Assembly voted on uplifting a named soul as a Paragon. The real Ksad Ishan was such a named Paragon." said the long dead scientist's name sake. "Had not the utter desolation of his race came to fruition, the House Ksad would have prospered."

"I wonder just how prosperous he would have been with a House without the unessential personnel." Williams shot back.

"Williams, stand down." Shepard ordered (despite the fact she wondered the same.).

"Aye, aye Ma'am." The young marine quickly reined in her anger, or at least its outward expression. Inwardly she hated the AI for preserving itself over the lives of living beings.

The Spectre need not explain her reasons, nor did she feel she had too. They both knew that there were some decisions that had to be made and sometimes those decisions led to death. It wasn't what was wanted, but circumstances beyond ones control called for. Until the younger marine had to make _that_ call, she would never understand.

Even if the Prothean AI was incapable of emotion, incapable of grief or remorse over the needed call, Shepard wasn't. The AI's decision was the logical one. It had to preserve the knowledge in its memory banks concerning the conduit, the keepers and the trap of the Citadel over the lives of those kept in its care. It was the right and only decision. Elysium, Virmire …the Citadel yes the Spectre knew well about such decisions. Decisions that were crucial and needed to be made despite the fact the Spectre hated having to make them. She prayed she would be put to death the day that decision ever became easy, or easily disregarded. If it happened it was the day she stopped being alive and became a machine of war.

She said nothing as her determined steps took her past the Hall of Heroes into a vast chamber beyond. Only here did her marching gait stop. Abruptly those that followed her ended their trek just as swiftly, all stunned for what their eyes beheld. The sanctuary of the Protheans held in the center several hovering orbs smaller versions of the one on Eletania.

All who entered knew at once that beyond these walls lay the seat of the Prothean Empire. How humble it was now, collapsed into the dust of its former magnificence. As she neared the chamber Shepard could sense the quintessential energy of beings fifty millennia ago. This sanctuary had been clearly built during the pinnacle of the Prothean Empire. The Spectre knew that no one other than a Prothean eye had seen or touched this place.

"A vinculum," said Ksad Ishan. "A remarkable find indeed! This is most fortuitous. Commander, you need to open it. Approach as you had the beacons, it should respond favorably to you."

Her mind flashed to the visions given to her by the beacons. Utter desolation. The once proud Protheans wiped out from the galaxy like excrement from a boot. She knew the claws that had wrought this deed! The act of genocide is unconscionable. The flash of memory assaulted her again almost debilitatingly so until she felt Liara's hand upon the small of her back.

'_I am here_.' The soft purr entered her mind, settling her unsettled soul. '_That will not be our fate.'_

As Shepard neared the stronghold's inner sanctum a strange sensation crept over her - an indescribable feeling of displacement, a sense of vertigo as reality itself appeared to warp and bend around her. This disturbance seemed to emerge from the sanctuary's furthest chapel as she cautiously approached. The feeling of displacement intensified with each step. The source of the displacement emanated from the pyramid positioned amongst the spheres like a holy relic. The others watched mesmerized as the energy of the pyramid uncoiled itself and snaked down the triangular sloped sides into the Spectre, raising her a meter above the floor.

A sound wretched in that terrible silence: a scream of utter desolation of wrenching agony of body and soul. The sound came from Samantha!

The once dormant memories and knowledge were now fully aroused and for the first time, Shepard felt the true presence of the Protheans and wraiths of the cipher merge and become one - willful, ravenous and deranged from thousands of years of imprisonment. The memories were now in command and Shepard now became its host.

For a moment she felt as if her very soul was being leached from her body. But the memories knew better than to destroy its host and just as she neared the brink of oblivion the pyramid released its hold on her.

The Spectre thought she heard gun fire, or was it thunder? She couldn't have testified to either. Her eyes heavy, she found no strength within her to open them. The weight of memories pressed in on her, weighing her down. She succumbed.

"What have you done to her **Ksad-Ishan!? Is this your trap!?" the asari's body began glowing a brilliant blinding blue. Rage filled the young heart, all she wanted to do at that moment was tear into the Prothean AI with a warp-field so strong anything left would have been just enough to fill a coffee cup. If not for Samantha's unconscious body cradled in her arms she would have sent out a biotic pulse that would have obliterated the geth shell beneath the hologram into molten slag. **

**"How mine? Samantha Shepard was already taken by the beacons. Her mind is _unique_. Do not curse me child. This is not my doing. I sought only to aide you in all in your righteous quest to save all organics. My primary programming left by my maker the true Ksad Ishan is to preserve their knowledge. Samantha Shepard is the perfect vessel. Ours were only good intentions, all that is left of the Protheans has long been scattered. She is now our only living link to our past and your present and continued future. She has not been profaned, her mind is not destroyed. Spectre Samantha Shepard is herself. She is not cruelly used." **

As she recovered, Samantha realized she was now bound to the Protheans even as Saren was to the Reapers. The Spectre was faint, weakened. She felt her body being held by her beloved. Liara's voice was a shadow of an echo in her mind.

'_They will burn!'_


	28. Memories Diverging

MEMEMEMEMEMEM

Chapter 28: Memories Diverging

_Dark._

_They came they always came. The seekers, the swarm, there was no hiding, no running, battle was futile. Frozen bodies, silence, cold, isolation, terror, snatching, burning, hacking tearing…changing. They come…collecting. _

_The dark…it is always there. Always hunting. Always taking. So many taken. Whole worlds gone. Changing. They change who you are. What you are. Soulless ones. Fingers on the spine, whispers in the ear, poison in the mind._

_Must be a way to stop them!_

_They trap… the Citadel. They lure… the mass relays. They make complacent. Fight it. Fight. Beware the monsters of Id. Beware the hidden ones. Beware the changed ones. They hunt… collect. We are diverse. Collect the diverse, slay others. Testing, plaguing. Destroying. Collect. Hunters bring the seekers, seekers bring the collectors, collectors bring the Reapers. Reapers bring the end of all things. The ruin of worlds. _

_Retreat to Ilos. Hide. Keep silent, play dead. Conduit. Stop the keepers, change the signal. Close shut the gate. Oblivion comes. It comes. Never ending cycle. Ruin of life, Hope is dead, warn the future. The line is broken. Send the beacons. Warn. Warn. Warn. Safe keep the vinculum. One last breath, one last bastion, one last spark of life. They come! Too late! Too late!_

_Dark._

"What the hell was that?" Williams barked out breathlessly.

"The vinculum." Ksad Ishan answered mechanically.

The companions had not left the base of the pyramid where their Commander had fallen and was now in the protective arms of Liara. Around them the chrome orbs flared to life in burning purple-black light of element zero. They connected to one another forming a grid of sorts not unlike Tesla coils sparking lightning. Only what they had produced wasn't lightning but a three-dimensional holographic projection of images previously only seen in the beacons. For the first time outside an asari mind meld others had seen what plagued the Spectre's mind in all of its graphic detail.

All save Liara stared in compassionate wonder at their leader. To be constantly tormented by such horrific visions, to have to sort through the evisceration and remain sane was a feat beyond words. Liara wept behind her helmet's faceplate. She had experienced these images, the nightmares with Samantha for more nights now than she cared to count.

The room flared to life once more, as the six were plunged back into visions. They saw the dragons teeth impaling Protheans, teeth-claws snatching flesh and flaying it from bone, swarms of small insects, thousands of people running for their lives fleeing hopelessly for cover. They saw pod like constructs cocooning others, large insectoid beings with diamond shaped heads staring out with four unblinking eyes. Worlds upon worlds decimated by extinction level events. Warnings, of the keepers, the Citadel and the mass relays, in the end they saw the dark familiar silhouette of Sovereign.

"Keelah! She's looping. Liara can't you stop it?" Tali pleaded.

"I am trying but she is locked in this nightmare." The asari turned to the holographic turian. "This is your doing!" she accused once more. "You knew what this is. You knew what it would do to my bond mate!" she gently shifted Samantha from her lap to the flagstones allowing a very angry woman to rise, her body shimmering in the blue energy of biotics. "You brought her to this! I don't forgive that. Ever."

"I only brought her the knowledge she demanded to have." Ksad Ishan answered defensively taking several steps back for each one Liara advanced. His holographic face turned to Williams. "Can you not stop her?"

In a weak bland uninterested voice, Williams said: "Liara stop." Armored shoulders shrugged. "Guess not. Sorry. I tried."

"You will release her." Liara seethed.

Aleena was on her feet ready with her own biotics not knowing what to expect, Tali reacted just as swiftly as if Ksad Ishan somehow succumbed to geth programming she was ready to hack into the CPU and shut it down. None of them however, not even the marine or the C-sec officer had prepared for what happened next.

"I cannot for I have not captured her!" Ksad Ishan retorted taking yet another step backwards.

"That is the wrong answer." Liara's reaction was instantaneous. She venomously attacked Ksad Ishan with a biotic pulse that sent the AI's geth body slamming into the sloping wall of the pyramid face. The force of the impact so powerful it cracked the marble surface into a spider's web of rubble. "You cannot have her!" Liara snarled, sending another blast of dark energy into the body of the geth. Head torn from torso: both flung in opposite directions. The center of the geth's chest a gaping hole of slag, the stink of molten metal ripped through the air stinging the nostrils before the olfactory filters of the hardsuits truncated the offensive odor.

Sam's mind was falling in on itself. Her body felt heavy, immovable as if she was lying at the bottom of a gravity well.

"NO!" Samantha shouted out once more, her body flared in brilliant cyan. Instinct drove the Spectre to protect herself. Shield herself. A force field of pure biotic energy enveloped her as a blanket. The woman saw only the swarm looming before her eyes, coming for her people to change them.

Liara spun on her heel forgetting the burning carcass of the geth body focusing instead on that of her beloved. Once more she took position of caregiver cradling Samantha's head upon her lap.

_Monsters of Id come to taint the pure minds. The harvesting...the collecting of bodies. There was no avoiding the swarm… _

_They came without warning: a swarm of monsters and tech jumping across space and time sent by their leaders, the Reapers, through an effort of pure will. They did not choose to announce themselves the way the former enemies had, nor did they delay their invasions to puzzle out Protheankind's strengths, weakness, quirks and foibles. There was no need to determine whether the Empire did or did not have that which they sought, the changed ones already altered them to the uniqueness of Prothean bio-diversity, the missing element of Reaper reproduction. All that was required was the harvesting of organic material. They were only components. It was all that they were. The cycle of extinction began anew._

"Too many thoughts! Too many memories!" The Spectre's voice was harsh gravel, strained as if fighting inflammation of the throat. "NO! NO! NO!" she clutched her head, wincing. Pain lanced sharply crawling viciously in a violent migraine. Sparkles of light flashed before her eyes, vertigo set in. Her ears rang with a tone only she heard. "I …I am…I am Samantha Secura Shepard. Wife. Spectre. Commander. Alliance. Human. "

"We have to get Shepard out of here." Garrus said. His breath was heavy and panting after the third showing of the nightmare visions. He wasn't sure he could withstand another bout. The others grouped around him appeared to be about the same. Each of them exhausted from just witnessing the events, never mind having to live with them for a year as the Spectre had.

"I don't think we can, not while she's locked into that thing." Aleena advised, her own mind shuddering from the experience of the holographic movie. "We have no idea what it will do to her."

"We have no idea what it _is _doing to her if she remains connected to it!" Ash countered. For all we know it's rewriting all her memories with the fucking Prothean ones."

"All the more reason to get her as far away from that vinculum thing as possible." Garrus said. His worry clearly heard in his voice even if his face was masked behind the faceplate of his helmet.

Shadows crept up to her in muffled voices, calling her name in desperation. Shepard couldn't hear properly, she didn't understand the words directed at her, she knew only that panic and pain came from one of them. Her mind became plagued with memories not her own.

It was the smell of metal. It became the forefront of memory. It brought it all forward into her mind retaking newer alien thoughts. Shepard was in her own past.

_They had landed. Goddamn-son-of-bitching pirates. Impacts already hit five outlying suburban areas of Elysium. Heavy damage to rural locations. They had already taken out the FTL-comm systems by destroying the comm buoys in orbit. It was going to be a fire-sale. SOP invasion tactics, a three-tier system of attack to the infrastructure of a world. Step one take out all the transportation. Step two the financial base extranet and FLT-comms, step three you get rid of all the utilities: eezo, electricity, water, nuclear... pretty much anything run by computers, which is pretty much everything. This was why it was called a fire-sale because everything must go. If you took out one thing the system could recover, if you take all of them the system crashes._

_If they hit the city proper nothing would be left. The bogus tornado warning she had made ERS (Emergency-Response-Systems) send out could have saved some of the colonists. Hopefully the majority of the satellite suburbs would survive the strike. Her priority was saving everyone else in Elysium._

_Humanity had already had dealings with pirates and slaver bands, having confronted them on a dozen different planets. Mindoir never recovered. That was six years ago. Shepard would never allow that to happen here, not as long as she drew breath. Even if she died to defend the colony, they would not take one more. As a child, a teenager, a young adult her father continuously told her: 'A Shepard protects those who can not protect themselves. A Shepard is a guardian. The job description is in the name. It's our sworn duty: a Shepard isn't a hero, we are guardians, protectors. It is why a Shepard serves. No Shepard ever shirked duty, ever. No matter the cost, even if it means your death.'_

Too many voices, too many thoughts - too many memories. All converging meshing, amalgamating. Sam clung onto the strength of her father's words. They had helped her on Elysium to hold strong, confident, to give her a true perspective on what she must do. They helped her conquer her fear as she faced off that entire platoon by herself, to hold the line until reinforcements arrived. She clung to them now to hold strong to whom she was, what she was.

The worst thing about surviving impossible odds were the memories that survived with you. If only one could erase them, switch them off somehow. But Shepard knew she couldn't; sometimes those memories were more frightening than ghosts, than anything imagination could conjure up. And they couldn't be outrun…

"That…that wasn't…the Protheans." Tali said. "What did we just see?"

"Her own memories." Liara's voice cracked with heartache.

"I recognized the skyline. That was Elysium." Ash answered. "I think…I think it was during the Blitz."

"I am Samantha Secura Shepard. Wife. Spectre. Commander. Alliance. Human." The Spectre murmured desperately trying to hold on to her true identity. She sounded so soulweak it was if the spirit had been leached out of her.

"You are more than that." Liara said holding on tightly to her beloved. "Much more." Skin contact was impossible through their armor but nevertheless Liara took hold taking the Spectre's hand into her own gloved one.

"A Shepard…isn't a hero. They are guardians. Protectors." Sam said almost wistfully as if she hadn't fully woken from deep sleep.

_Fortunately when the first wave hit the starlight suburbs she was in the market district at Sun Loa's weapon Outfitters getting custom mods for her shiny new N7-Onyx armor and Hahne-Kedar assault rifle and sidearm. She told the proprietor to give her access to his comm systems; she had to get hold of the government lines and talk to the Governor. Elysium had both a civilian evac-alert plan as well as an emergency-weather control alert using both in conjunction would maximize the effectiveness to get people into safety. She convinced the governor it was the only way to stop another Mindoir from happening again._

_*Solid plan Lieutenant, first alarm will have all civilians scrambling for their own shelters or public safe houses. They seal from the inside once locked and are well supplied to hold out for a long siege. Once the alarm is set off, it immediately sends out a distress beacon to the Arcturus station.*_

"_Good, what other defenses are there?"_

_*Each public security bunker has two defensive turrets, six assault drones, and four LOKI mechs. And then there is the Alliance garrison, with a platoon of twenty marines.*_

"_Governor, if and when the primary defense grid goes down they will strike the secondary grid. We need to isolate it from the main source. It's the only way to save it and the colony. The pirates will expect it to be blown along with the primary; it will give them one hell of a surprise when it comes back on line."_

_*Lieutenant that will leave the colony vulnerable. The destruction the pirates will do could be catastrophic.* _

"_Buildings only, Governor. The seven minute window for damage is minor compared to having no system at all. I need you to give me the authorization codes to shut it down. It's the only way to save it. Sir, this is our only option. We need to save the colony. Sir, I promise I will not let it fall to ruin. You are going to have to trust me to do my job." _

_*Alright Lieutenant you made your case. I'll send Operations Chief Daniel Bossa to rendezvous with you at the secondary power station.* _

_Security and police forces were to covertly and quickly evacuate everyone they could into deep underground environmental bunkers. Raiders hadn't landed yet but they soon would. Comm systems were already being destroyed. _

_She knew that the pirates would be monitoring and jamming comm-traffic. Despite the distress beacon being sent out, Shepard wanted additional assurance that the Alliance knew of the raid. Before the raiders destroyed the comm-systems altogether she was able to get a real-time message to the only person she knew would be above suspicion by eavesdropping pirates._

_She had to be covert, but Mom would pick up on the code. She asked how her dog __**Jolly Roger**__ was, saying he'd love it here on Elysium. She reminded her mother they were supposed to be on leave together and how soon should she expect her? __**Hours could seem like days**__. Mom told her __**she completely understood**__ her Sam's impatience but she wasn't sure when she'd arrange suitable transport. It might be a __**month maybe half that. **__Oh by the way __**Uncle Sam**__ was in the area he'd like to catch up with his little name sake. She'd relay the message to him on the __**MSV Black Pearl**__ first chance she got to confirm that he was welcome to tag along for a few hours. In fact he might see her sooner, as he was closer. _

_Sam said she understood and had no problem with it and seeing Uncle Sam would pass the time faster, anyway. _

_A young corporal named Julian Uriagus of the Hundred-Thirty-First Infantry had been on leave the same time Shepard had taken hers. Elysium had their police force and a permanent security garrison where they were Shepard didn't know. But she guessed they were near the suburbs holding back the raiding parties. Locally there was the police force. It would have to do. _

_Both she and the corporal were in the market district when the first sound of fire hit ground. They had scrambled weapons and armor, rushed out of the shop and assembled a small troop of cops. _

_The blast was almost on top of them. The bombardment took out the Elysium spaceport. Ships and transports became smoldering hulks. A secondary blast took out the adjacent customs and debarkation zone until all that was left was a smoking ruin. Chunks of metal exploded in molten shards. It wasn't a strike of destruction but designed to cause the maximum of terror. Cannon fire lanced through the hanger decks from all directions and new alarms blared wildly. Standard attack: destroy defenses and communications. Block paths of escape. _

'_Remember your training Shepard. We can't win in open ground, they have the numbers. Closed in spaces, so we have to bottleneck them, deceive them. Hold out baits to entice them. Attack where they are unprepared, appear where you are not expected.' _

_Uriagus stood at her side in stupor of astonishment. "They took out the whole space Port!" _

_Behind them were the bands of security officers Shepard had rallied. The majority of the police and security were still evacuating the city into underground bunkers and securing them. They were the last line of defense if the raiders got past Shepard's makeshift team. _

"_I need all of your eyes on me. There is nothing we can do for them right now. I don't like it any more than any of you but we can't help the dead. The only thing we can do is focus on what we can do for the living. We can stop the raid! They have superior numbers, but they don't know the terrain - you do. They are targeting the defenses. That means we won't be able to hold the central defense command as all heavy firepower will be concentrated there. It is absolutely paramount that we seize the secondary command node before the main grid is destroyed. _

"_They will target high population areas once all defenses are down. They are scavengers, slavers not monsters, they can be killed, they can be stopped. Remember that. We need to cut them off. We will cut them off. I promise you this, this will not be another Mindoir!"_

"_How?" A young woman asked her voice quaked with the fear the others were feeling. "You're an N-Seven marine; we're only beat-cops. I'm… I'm only a rookie! We didn't train for this! It's impossible."_

"_What's your name, Officer?" Shepard's voice took the note of an officer full of confidence in everything she said and did. _

"_Bannon, Ma'am"_

"_No you're not a soldier, Bannon, but you did train to protect and serve. That is what you will do. And this isn't impossible. It can and will be done. We win by deception. Right now those pirates are overconfident, just as we need them to be. We use that arrogance against them. They're slavers with no honor or sense of duty. They think they have already won the battle by taking out communications and the space port. _

"_They'll be concentrating on harvesting and transporting cargo. I don't need to remind you it is human cargo. That won't happen. I won't let it. As I said we need to take control of the secondary command, and we take out their first landing zone, cripple their transports. Fight guerilla style; ambush them with sniper fire and any heavy weapons we can recover even if it means breaking into the stores of weapon traders and taking them from the hands of dead pirates. Take what we find to the secondary control. _

"_We need only to hold them off for the next twenty-four hours, quite possibly only twelve hours. The Alliance will be here. They know we're in trouble. I got a message to the XO of the dreadnought __**Kilimanjaro **__personally and the evac-call made a standard distress call to Arcturus. SOP leaves them ten hours away. We are not alone. We need only hold the line until they get here."_

_Several million lives counted on her to make good on that promise._

_The EPD weren't the only ones willing to make a stand, able bodied men and women of the colony took up weapons ready to follow the young lieutenant. Some of their weapons were outdated; if they had armor it was equally outdated. It was irrelevant; they would not allow Elysium to become Mindoir. They believed in Shepard's promise. She sent them to collect as much ordinance as they could find. And if they could manage it, take a chapter out of the Anarchist's Cookbook and make it. They already confiscated riot countermeasures from one of the security depots in the market. Tear gas, concussion grenades, stunners… none of them would do damage to the raiders but it would slow them down and cause disruptions and confusion and that was a weapon worth having. _

_Concealment was paramount. She had to move her seven conscripts from one covered area to the next. The mission: Take control of the secondary node, and take out the transport shuttles as quickly as possible. Cover wasn't difficult to find nearing the batarian's operations platform in the warehouse district's shipping yard. Fortunate since the fastest way to the secondary command was to take a shortcut through that same district. _

_The HUD enhanced imaging display on her helmet let her get a closer look at what she was dealing with. Six troop transport shuttles, each carrying a full squad of thirteen, which made a company of seventy-eight. And more were on their way. There was no time for hesitation or fatalistic views. Time was the greater enemy. _

"_We advance by leapfrog. We take them by surprise and speed. Check your fire." Shepard ordered, "There still could be friendlies out there! Give a twenty count Corporal then advance."_

"_Aye, aye Ma'am." Uriagus saluted. _

_Shepard led the first wave. She drew her Hahne-Kedar Lancer assault rifle, activated her armor's kinetic shields and flung up a dark energy barrier in the same breath. She hopped over a shipping container._

_A pirate turned hearing a sound; it came as quite a shock to him when his head exploded. Shepard charged a second batarian wrapped her arm around him, snapped his neck, spun around using his body as a shield as she used his own pistol against a third, fourth and fifth pirate. All of them shot in the head. The dead man's gun overloaded, she dropped it and the corpse and continued her charge. _

_Shepard paid no attention to the corporal's team. She kept moving with two cops at her flanks. One of them was Bannon, the other she didn't know. But he was good with an omni tool and his combat drone. _

_Pirates distracted by the drone turned fire on to the magenta orb forgetting they were being fired upon by the human. Shepard flung one of the pirates into the air with a biotic slam, another with a singularity and still she kept moving. _

_Screams of pain and confusion exploded as successive biotic shockwaves ripped through a squad sized number of batarians. Shepard didn't even hear them. Her assault rifle open with wide dispersal tore into her enemies. Dodging from crate to crate: leap over one, slide into cover behind another, she flung bullets, shockwaves, biotic slams and singularities with visceral accuracy._

_A warm body wearing the armor of enemy colors stood in front of Shepard blocking her run. She body-checked first by slamming the side of her rifle into his face, spun on the ball of her right leg as she swept his gut with biotically enhanced left roundhouse kick. He fell with a coup-de-grace bullet in his head. She bent down snatched his pistol with her left hand, in the same fluid movement she slammed her rifle into her weapons pack and retrieved her own sidearm._

_She was moving now on pure instinct. Locked and loaded she stormed towards the shuttles. Firing without discretion to the left and right causing pirates to take cover. Behind her Bannon and the other cop repeated her actions. One with a shotgun the other a submachine gun. They never stopped running. _

_Troops dispersed from one of the transports, all of them firing as they charged. White-gold light flickered, her hardsuit's kinetic barrier shields were losing integrity forcing her to rely more and more on her biotic barriers. She signaled for them to take immediate cover before they lost their protection all together. She slid feet first behind a stack of crates. _

"_Hold fast, give them no ground." She opened fire into the pirate ranks. Her gun locked, overload. "Frack me!"_

_Five seconds before it cooled down enough to use again. Five seconds was an eternity. No grenades, no heavy weapons, but she still had biotics. Bannon's carnage shotgun blast took off the head of one of the pirates. But they were reinforcing themselves with varren trained to ferret out and flush their prey into their masters' line of fire. _

"_We are taking this planet, your resistance is laughable! Give up human; we have biotics as well. We are as fast as you are, and as strong as you are!" taunted a batarian voice. _

"_Yes, but are you as one-tenth as pissed off as I am?" Shepard shot back. Shepard fired biotic shockwave after shockwave into the pirates with ferocious determination. Her biotic barriers blocking most of the fire as she fought to hold her position. _

"_Nothing can stop them!" Bannon cried out. "There are just too many, Shepard. Too many! We can't stop them all."_

"_Haven't you been paying attention?" Shepard shot back. "Killing bad guys is what I do. We can stop them. They will stop. There is no other choice."_

"_There is!" the young cop bleated in hysterics. "We surrender. At least if they take us as slaves we still live." Bannon felt her head pound and her senses shifted. She didn't know what hit her until she saw Shepard's fist draw back. Her helmet took much of the blow but not all._

"_Slavery is no option!" Shepard snarled to the other cop staring at the lieutenant in amazement for having stuck his partner. "The Alliance will be here, they will not let us down! We hold fast until they hit dirt. We need to take control of that grid. We take that grid, and we hold! They will come, they will! "_

_One of the pirates took the opportunity of the argument's distraction to aim a well placed shot into Shepard's chest. _

_The last of her armor's shields held but shattered in the second shot that struck her shoulder with such force it flung her back against the earth. _

_Grunting she rose up shaking her head trying to clear cobwebs and stars, just in time to see a varren leap for her. Again instinct drove her; she flung a singularity so hard, so fast the beast's spine snapped in two. It landed with a dull wet thud several meters away. _

_She rolled, regained her feet, grateful to see Bannon gunning down not only the batarian who shot her but two others flanking him. Rage overcame the rookie's fear. _

_They were in the thick of it now. Shots came from almost every angle, every position. From Uriagus's direction explosions tore into the ranks of pirates and their varren hounds. Obviously the second team had found themselves a supply of grenades. _

"_We need to keep moving." She shouted over the din of gunfire. "Come on, we're almost there! Bannon, keep that combat drone activated." _

"_Copy that." A nanosecond later the magenta orb sprang from the cop's omni tool. _

_Someone on Uriagus's team did the same; two more orbs came from their direction. The decoys worked like magic, allowing Shepard an uninterrupted path to the first transport. Pirates still aboard moved to intercept; each took a bullet to the brain for their trouble. It was almost casual the way Shepard pulled the trigger on the pistols she still carried. _

"_You two: take the guns; we need to destroy the other ships." Shepard ordered going for the helm. She dropped one gun, holstered the other as she took the pilot's chair. Engines flared to life. Shepard pulled up on the yoke raising the transporter off the ground, then cranked to the left causing the ship to bank to port. _

_Cannon fire lanced all around it as the remaining drop-team tried to bring it down. The cops ignored it; they concentrated all fire power on the remaining ships' engines. Shepard fought to keep control, fighting the steering the ship shuddered beneath resisting her touch. She needed to give her teammates time to destroy the other ships. With no shields to protect the other ships it wasn't difficult to rip through their hulls. Concentrated fire hammered into them, causing sparks and smoke to explode from one ship, sending it reeling into the others. _

_The concussive explosions were immense. Over the warehouse rooftops three conjoined mushroom clouds rocketed into the night air. It was followed by several more explosions sympathetic to the destruction of the transports. Whatever ammunitions were in the unloaded crates were obliterated. Shockwaves of shrapnel and uncontrollable firestorms reverberated like ripples in a pond after a stone thrown into it. More than seventy-five unseen pirates had their lives ended that night. Some torn apart by shrapnel, others burned alive, more merely vaporized by the blast radius._

_Shepard piloted the transport away from the warehouses, the destruction would surely bring others, there was precious few minutes to waste poking around the ruins. Still she needed answers. _

"_Corporal Uriagus, if there are any survivors capture them; see to their wounds, we need to interrogate them."_

_*Aye, aye Lieutenant,* the young man answered. *May I say Ma'am, you have the devil's own luck at your back.*_

"_I tend to think of it as making my own luck, Uriagus. Don't take more than seven minutes to locate a prisoner. If you can't find one bug out, meet us at these coordinates."_

_*Aye, aye.*_

_Shepard jammed the thrusters forward all the way and the transport rocketed away from the battlefield and carnage below. She had to get to station ASAP. The helm screens blinking warnings at her, the drive generator was shot and there were no shields, fortunately they were only going a very short distance. _

_From the outside it was an ordinary warehouse. The inside just as ordinary, containing shipping crates just as one might expect. The difference was that one of the massive five meter long cargo containers was a front for the bunker entrance of the secondary defense power node. Shepard keyed in the code that not only opened the doors to the cargo container but popped the hatch of the trap door. _

_Tapping the side of her helmet she activated its night vision visor so she might actually see where she was going. Bannon and the other cop did the same. She hustled down the metal steps to a second secured door and again paused long enough to type into the keypad the access code. It unlocked with a pneumatic hiss as the meter thick metal door eased open. Light flared causing her and the others to grunt in momentary disorientation as the night vision visors overloaded. Switching them off restored their lost sight._

_Shepard kept her pace at a brisk jog along the short corridor beyond the door. Once inside it seemed as if the three had been transported inside the very hub of a power station. Once more Shepard wasted little time reaching her target. _

"_What's the plan, Lieutenant?" Bannon asked._

"_I need to shut down the power junction to the core." Shepard moved for the facilities circular core interface._

"_WHAT!" cried the cop, whose name she never bothered to learn. "You do that and you doom us all!" he raised his shotgun level with her head. "You're a traitor! You're selling us out!"_

"_No I'm not, now put that gun down!" Shepard snapped back. "You have to trust me; this is the only way to save the colony."_

"_I can't let you…" He didn't even finish his sentence before he found himself flung back by a biotic throw that sent his body skittering across the floor like a badly tossed bowling ball._

"_Rookie!" He screamed at Bannon, trying to climb to his feet. "Shoot her! She was in on the Goddamn raid the whole time."_

"_No sir, she isn't." The young woman said. "I know what she needs to do. It's the right thing to do."_

"_I'll shoot you both. Now back away!" _

"_I have exactly no time for this!" Shepard snapped. Again he was tossed, this time into a bulkhead with enough force to knock him out. Shepard winced. "I'll apologize later." _

_Without wasting any more time Shepard activated the hardsuit's omni tool and typed in the access code for the core sending the emergency shutdown sequence that would cut off all power to the secondary grid by ejecting the fuel lines to the secondary reactor. The whole computer system went cold. More than that, it was cut off from the primary power conduit. When the pirates destroyed the primary systems the secondary system was safely isolated. All it would take was a manual reboot to reactivate the entire system. The defense towers, automated drones and mechs at that time would be back online and completely operational, taking the pirates completely by surprise. _

_Now all they had to do was wait for word that the primary defenses were down. _

"_Lieutenant," Bannon started hesitantly. "I wanted… I wanted to thank you for what you did back there." She cleared her throat. "You know… knocking sense into me?"_

_Shepard shook her head. "I only did what I saw my DI do during my N-Seven training to another squad-mate. He went into a panic attack. It seemed to snap him out of it. Pretty harsh, but it got results."_

_Bannon nodded, "Can't argue there. Anyway, thanks. You're right slavery isn't an option."_

_Shepard only nodded. "So the other cop, what's his name?"_

"_Officer Joe Harbison. Normally he's pretty solid guy." _

"_Good, when he wakes up we'll need that kind of man to help hold this position." Shepard looked at the screens then back to the rookie. "You seemed to know what I was doing and how it works."_

"_Beat cop doesn't mean stupid." Bannon said almost defensively. "Besides my brother's a computer program designer for the corps, Mom's a VI programmer; I picked up a few things."_

_Shepard nodded again. "Good, then you know what needs to be done and when. I'm going topside to secure this location. I'll radio when it's time. Keep the door locked behind me, open it only on confirmed code."_

_The cop nodded her head. Shepard turned heading back for the entrance._

"_Lieutenant? What's the code?"_

_Shepard thought a moment; a smile appeared on the corner of her lips, "Fried shoelaces marinated in spider venom."_

"_Aint no one gonna guess that one." Bannon laughed._

"_That's the whole point." Shepard checked her rifle and slammed a new thermo clip home before turning her attention to the other woman. "Are there any other exits from this place?"_

_Bannon nodded, "Yeah, an emergency exit that leads from a closet in the office of the director of operations in the cargo processing plant."_

"_Good. I'm going to find away to seal off the main access point, but keep that one viably accessible. Listen for my call. It'll be a close window."_

"_Don't worry, I'll prep everything and hit the last sequence when you radio."_

_Shepard nodded as she opened the door leading to the corridor just beyond._

"_Lieutenant… good luck." Bannon called after the young officer._

_Another nod tossed over the shoulder. "You too." She closed her eyes once, whispering a prayer to the Goddess Danu before ascending the steps, whatever was topside, she was most likely going to face it alone. A whole damn swarm of pirates. Time to face it. _

_Shepard sprang through the outer door of the hidden bunker into a blanket of deep fog…_

Fog encapsulated the six companions evaporating the warehouse district. Before them a pyramid glowing in black-purple light of eezo, bringing the conscious back to the present.

"So that's how she started her career path of doing the impossible." Garrus commented earnestly impressed.

Aleena too was impressed. The young woman in the memories barely looked old enough to leave her mother's side. 'Baby-faced' the human's called it and she now understood why the term was coined.

As soon as their collective equilibrium stabilized the fog returned.

_They did not choose to announce themselves. All that was required was the harvesting of organic material. They were only components. It was all that they were. _

_Izu-Chuan studied the screens, the data wasn't lying. So many systems had already fallen. Countless people found themselves homeless after the Reaper's preemptive strike against the colonies; the waste was awash with wanderers, thieves, and madmen. And of course, children: lost, uprooted, orphaned. They and worse than the other groups falling prey to illness, starvation and marauding gangs of the Lost. Occasionally, one would stumble upon such groups in devastated cities or natural shelters—caves, patches of forest, oases—forty or fifty strong, banded together like some feral family. Ancestors help those who tried to disturb their new order! The minds of the indoctrinated slaves of the Reapers had so degraded they became brutal savages, more husk than Prothean. No longer useful as slaves for the Reapers and so they had been abandoned, left to their own dismal devices. They were the Lost. _

_More disturbing than refugees of the Lost were rising of hives of Collectors. With the Lost a bullet to the head, a singularity to the spine and they were killed. But it took far more than that with the Collectors. And no one out ran the seekers_

_Izu-Chuan laughed at herself. She was supposed to be the Regent of the Cluster. She already lost one three planet system on her watch. Now they were in her personal system. Sytau was already taken; Faros and Quena were next on the target list if things progressed as they were. Izu-Chaun sent the evacuation notice even knowing it would do little good. The Collectors had weapons that knocked ships out the stars with nothing left but bits of shrapnel._

_The Lost gave the Collectors all the coordinates to the Systems controlled by the Empire. The Lost, a name given by the Great Assembly to the indoctrinated as if swept everything away nice and clean: the fools. _

_The Great Assembly were adept at covering things up so that majority of the populace never knew the truth about the abductions. It worked for centuries. Fools! If they had just acted sooner! They were so far removed in their pretty white tower on the Citadel they lost touch of the truth of what was going on in the fringes of Imperial space. Now it was too late. No doubt they now wished they had listened all those centuries ago when the warnings first came._

_But they dismissed them first as ranting of the Guardians who had seen too much battle. The Guardians were the justicars of law and order of the Empire, highly respected and honored. They traversed the entire Galaxy righting injustices. When a few of their number had gone into the outer rim of the galaxy trying to discover why obscure colonies were going missing they had come back mentally unstable, according to the Great Assembly. But the rumors continued to spread like a pandemic. The Great Assembly assured the Empire the vanishings were nothing more than raids of pirates and slavers, or of the splinter group: the Watchers. When whole colonies within the inner core systems started disappearing in such vast quantities, not to mention the sickness of the Lost, (those that became known as Monsters of Id,) the Assembly was forced to act as a cover-up was no longer possible. _

_Alarms rang throughout the base. Izu-Chuan looked up from the screens. "So, they have come." As dispassionately the Great Assembly decided to ignore the warnings all those years ago, Izu-Chuan watched the militia scramble to the UAV flight pods. In their desperation was their hope. The UAV's had laser and microwave weaponry. They also had more traditional weaponry including. a 105 – to 120 mm cannons with a range of 1.5 kilometers; a 120- to 155 cannon with a range of forty kilometers using 'smart' guided munitions, 120 mm mortar and a 25- to 50mm auto cannons. They were efficient and prolific deterrents against most enemies. They could even stand up to most Collector weaponry for a short time. But the end was inevitable. The city would fall as had all the others. Still the unmanned drones bought time enough for the Regent to fortify the sanctuary long enough to get the most essential personnel safely inside the cryogenic- stasis units within the vinculum. Even if their bodies were destroyed their minds, their souls would be saved into the avatars. _

_Not a plan so dissimilar to Ksad Ishan's concerning the conduit and the Citadel on Ilos. He laid all his hopes on a single AI: Vigil. Izu-Chuan was more pragmatic than her idealistic colleague. She could save far more lives with the Avatar Program than any notion of sleeping their way through the culling of the Reapers in some vain hope to live beyond the cycle of extinction. The cycle perpetuated with the aid of the Collectors. Vigil wasn't the key to salvation the avatars were. The vinculum was the pinnacle of the Prothean dynasty and the only assurance of continuation. The vinculum collected the consciousness of those who had submitted to the program. The avatars though synthetic were fully articulated bodies, a perfect husk for the consciences to be temporally housed. Once the threat of the Reapers had gone genetic clones of the individual were to be created by the avatars and the consciences transferred into a true organic form. _

_Izu-Chuan's Avatar Program wasn't to save from primordial future race from the cycle of extinction or lock the Reapers beyond dark space once they retreated. No, it was to preserve the sanctity of the Empire, its people not just their history in scattered data disks and beacons. She meant for the Empire to live on in its people. _

_Izu-Chuan turned back to the screens she had been monitoring. Outside the swarms had thickened. The screams coming from the audio feed were not as deafening as the sudden silence. She watched the harvesting. Watched the Collectors snatch bodies that had been frozen, unable to move, placing them into cocoons. Jaw like locks closed around the victims sealing them away forever. She watched as the desperate few still free ran to the temple; forcing the door open with brute biotic force. She watched as they stormed the aisles, looking for the hidden entrance to the sanctuary. She watched them bang on the wall until their hands were bloody. No amount of biotics, no amount of clawing or pounding would open the sealed entrance._

_Dispassionate eyes looked to the table near the consoles at the four sconces she had taken from the wall. She had sealed their demise. She forced herself to watch them attacked by the seekers. She watched as they were taken by the Collectors. It was her penance. She watched until the temple had been cleared of bodies. She watched as the city was emptied of her people. The screams of the terrified, of the dying forever burning in her ears, locked forever in her mind. Then Izu-Chuan tuned her back on the monitors, walked towards the vinculum, into its light and disappeared as it swallowed her whole. _

Silence weighed heavily in the momentum of truth revealed. The sound was so soft at first it was difficult to make out what it was, where it was coming from. It was the sound of weeping. And it was coming from Shepard!

"Samantha?" Liara cradled her wife tightly, there was no response only weeping. "SAMANTHA!"

The Spectre muttered in Prothean, begging to be forgiven for so many lives lost, for living, for those taken by the Collectors. She wept for the destruction of so many. She wept for those that could not be preserved.

"She's locked in the despair of that memory." Aleena said. "You have to pull her out of it. Try appealing to her, to your Samantha. Reach for her own memories. You must pull them out or this despair will destroy her. These memories that are not hers will take over and she will be forever lost to us, to you. Liara you may have to be forceful, but it must be done. The more potent the memory however painful, or traumatic the greater the chance of success. If you can, try to access those of her time during the Skillian Blitz. We've seen the start of them; perhaps they will be nearer the surface."

The younger asari nodded. "Forgive me beloved for what I must do. I will be as gentle as I can. Know I love you with all my heart. You are my bondmate, my forever." She pressed her helmet to that of Samantha's. "You're military my love, even if you still do not wear their uniform. You take and give orders, now you will take this one: you will return to me. That is a direct order."

Williams watched in silence. The bond between her Skipper and Miss Prothean Expert was strong, unbreakable. She knew it was strong enough to pull Sam out of the nightmare fog of memories. '_I can't step into that perfection. I can't_.'

"Wait!" Ash shouted. "Just wait one second."

All faces turned to the lieutenant.

"There isn't much time." Aleena warned.

"Yeah, I know. But we're about to see some pretty private and probably very intense things about a pretty private woman. Shepard needs our discretion. We make a promise right here, right now never to talk about whatever it is we see. If she wants to, fine but we don't bring it up between ourselves or to her. Save for you Liara being her wife and all. She will probably need to talk to you about them. But for the rest of us, we don't ask questions. And we don't allow what we see to affect how we relate, talk, or see her. Agreed?"

"Agreed," No voice was left out or hesitated in answering.

Liara looked to her bondmate's Trusted. "Thank you."

Ashley looked down at woman lying in the asari's arms. "It's my job to protect her six. Sometimes that means protecting her on all sides, even the hidden ones. Especially the hidden ones."

"That is an oath I believe we all share." Tali said earnestly. "She will always protect us, watch out for us. Now we protect her, watch out for her."

"Liara," Aleena prompted. "It's time. Get our Commander back."

Initiating the meld didn't take physical contact especially between the young couple. "Samantha, let our minds merge, come back to me beloved. I have to find you, it will not be gentle. Forgive me, my heart."

Fog swirled around them once more.

"_You're a little freak!" a boy taunted pushing down a very small black haired, blue eyed girl. _

_The four year old climbed to her feet, tears running down her face. "I am not!" she wiped her eyes and runny nose with her sleeve on the back of her arm. _

"_Yes you are. You're a freak! A mutant." Another boy jeered and again pushed the girl down, this time hard enough that she smacked the back of her skull against the floor of the class room. "You shouldn't be allowed around us normal kids, Freak! I wished you stayed away. You should have stayed lost when you ran away yesterday. You stinky Freak! When you were born your mommy should have spaced you." _

"_Better yet your daddy should have flushed you as a baby down the toilet," said the first causing the others even the girls in the playgroup to laugh. _

_When Sam tried to stand again she was shoved back down. "You know when MP's find out you're a freak, they WILL space you, like they do all freaks. But only after they cut open your brain to see what makes you a freak. They don't want you mucking up us real humans." A third boy laughed. "Freaks are like lice, no one wants them."_

"_You're not a real human." One of the girls said in a sing song voice. "Real humans aren't freaks."_

"_Freak!"_

"_Freak!"_

"_Freak!"_

_Tears streamed down the girl's face. "I AM NOT A FREAK!" she screamed. Her body began glowing blue. Sam pushed her tiny hands in front of her wishing the mean boys away. "GO AWAY!" All she wanted was for them to leave her alone. _

_And they went! Three eight year old boys went flying backwards with such force they slammed against the far wall. None of them moved, they only groaned in pain. The four year old Sam pulled her knees up to her chest and cried. Muttering over and over she wasn't a freak. _

Fog swirled once more changing the holographic cinema playing before the companions to shift and alter with a new memory.

_Thirteen year old Sam pressed her back against the bulkhead of the common room of their family quarters. She knew it was wrong but she needed to know what was going to happen. She had suffered another flare-up today. Fortunately it had been at home and gained only her mother's attention but it was enough to send her mother in a near panic. The migraine that followed had been so debilitating Sam had been given leave from attending school for the rest of the week and spent the whole day in her rack. _

_Now her parents were in their bedroom discussing it. Sam dreaded what was to come. She didn't want be sent away. She heard stories about biotic kids disappearing, taken away by men in white coats. She had read up on it on the extra-net- how parents deep sixed their kids because to be a biotic was to bring shame to the family. _

"_I've made an appointment with the Armali Council for Sam. I'm getting her implanted with biotic-amps. "_

"_Implanted…Hannah? You __**actually **__want her to be one of those… those… people? Why? No, amps, they must have suppressors, something to deaden it, something stronger than the drugs. Hannah think about this, those amps will make her...they will worsen her condition."_

_From outside Sam bit her lower lip. Implanted with amps….did that mean she was going to be sent away after all. Mom…Mom wouldn't send her away. Dad…Dad might but not…not Mom._

"_Don't John, just don't. I'm not going to argue with you about this. Not this time. I can't stand by and watch her suffer. The mediations and meds aren't working anymore. Today…today was bad. She called me Mamma today. John, she hasn't done that since she was ten! She's my baby, and I forbid her to suffer anymore. The implants will help regulate her abilities."_

_Sam listened, her mother was near tears. Her mother never cried…she was always so strong, so potent. Sam wanted to be just like her when she grew up. To know she was crying hit Sam hard. It was her fault her Mom…Mamma was so worried. Sam looked down at her hands, they were glowing blue._

"_Damn it, not now!" Sam hissed at herself._

"_They have schools, places that can deal with this sickness," her dad said._

"_It isn't some goddamn sickness John. She's a biotic. It isn't her fault. Stop treating her as if it is. And stop blaming me."_

"_Biotics __**is**__ a sickness Hannah! She isn't normal…she will never be normal! She IS a sickness."_

_Sam winced when she heard the slap. She knew her mother had backhanded her father. It took a lot to piss her mom off that much; Sam had only seen her strike a batarian like that once when they were on a space station. _

"_You say anything like that, think anything like that again Jonathan Sheppard and I swear to my ancestors spirits I will divorce you." Hannah snarled. "I swear it!"_

_Sam's body shimmered in blue. "No! Control it. Center the mind. Focus, Sam. Focus…" she clutched her fists until her fingernails cut into her palms. "Take control…you idiot." The shimmering dimmed slightly, blood dripped to the floor at her feet. "I'm in control…not the…biotics."_

"_Then maybe you should Hannah." Her father took a deep sigh. "Maybe you're right, get her the amps. But you know I'm right as well. We can't keep hiding this and we can't do it alone. We need to send her away to one of those institutions. They have this program called BAaT…"_

"_Brain camp? You do know it's run by turians? No, I won't send our Sam there. Not only no, but hell no. No turian will get their talons on my little girl. Do you think for one moment they won't do something to our children because of the war? If you don't then you're a fool."_

"_Then there are other choices. Han, be reasonable and hear me out. I was approached by an officer from the Cerberus project. He said there is a special program for kids like Sam. They're looking for biotic kids." Her father suggested. "They are more than willing to take Sam. He said she could go under a special scholarship, we wouldn't even have to pay for it. "_

_So Dad wanted to send her away! She knew it. Damn it she should have had better control. Concentrated more…she had slipped…she failed. _

"_Cerberus? That's worse than Brain Camp. N-Seven special forces are one thing, black ops wet works is another. Branches like them give the military a bad name. They were the type of people strapping bombs to dolphins back in the Twentieth. I don't trust them. I won't let them touch __**my**__ Sam. No one takes my daughter, John. No one! _

"_I've seen those pamphlets you've been reading, and I will have none of it. I'll go AWOL and run with my own child before I allow anything like that. I've taken care of it. I've already hired a freelancer." Hannah said in a tone reserved for commanding junior officers or when Sam broke the family regs. "I made the FTL call this afternoon after I had to sedate my baby because the migraine was too intense for her to bear." _

"_Wait a goddamn minute you won't send Sam to a governmental institute but you will hire a mercenary to teach her?" anger returned to Dad's voice. "You're a god damn fucking hypocrite, woman."_

"_Not a merc, dull stone. A legitimate licensed mentor. She came highly recommended by the Armali Council as well as an asari High Priestess, the same one who helped her when she was just a babe. In fact the asari mentor is coming from the priestess's own bastion. The matriarch promises extreme discretion, but she wished it both ways, and I agreed. Besides whom better to instruct the ways of biotic abilities and gifts than those naturally born to it? Sam isn't going to be sent away, she __**needs**__ her Mamma…she __**needs**__ her Dad. She needs that kind of solidarity when everything around her is changing. She needs an irremovable centre."_

_There was a long pause. "Her Dad? Then maybe Hackett should be here and not me. I told you I never wanted one. Then you come along with a belly full of kid and top of that she turns out to be a freak. I did the noble thing and let it slide, let people think I squirted her into you. But I know Hackett got there first."_

"_Hate it or not but you're the father she knows, John." _

"_I only did that to save your fucking rep, Hackett's and mine. Don't you flaunt reasonability to me woman."_

_Sam held her breath. Dad was going to send her away! He didn't want her, never did. She wasn't even his…was she? He was going to get rid of her!_

"_Okay Hannah. Okay. Do what ever you want with her. I've made efforts…Han I have. You know that. Just do what you think is best for the girl."_

"_You do of course realize you have no choice. I love you John, but I love Sam more. Duty came before family and Sam comes before you. She always will."_

_There was another pregnant pause. _

_She heard her father whisper dejectedly, "I know, Han. I won't interfere in this, even if I don't like it. Hell I didn't' interfere when you told me were having her."_

"_Sam honey, come in here. You know if you lurk outside doors someone may think you're up to something." Hannah Shepard tried bringing levity to her heartbroken child despite the fact she knew it was futile. _

_Sam obeyed immediately. "Yes, ma'am." She entered her parents' bedroom with her head down, her long black hair covering her face, ashamed that she had been caught eavesdropping. Ashamed that her Dad had never considered her normal…she just wanted to make him proud, make them both proud. But she was biotic and it brought shame to her family. She knew Dad never wanted a child in the first place, when he didn't have a choice he wanted a boy…when he got a girl, he wanted a healthy normal child and she…she was a biotic. A freak. Maybe she wasn't his real daughter, maybe she was… It was why he never once contested she used her mother's name rather than his even if they were virtually the same. _

"_I'm sorry…I'm not normal. One day I'll make it up to you, Dad. One day you'll be proud of me." Sam whispered her promise. She looked up meeting her father's saddened eyes, "Right now I'm just me, sir. I don't know how to be anything else."_


	29. Memories Converging

CHAPTER 29 MEMORIES CONVERGING

Fog swirled once more, another memory surfaced.

_A lavender skinned asari sat across the table from a lanky fourteen year old Sam. A live rose bush was placed before her. "A biotic need not always rely on flesh and bone to tell them what the universe is like. Others do not know what it is to see beyond the physical." Her mentor stroked the red petals. "Touch it."_

_Sam obeyed._

"_This is how most sentients know their universe. They touch the flower, their nerve impulses travel up their arm to the brain and in their mind they sense the moisture of the petals, the texture of the leaves the sharpness of the thorns. And they think they know what it feels like. But they do not." While her mentor was speaking Sam continued to run her fingers over the rose. A purple hand reached out and gently pulled the human's hand away. "Now touch it."_

_Sam gave her mentor a very curious look._

_Her mentor smiled kindly. "Reach out with your thoughts. Feel it for the very first time."_

_Sam's lips once more curled into a playful smile. _

"_Think of nothing but the flower." The asari said._

"_The goal not the task" the girl said._

_Her mentor nodded. "It is the only object in the universe. Know it. Know it in the way only a biotic can."_

_Sam obeyed. Her vision changed! The colors of the petals becoming more vibrant - richer, redder. _

"_It's more than touching! I can feel it. I know it!"_

"_Yes. To know something is to control it. This is psychokinetic manipulation of matter. It is the foundation of all biotic abilities. You are beginning to know your biotics my student, and you will control them."_

_Her next lesson was somewhat different._

_Her mentor replaced the rosebush with a single metal cup filled with tea. Once more they sat across the table from each other_

"_In your mind visualize your hand. Now reach out with that hand and grab the mug. Reach out with the fingers of your mind, grasp it. Do you have it?" the voice was smooth, gentle and authoritative. _

"_I can feel the handle, the texture of the metal. But I can't move it." Sam admitted. _

"_Don't try to move it. Just take a drink from it."_

_Sam looked to her mentor then back to the cup before her, concentrating her will upon it. Slowly it shifted to one hand. She gasped delightfully. "I don't understand I didn't try to move it."_

"_No you just tried to drink from it. And what would you do if you wanted to take a drink from it?"_

"_I'd reach out and pick it up." The teenager said easily._

"_That is right. But you would not be thinking about picking it up, you would simply do it. And that is what you have just learned. Focus on the goal, not the task. When you wanted the tea it came to you. I know you are tired but I want you to try one more thing."_

_Her mentor took the cup and replaced it in the center of the table. "It is cold. Would it not taste better if it were hot?"_

_Sam smiled uneasily trying to comprehend what was being asked of her this time. _

"_See past the liquid, not with your eyes, with your mind. What your eyes show you is only the surface of reality. Look deeper. There is no liquid. There is no cup. There is only a collection of molecules and atoms—moving, vibrating."_

_Sam concentrated on her mentor's voice, on what she was saying. She found the image of the brown liquid in her mind._

"_I see them, they are barely moving." Sam said a little in awe._

"_That is because they are cold. How would you heat it up?"_

"_With a fire." _

"_Yes. With the fire of your mind."_

"_How do I do that?"_

"_Focus on the goal not the task. Do not think about creating the fire, just use it."_

_Sam concentrated, just as her mentor asked her to. She saw a fire in her mind, the effect heat has on liquid, how it bubbles and froths. In her mind she saw the molecules moving faster and faster, as if each molecule had erupted into tiny balls of flame. They were spinning now- erratically. The tea in the cup came to a rapid boil!_

"_I see it now! It's so simple!"_

"_Yes." Her mentor smiled. "However child, that is enough for today. Go eat and meditate, you must rest. Tomorrow, I shall take you to the next level. You will NOT do this exercise unless you are under my direct observation. Do you understand?"_

"_Yes ma'am." Sam bowed her head in respect. She was a navy brat, she knew discipline and knew far better than to disregard an order. Sam looked up to see her mother lurking near the doorway of their quarters smiling proudly at her accomplishment. Sam swelled with pride. She had worth again._

The images of the vinculum grew clouded for a moment the garden in which the teenage Sam and her mentor sat became blackened with swarms of insects.

_Monsters of Id come to taint the pure minds. The harvesting...the collecting of bodies. There was no avoiding the swam… _

"NO! Samantha, you were almost there. Don't lose yourself now!" Liara pleaded. "Our own daughter, our little Sparrow needs her Arda, her Mamma. I'm not letting you go…we are not letting you go. Do you hear me?!"

Liara pushed harder pulling at a memory that lingered deep within Samantha's core that was a precedent for many of her decisions and actions since then. It was the foundation of the soldier she was now. Elysium. In resonance it mirrored much of the Regent's memories, the regret of the inability to save everyone. Once chose not to, one desperately tried to.

Hours that felt like days yet passed swifter than thought leaving her to work on instinct and muscle memory. Twenty-eight hours of bombing, the death toll a catastrophic fifteen thousand. One million two hundred thousand injured. The butcher's bill…it lingered in the background of Samantha's thoughts, as did those who fell in the Battle over the Citadel. She recalled the name of every Alliance ship that fell, the number of humans who died so the Council could live. She never forgot the name of a soldier who died under her command. Elysium was the first, thus the most prominent and easiest to recall. Liara grasped it: pushed to the forefront of her bondmate's mind, forcing her to relive it.

_She closed her eyes once, whispering a prayer to the Goddess Danu before ascending the steps, whatever was topside, she was most likely going to face it alone. A Whole damn swarm of pirates. Time to face it. _

_Shepard sprang through the outer door of the hidden bunker into blanket of deep fog… no not fog; it was smoke billowing up from the wreckage of half a dozen destroyed ships. To the east opposite of the setting sun a red glow boiled the sky, more smoke choked the world. _

_Shepard nearly faulted as she stood on the warehouse rooftop. How to stop it? Overhead dozens of airships bombarded the city. The primary defense grid was faltering, not even the main turrets or AA towers would hold out for long. If the secondary defenses fell the entire city would be laid to waste. This position had to be held. _

_*LT!* Corporal Uriagus called over the radio. *We're half a klick from your position. We picked up some civilians along the way. We neutralized three squads but more are coming. Ma'am if they continue the bombardment…*_

"_I know. I need you and your team here. Step-two corporal, I need you here. We have to hold this warehouse. It's paramount."_

_*Yes ma'am.*_

_Instinctively Shepard flattened her body against the roof when an exceptionally close explosion sounded not two hundred yards from her position. _

'_Seekers. Frack! I hate smart-bombs if I'm not the one letting them loose.' The young woman cursed. "Any time now corporal, those sons-of-bitches are using seekers."_

_*Fuck.* _

"_Good objective assessment, Uriagus." Shepard scanned the area, keeping a sharp eye out for invaders. She knew they had come here. The utilities and defense systems were closed circuit. To shut them down it had to be done manually. It was only a matter of time before they stormed the place. _

_Movement from the opposite direction Uriagus was supposed to be coming from. Thermo-imaging on her helmet's HUD displayed nine warm bodies. By their body language they were hunting. _

"_Not tonight boys." Shepard wasn't a sniper, but she was a level-three marksman. She whipped out her heavy pistol, let the auto-targeting system get a hard lock not at the men advancing but at something that caught her attention at Tail-End Charlie's rear right flank, a fire extinguisher. She wasn't sure what type-yield it didn't matter, Compressed water, Co2 or dry chemical either the canister exploded in shrapnel or erupted in one tight little chem-bomb. Either way it worked in Shepard's favor. She slowly squeezed the trigger. _

_Short yield blast mushroomed into the air. Panic seized the squad those not caught in the razor rain of shrapnel, dove for cover scattering. Exactly what Shepard wanted. _

"_Uriagus, heads up I'm sending a few people your way."_

_*Heard the blast ma'am, suspecting that you?*_

"_Roger that." Shepard affirmed taking her time to aim to guarantee her shot was accurately lethal. The shrapnel should have depleted shields, shredded armor leaving the remaining pirates vulnerable. _

_Pop. Pop. Pop. Three heads shots. In the distances the staccato beat of automatic fire. Strange thing it still wasn't in the direction of Uriagus team._

_*Operations Chief Bossa of the Five-oh-Twos. We took care of a couple of strays you lost. Descending on your position now, we'd appreciate it if you didn't shoot us."_

_By the time fifteen marines came into view, Shepard was already on the ground. _

"_Lieutenant Shepard: __**SSV**__**New Deli. **_Chief, give me a SitRep."

_No one saluted. In a battle situation in case the enemy was watching, if you saluted the enemy knew who the leader was and could very easily snip them. Of course the blood stripe on her N7 armor was a dead give away as to who was in command making the In-Theater-no-saluted reg almost moot. Still regs _were regs.

"_DINTS: IFF recorded three hundred and sixty-four bombers/troop transports, five hundred and fifteen airships, hundred and thirty-three cruisers. My troops were running civilian evacuation when Governor De Govia informed me to rendezvous with you here. We ran into some raiders, lost five of my men trying to neutralize them on our way here. Ma'am if I may say so you sure left a trail of explosions behind you."_

"_Only feasible way to insure the enemy stayed pacified, Chief." Shepard said not defending her actions. _

"_LT, this is full scale invasion force. What the hell is going on, Ma'am? That's way too many birds to be a simple snatch and grab." A female serviceman said._

"_They mean to take the city. Full scale slave drive complete with a fire-sale." Shepard answered. "They're not finished with bombardment; it's going to get a whole lot worse. You think I left a trail of explosions, we haven't seen anything yet. _

"_Shit." One of the marines behind Bossa cursed. _

"_Who are these guys? They can't all be batarians can they?" another asked._

_Shepard lifted her shoulders to ease the tension building up in her neck and spine. "Why don't we find out." She moved past the 502's towards the corpses at ground zero of her impromptu bomb, from the legs, number of fingers it was humanoid. Without ceremony she removed one of the full faced helmets from bodies wearing blue and white Blue Sun merc armor._

'_He's… he's human!" Bossa's voice betrayed his astonishment. He kicked the dead man in the head, hard. "Sonofafuckingbitch traitor!" Again Bossa kicked at the skull this time shattering the jawbone. _

"_Humans working with batarians?" said the same young man who had spoken earlier. "I don't get it."_

"_They're from the Terminus Systems." Shepard said. "Who ever organized this has a hell of a lot of clout. A lot of power. Lots of money. Think about it, big criminal organizations are run by whoever has the most power, the most pull, the most guns, the most toys. The guy running this show is no mere merc; he knows the right kind of people to get the right kind of things done to shut down a metropolis."_

"_So you got any bright N-Seven ideas to stop that from happening?" Bossa asked._

_Shepard smiled behind her helmet, "A few."_

_At that moment, the whole city went black. Sixteen hands went to sixteen helmets activating their night-vision HUD._

_Several voices cursed. Only one was even and unshaken. "Now Bannon!" _

_*Copy that, Shepard.*_

"_They took out the fucking defense grid!" Bossa exclaimed, "Shepard, we're sitting ducks."_

"_We would if we didn't have the secondary node. It's been isolated." Shepard started stripping the nearest bodies of grenades, thermal clips and weapons, most of which she handed over to the 502s. "The rest of you do the same." She ordered. "We have to hold this position. To shut this node down they have to come here personally. We're going to have a lot of unfriendlies coming here very shortly. We draw them into a horse-shoe ambush. From our vantage point its better it's a bird's nest, giving us a three-sixty degree view. We've got height advantage, and multiple vantage points. We bottle-neck them and weed them out in a defensive perimeter. We engage and destroy. Consequently we need to level the warehouse over the node's bunker and the three others surrounding it."_

"_Lieutenant?" Bossa stared opened mouth. "You want us to hold this position, but you want to destroy it?"_

"_Exactly. We keep the bunker secret by not acknowledging it. We make it unimportant. Destroying the warehouses above makes sure it stays that way." _

"_Ma'am we don't have enough munitions to hold position and blow up those buildings," one of the men protested. "And what of those stationed below? They'll be trapped."_

"_They're two-hundred meters below the surface, all they __**might**__ feel is a little rumble. After the attack is over the rubble can be cleared, besides there is a concealed secondary entrance. They are in no danger; in fact they will be more secure than anyone else on this planet. The how… easy. I have a barely operable transport I liberated from the pirates. We crash it with its fuel line exposed. I believe the rest is self explanatory." Shepard smiled. _

_Uriagus and his team finally made a show, given the details of the mission and were ordered into the bunker along with six of the 502s. They were the bunker's last stand. She also gave them the codeword alerting Bannon to give them access._

"_When you said deceiving the enemy you weren't kidding," Uriagus said. "That's one hell of a ruse ma'am."_

_Shepard only nodded. "It's the only way. You'll have water, light, food, air, and most importantly security. Corporal you hold that bunker."_

_Forgetting the regs about not saluting during battle scenarios, Uriagus snapped a crisp salute. _

"_Jarhead! You want the LT shot? You never salute in battle." Operations Chief Bossa snapped. "Or are you just a simpleton? _

"_No sir. I… I forgot." _

"_Just make sure you don't make any more stupid mistakes while down in that bunker."_

"_No sir."_

_Positions were taken upon the rooftops of the surrounding warehouses, in a horseshoe formation just as Shepard had wanted. She however wasn't on the roof rather in the troopship. Her task: crash the ship into the warehouse. _

_Shepard wasn't actually thinking at this point. A surreal moment of mental separation left her able to function on some buried instinct and at the same time take a step back and observe every action. Autopilot locked on Shepard abandoned the captain's chair, opened the airlock, and took a deep breath. _

"_Chief. Light it up."_

_*Roger that, LT.*_

_From her perspective she watched the chief lift a rocket launcher. At that moment she clung to the threshold of the airlock and jumped just as Bossa took aim at the transport's starboard wing causing the craft to go into a wild tailspin. _

_Her jump was timed perfectly with the strike to the wing and landed her on the window ledge of the adjacent building. Momentum flung her from there to a fire-escape ladder that was more rust than metal. The moorings held for mere moments before with a heartstopping groan abruptly snapping, sending the young woman swinging like the pendulum of a grandfather clock. Shepard let go of the ladder railing tucked, rolled and landed several yards away. _

_Fire flashed intermittently through the smoky ruined carapace of the building. The noise was deafening—screaming, ripping metal, explosions so loud they felt like a biotic punch in the gut. _

_*Shepard!* A frantic voice. *Shepard? Come on LT, come in!*_

_Shepard stared up at the burning sky, her head dizzy, her body incredibly sore. But hey she was alive. She hit her helmet's radio in what seemed to be slow motion even from her own perspective. "Shepard here. Five-by-five, Bossa."_

_*Thank God. Damn Shepard you have the devil's own luck either that or you're insane.* Bossa said. "What you did… was impossible."_

"_Yeah. I get that a lot." Shepard murmured wearily. "Give me a moment, I think I lost my wind and stomach somewhere along the way." All she heard on the radio was laughter. _

_Moments later she rejoined her squad. Just as Shepard predicted the explosions very much caught the attention of the pirates. The bird's nest horseshoe formation couldn't have gone better. The ambush was a perfect set up; the batarian and human insurgents came investigating the multiple explosions just as Shepard said they would. Bossa's squad had three snipers; all were marksmen, three biotics including Shepard made it four. And they had her resolve, her tenacity and art of thinking on her feet. Bottlenecked whole squads of pirates were cut down; fair to say it was a slaughterhouse. _

_Several dozen pirates ended their lives in the deadly crossfire. Marines took what they gave. Two dead, three wounded but not critically. Medigel made all the difference between death and a flesh wound. _

_Even with all of this, Sam felt deep in her gut it wasn't going to be enough. The marrow of her bones told her, it was going to be a lot worse before the cavalry arrived. Even with the secondary defense node now secure under a ton of rubble the rest of the colony was still very vulnerable. Turrets, combat drones and LOKIs were not going to be enough to hold back the raid. _

_Their positions now given away, the element of surprise was no longer theirs but the tactical advantage still was. The 502s continued to hold position. Across the city more fires were burning as pirates tried to break into the bunkers. Shepard knew she had to draw more attention to their position, to draw them off the civilian population. _

_Bunkered down behind generators, pipes and utility grade air-conditioning units the marines dug-in and held their positions. Grenades were dropped, rockets lunched, biotics warfare engaged and more pirates fell. For a time it seemed almost one sided. That was until the pirates paused took stock of their dead, then took to the air. _

_The roar was undeniable. A gunship was bearing down on them. The cacophony of battle noise intensified._

"_Looks like they called in reinforcements." Bossa said. "You know ma'am being here with you is like standing on top of a mountain top in a thunderstorm wearing wet copper armor yelling at the top of my lungs. 'All gods are idiots!'" _

_Shepard smirked. "Try standing in my shoes, Chief. Think about this for a moment, the more attention we get here, the less they give the civilians. Bring them all on." Shepard wasn't speaking out of bravado, but out necessity for the mission. Protect the colony._

_Shepard and the 502s scattered, scrambling for new cover. The gunships weaponry ripped holes into the roof surface, tearing into the industrial and maintenance units. _

"_Stay down!" Shepard shouted. "Concentrate all power on that mother."_

_Nine guns raised, firing repeatedly into the hull of the gunship, concentrating on the engine air-intake – the easiest way to destroy the vessel._

_Shepard saw an opportunity, when the gunship banked to the left out of the range of assault rifles. She wasn't sure it was going to work, but she had to take the chance. _

"_Fire in the hole," came a shout. _

_Her body flared in blue light as she summoned massive amounts of dark energy within her. In one desperate attempt she flung all she had into a singularity into the gunship's engines. _

_What followed was in a word: unbelievable. The ship spiraled frantically; the engine moaned an inorganic cry of metallic pain as it was ripped apart. The air above them exploded in a starburst. _

"_Incoming!" Shepard screamed out, diving for cover under rows of piping as massive amounts of metal plummeted to earth. Chaos will spread like an Olympic event _

_Over her shoulder another cry, this one very much having from an organic origin. Shepard looked up to see one of the 502's pinned to the roof by a chunk of the gunships hull. _

_She scrambled on her belly to his side as quickly as she was able. There was nothing she or any of the others could do. The boy was impaled through the chest, he was already dead._

"_Fuck!" Sam's voice faltered for a moment. "What the hell were you thinking?" _

_The boy of course gave no answer._

_She hung her head, breathed deeply for a moment centering herself again. "What's our status?"_

"_Two seriously wounded, three hurt but still able to hold a gun and pull a trigger. Morale… not so good." Bossa said truthfully. "We're running low on medigel good news we've got plenty of thermo clips." _

_Shepard pulled away from the others; she looked at the bullet ridden body of James Olmos. He was under her command now as were the other two who had died. She loathed losing people under her command. She felt as if she let them down, let their families down. That she failed in her command. She knew she could not afford to be sentimental at this time; she had to push it all to the hindbrain. She vowed never to forget a soldier under her command, ever. Their names forever burned into her mind, into her memory. Like her mother she kept a tiny journal of the names of those under her command… of those she lost because she wanted to remain human, not a machine of war. She prayed she never had to turn a page in the 'Book of Blood'. She prayed never to become indifferent to death of her people. _

_The destruction of the gunship had blocked off passages from the main avenue the pirates had been using to attack the district causing it to become more of a chokepoint. _

'_This is the battle of Thermopylae.' Shepard thought. 'Here we are just like the three-hundred Spartans against Xerxes and his horde.' _

_Scavenging from the dead pirates not only had the 502s picked up weapons, thermo-clips but enemy radios. Shepard had been monitoring their chatter since. Most of it complaining that the bunkers were too well fortified to break into, a great deal more about the firefight happening in the warehouse district. Shepard made sure they were given the information about the secondary node being in that area. She gave misinformation that if the bunker was seized, the core computer could be hacked and thus giving the all clear order to the bunkers and force them to open their doors._

_Just as Sam knew more pirates were dispatched to pacify the resistance. Shepard's plan was to draw them further into the chokepoint, into the cargo processing plant. The place Shepard allowed the raiders to believe was where the secondary node to be located. _

_She looked to her troops and shook her head. Three of the eight were heavily wounded, two moderately and they were still fighting. _

"_Bossa, we need to the get the seriously wounded clear. We fall back to the cargo processing plant." _

"_They won't want to stand down ma'am." _

"_I wasn't asking."_

"_Aye, aye." The older marine went to carry out the lieutenant's orders. As the Chief said they weren't happy about the orders but they obeyed. _

_The marines maneuvered into the cargo processing plant. Shepard had the conveyor system destroyed thus blocking off the main cargo doors, it left only one access point a narrow loading dock. A small team could hold it easily. _

_The rest of the 502s descended into the emergency access tunnels leaving Shepard and Bossa in the main hub of the plant. They fell back guarding the entrance of the office until the men were away. _

_The blast originated near the cargo doors the shook wave sent both Shepard and Bossa flying backwards against the far walls: one against the wall in the office the other against the corridor bulkhead. _

_*Shepard* the voice was hazy backed by white-noise *Shepard?*_

_Shepard groaned, shaking her head trying to clear her mind of the fog. The ringing in her ears wouldn't stop. Weakly she tapped her radio. "Shepard here."_

_*LT… The emergency kinetic barrier sealed off the office. It will take time but we can shut it down…*_

"_No." Shepard climbed to her feet by using the wall to support her weight. "Bossa get below, seal the door behind you." Staggering to the office door the young woman met the gaze of the older marine. "Keep that bunker safe."_

_*Ma'am, with all due respect, you can't hold this position for long.*_

"_Long enough for the Alliance to get here."_

_*It's suicide! You don't even have the stockpile of weapons we've collected! They are on this side of barrier. Ma'am… I can't let you do this.*_

"_You have your orders, Chief. Carry them out."_

_*Shepard…*_

"_We hold the line, Chief. We hold."_

_Behind the barrier Bossa saluted, *Aye, aye.*_

_Shepard watched as Bossa vacated through the emergency hatch and sealed it behind him. She did the same to the office door then activated the holographic locks: green changed to red. _

_Now it was only a single marine against a whole platoon of pirates bound and determined to seize control of the defense system. They wanted the colony the only way to do that was to destroy the defenses; the only way to the defenses was through Lieutenant Shepard. _

_Another explosion erupted just outside the building. They were trying to smoke her out. The horrific cacophony was amplified by an ear splitting thunder of detonations. _

_They were trying to blow a hole through the emergency barriers. The same shield network that closed off the office from the main processing deck created barriers at all access points. It was a further measure to secure the plant from incursion. Shepard bunkered down behind a conveyer system. She had the perfect sniper position even if she was armed with only an assault rifle, heavy pistol and biotics. _

_Her only plan, shoot at anything moving until she ran out of ammo and her biotics drained, after that she'd start throwing chunks of metal and rock. _

_It began, bodies began to pile up as Shepard fired at first with her assault rifle then when that gave out she tore into them with biotics, shockwaves, singularities, pulls, lifts, throws, stasis anything to buy her more time, buy the colony more time. The dead were mounting up but there still seemed no end to the living climbing over them to get to her position. _

_A varren lunged at her; Shepard instinctively blocked the attack with her left arm. The pressure was immense, the armor not fully strong enough to stop her arm from being crushed, or her shoulder dislocated as the beast shook its massive head. Shock set in quickly, Shepard screamed even as its head was blown off at point blank range. Offal coated her once shiny armor; it was baptism by fire, by blood. She grabbed hold of the belt to her side arm with her broken arm to stabilize the injury and hopefully limit the damage in the long run. _

_She dug in deep, her body weakening from constant taxation, and pain, Shepard knew time was AWOL. Now she was left with only desperation. _

"_Shepards protect those who can not protect themselves." The young woman continued to fire in the maw of the advancing enemy._

" _Shepards are guardians. The job description is in the name." Biotics hurled, the death cry of pirates a symphony of triumph. _

"_It's our sworn duty: a Shepard isn't a hero, we are guardians, protectors." Her body glowed pure blue-white light, she was beyond reserves, her skull pounding in excoriating pain. "It is why Shepards serve. No Shepard ever shirked duty, ever. No matter the cost, even if it means your death." Her words no longer shouts of defiance but whispered pleas to hang on for one last moment, one last second. _

_She felt her body grasped, hoisted into the air. Pain nearly flung her into unconsciousness._

"_You want to die, human. You will." It was a krogan's voice. _

_Dizzy, fading quickly. Shepard only shook her head. Ripples of dark energy spiraled out from her as she used the last of her will. The singularity sent both human and krogan from the metal landing down a flight of stairs, into the bodies below. _

_Momentary blackness captured Shepard. Opening her eyes, she saw the krogan battle master recovering. She had lost her gun but a body next to her still held his. She took the submachine gun from the turian corpse, aimed at the krogan. _

_But missed. _

"_Looks like you die, human." He barked. "Elysium is now ours."_

"_Wasn't aiming for you." She coughed tasting blood in her mouth. She fired once more. _

_The krogan turned to see what the crazy female was trying to hit. His eyes went wide as he saw sparked igniting from one of the bodies that was half-in half-out of a window. Shepard had hit the pirate's grenade launcher still strapped to his back. _

"Fuck!"

_The blast of several grenades tore through the plant, shields, corpses and Shepard. She could no longer feel her left side, her eyes closed. _

"_Medic! Medic! We've gotta live one here. Barely. Sir, she's one of ours." The voice sounding tinny, and distinct: no way to tell if it was male or female or even human. _

_Shepard couldn't concentrate everything was various shades of gray. She felt something go for her neck, instinct took over. Her body pulsed a weak blue._

"_Easy, Easy, I'm Dr. Chakwas. I'm only reading your dog tags. Take it easy, you're in no danger, soldier." There was a pause. "Lieutenant Shepard. Listen to me. You need to remain calm. You lost a lot of blood not to mention you're in shock and biotic overload. But you're safe, now. Trust me."_

"_Colony… safe?" Shepard wasn't even sure she spoke. She knew she thought the words, but felt disembodied, unreal… distant. _

_A new voice, though it was hard to tell. "Sure the hell is thanks you Shepard. I'm Admiral Hackett. Because of you the Fifth fleet is here and in time. You did the hero's work Shepard, we're here doing mop up. One hell of a job you did, kid."_

"_Sir I need to move her now." _

"_Dr. Chakwas...don't let that one die. We need her. Do what ever it takes to save her."_

"_Always do sir." _

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

AN1: I have taken extreme liberties with real-world science. Oh yes and due to the events of ME2 obviously this is very much an AU. However some elements / scenes / characters of ME2 will make it into here so I guess there will be some spoilers. (I know ME2's Aria is actually Aleena if you put together everything she says you'll come to the same conclusion. She said she was a commando-mercenary-bounty hunter; she had been many things with many names. Besides how can you miss the 'better luck next time' or Patriarch wasn't the only krogan she pissed off or 'it is better to disappear than kill someone'…meaning Wrex. But my characterization was based solely on Wrex's story. For my own story continuity I'll have to stay with my depiction, though I'll add a bit of ME2's Aria in there.)

AN2: Elysium Blitz based upon events/ facts of the London Blitz. Number of nights bombed cut in hours, number of casualties cut to a quarter, number of enemy war-craft and injured remains the same.


	30. Out of the Veil

Chapter 30: Out of the Veil

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Dr. Chakwas! She's back." The voice was tinny, distant but instantly recognizable.

"Liara?" Shepard croaked out. She reached out with her hand trying to focus on the blurred image hovering just above her.

A blue hand wrapped around hers, "I am here, beloved."

Shepard blinked a few times trying to stop the world from spinning. She wasn't managing that too well. She grunted back a cough and swallowed hard.

"You're going to need this." Chakwas said handing a silver bedpan to Liara who returned the offering with a quizzical look. The necessity of the bowl became readily apparent when the Spectre suddenly vomited.

"Sorry," a meek whisper from an ashen and embarrassed Shepard. Liara placed a comforting hand upon her back, rubbing small soothing circles.

"You have nothing to be sorry about." Liara soothed gently.

The asari placed the pan upon the bedside table and picked up a glass of water, handing it to her lover. Shepard swished half of it and spat it into the pan, before swallowing the second half.

"Thanks," Shepard said hoarsely.

"Of course." Liara gently feathered Sam's black hair back from her sweaty forehead.

"How are you feeling, Commander?" Chakwas diverted the attention back to her.

"Minor throbbing. Seems a familiar pain." Shepard swung her legs over the side of the bed. Once more a wave of dizziness washed over her, making her feel light-headed. She held her head in her hands, forcing back the urge to vomit once more. She cleared her throat before attempting to speak: "Doc, I guess my team somehow brought me back, but what happened?"

"I was hoping you'd tell me. What is the last thing you remember?" Chakwas said. She activated her medical-Omni tool and began running scans over the Spectre.

Sam thought a moment, unsure of her own answer. "It's all jumbled up. I recall being a kid again—a little rug-rat and a teenager. I remember things … Prothean things from the beacons, like the cipher but more intense. There are memories of someone called the Regent. I remember her life, her thoughts, what it was like to be inside her head when she made the tough decisions. I saw her loved ones through her eyes.

"I remember Elysium. It was so vivid. It was as if I just went through it all again. All of it: the grit, the smoke, explosions, the blood, the fear, the excitement, the pissed off emotions. Trying to hold it together. I recall you telling me to take it easy just after you checked my dog tags." Shepard ran her fingers through her hair. "God…what a nightmare. Bad enough living through it the first time, doing it again was not something I wanted to do."

Liara turned her face away, ashamed. Shepard felt the unease settling in her wife's heart.

"Liara?"

"I…I'm…so sorry Samantha. I had…to…I was not gentle. I had to force you to remember least Prothean memories take you over. You were already losing yourself to their forgotten memories." Tears gathered at the corners of her cerulean eyes. She hastily wiped them away before the other woman took note.

"Prothean indoctrination?" Shepard asked horrified.

It was Chakwas who answered. "No. I did thorough scans. There are no indications of mind alteration trauma indicative of brain-washing or indoctrination. As with your other encounters with Prothean-interfaces your beta waves are off the charts, however."

"If not indoctrination then…how is that I was losing my self?"

"The vinculum." Liara responded, her voice a tentative whisper. "It was trying to rewrite your own memories in order to preserve the ones contained within while keeping your mental faculties fully intact. It was almost exactly what we did to the geth prime when we downloaded Vigil into its positronic brain."

Shepard remained silent for so long both Liara and Chakwas grew concerned. Each placed a hand upon the Spectre's shoulders. When Shepard spoke her voice was hollow, almost dreamy. "The Regent Izu-Chuan ….she…was the director of the facility. She wanted to preserve her people by saving their consciousnesses inside that damn thing. She took DNA samples from everyone who participated. The idea was to later clone them as adults then download their consciousness in their tank imprints."

"How were they going to clone them if she herself was killed during their Reaper war?" Chakwas asked.

"The first download imprinting was going to be with synthetic bodies." Shepard snapped her head up staring as it dawned on her what those synthetic bodies were. "By the Goddess! Husks! The husks, they came from the Protheans! Not the geth. The Reapers must have repurposed the technology and perverted it. The geth were just the last ones to use it and they got them from Sovereign."

"Commander, I can't honestly believe that the protheans impaled their own people on dragons' teeth." The physician chided incredulously.

"No. That came later, that's the perversion. The husks themselves, that's Prothean. Don't you see?" Shepard grew more and more excited. "Regent Izu-Chuan and her team created synthetic bodies, shells…husks to put their consciousness into while they rebuilt their homes and created the clones that they intended to imprint. Obviously the plan didn't work. In fact from the memories and what we know now it seemed to have catastrophically backfired."

Chakwas considered what Shepard told her. At first she wanted to question the validity of the memories burned into Shepard's mind by the vinculum. Scientifically she knew the playback of memories in the vinculum were legitimate, if only for the multiple neurological scans the physician had taken. It was those scans that deeply concerned the good doctor.

"While this new data is no doubt fascinating, right now it isn't the priority. Commander, we need to discuss what happened ground side. Frankly I'm concerned." Chakwas said. "To separate you from the implantation of memories, Liara pulled relative memories from your own past."

Shepard nodded as she took hold of her wife's hand and gently squeezed just before she brought it to her lips and kissed the azure flesh. "Elysium…and there were others."

"Samantha…I…"

"You did what you had to do, Angel Eyes. Don't feel guilty about it."

"I was not very gentle. It was a violation." The asari averted her gaze unable to look her beloved in the face.

"Would you stop beating yourself up, Liara?" Samantha reached up, took Liara by the chin, forcing her bondmate to look at her. "If you had not I would be lost forever. I owe you more than my life, Li."

"Indeed you do," Chakwas said drawing attention back to herself. "The vinculum had more of an adverse affect on you than the beacons. Before you were able to resist the adverse effects because you are incredibly strong willed. But you've been playing on that ability, and you've been taking unnecessary risks. Commander, how much do you know about Cyan Syndrome?"

Shepard thought for a moment, frowned then grew worried. "Doc, are you saying that I got…"

"No." the elder woman's voice was now softer, yet still stern. "I'm only asking what do you know?"

"Only what was I taught in biology at school and what my mentor told me. It's a condition that affects the amygdale area of the brain much in the same way red sand does to chronic users. CS makes biotics hyper-aware, mentally unstable and their powers erratic. It used to happen quite often with the L-Twos." Again worry took hold of Shepard, an expression clearly seen in her face. "But there have only been three documented L-Three cases and you upgraded my amps. I'm more of an L-four now."

"It would be more accurate to say an L-Five, if that is actually possible." Chakwas said almost offhandedly.

The worried expression was now shared by Liara. "Please, Dr. Chakwas you would not be asking this question if Samantha was not in danger."

"Klencory was the start." Chakwas said. "But not the trigger. Now listen before either you react, jump to conclusions or anything else. I need you both to do this." She got two nods. "First of all you're half right about Cyan Syndrome. But it's more than that: it strips your amygdale, completely deteriorates it. Some call it an eezo lobotomy. You know when you feel scared, worried, or nervous or you don't want to feel that way you push it to the back of your mind, and try not to think about it?"

"Yeah, standard training in both Basic and at Arcturus for the N-Sevens," Shepard said.

"As it is with asari commando training. The amygdale allows you to do that, it's a filter in your brain that keeps your emotions in check." Liara echoed. "It also affects long and short term memory."

Chakwas nodded. "Correct. Sufferers of advanced CS feel everything, they can no longer shield themselves against it. The first symptom is the sclera of the eyes becoming blue. Next is enhanced empathic awareness, and vivid nightmares. A mind constantly bombarded by these symptoms leads to personality disorders including dementia, pseudo-autism and schizophrenia. In the worst case scenarios psychopathic tendencies develop. As you said earlier there are several cases reported with the L-Twos."

Shepard felt her shoulder being squeezed. She clapped her hand over Liara's, perhaps accepting the strength than giving it. She took breath, "How long do I have before it sets in?"

"Now you promised not to jump to any conclusions." Chakwas reminded them. "As I said what happened on Klencory was the start. Add to that your exposure to raw eezo not to mention prolonged periods of time within the Device compounded with the fact that whole time you did not have adequate nourishment or meditations. Your body simply cannot cope. Blue sclera is a warning sign, like a heart murmur foretells of a heart-attack. You take measures and it's preventable. Now listen to me. This is the part where not jumping to conclusions is very important.

"The gestalt and the cipher triggered something new and unexpected in both you. Both Mal'dicta or rather Aleena and I have been studying this as you asked, Commander. As I said then the Prothean markers from the cipher rewrote part of your cortical synapses, thus changing your beta waves more than the beacons did. The gestalt furthered that change. It also changed the way your biotics work. The dormant areas of your mind are further awakening. This is what is triggering symptoms of Cyan Syndrome. It is why you've developed more empathic tendencies or at least hyper awareness of other peoples' emotions.

"Asari and what we've come to understand about the Protheans have never suffered from the disorder because their nervous systems readily compensate. Both species are incredibly adaptive. What is happening with you Commander…Sam is that your body is trying to do the same. Your brain has the genetic memories, thoughts and knowledge of the Protheans and it has a very powerful link to Liara. It's becoming confused as to why the signals it's transmitting to your nervous system haven't adapted. On the other hand if it wasn't for the link born of the gestalt, I highly doubt you would have been able to be pulled back from the vinculum as yourself. That damn thing tried to overwrite your memory synapses with a new identity. "

By this time the young archaeologist was sitting beside Shepard on the bed still holding her hand. Shepard squeezed it gingerly before she spoke: "Okay, I get why this is happening to me, but what about Liara?" Two sets of blue eyes studied each other for a breath that was held between them.

"You two are connected on a neurological level, what happens to one happens empathically to the other. So far you've managed to shield each other." Chakwas said. "It's imperative the two of you maintain the meditations. Commander, your biotic training must not simply happen when you have down time. You must pursue it aggressively. It will further your stability and resistance to CS."

"What of Sparrow?" Shepard's hand went to her wife's belly. "Our baby, she isn't in danger?"

"No. Sparrow is healthy and fine. Yes the bond ties the three of you together but CS can't touch her. The stress levels Liara feels will however." Chakwas affirmed. "Commander, this is a whole new development in CS."

"Doctor, what treatments do you prescribe? What must we do?" Liara asked her voice finding the strength she needed to confront the uncertainty of the moment.

"The treatment has its own risks, but I think this is our only option. Commander, your nervous system must be augmented, more than the SOP gene therapy you underwent after passing Basic. What I'm advising is bio-synthetic fusion of your nervous system. A type of lattice shunting similar to those used in the derma-layer that will act as a conduit to your brain and the dark energy nodules in your nervous system . Your amps will also need to compensate for this. I know there are some newly created smart amplifiers, neural masks and hyper amps that can accomplish this. Sam you're spiking far beyond that of an L-Four. As I said if an L-Five exists…you're it. It's safe to say you're the most powerful human biotic to date. Your double exposure to eezo in-utero and during puberty, the cipher and the gestalt changed everything. You _are_ unique. Your body is desperately trying to adapt and stabilize to the changes."

Sam said nothing for a long moment. A good quantity of her body was already cybernetic. After Elysium her right eye and lung and the bones in her left forearm had been replaced by cybernetic components. After the attack on the Citadel, her left lung, both kidneys, spleen, and liver had been replaced by bio-synthetics. There was no other way to repair all the damage. Chakwas had also infused her skeleton with a synthetic weave that made her bones almost unbreakable. It had been in Shepard's signed medical preferences that in the event of yet another broken rib-cage she wanted her skeleton enhanced with synthetic weave. With the weave enhancements if she ever suffered from bone trauma yet again, medi-gel conduits allowed for bone regeneration in a matter of days rather than weeks. It was how the Spectre was able to go deep-sea diving and shark hunting so soon after breaking them.

"Samantha, even if you were completely cyborg you would still be you." Liara pressed her lips to her bondmate's worried brow. "Because of who you are in here. Your spirit is unaltered."

"But that's the tricky part. We have to make sure who I am in here," Shepard pointed to her skull, "is me and not some pissed off Prothean ghost with a score to settle."

"That brings me to another point, Commander." Dr. Chakwas interrupted. "You cannot afford to interface with any more interactive Prothean tech. I warned you before that you needed to exercise a little more prudence, now…" Green eyes narrowed into a look of disapproval and sternness an expression Sam had only ever seen on another person. A person she called Mom. "I'll put it more clearly and succinctly for you, Sam. Stay the _fuck _away from Prothean beacons, orbs and interfacing pyramids!"

It was all Shepard could do not to salute the older woman. "Yes ma'am, I read you. We're five-by-five."

All she got was a harrumph.

"You can't do the treatments here can you?" The Spectre asked trying to change the subject.

Chakwas shook her grey head, "I'm afraid not. Though _Victory's _sick bay and trauma center are superior to the _Normandy's_ it still lacks many of the amenities a planet side hospital facility will have. Off the top of my head I can name three places that can easily do this procedure: Thessia, Illium and the Citadel. Though at this moment I hesitate to recommend the Citadel due to the rebuilding efforts."

"That leaves Thessia and Illium." Liara said. "The homeworld can yes do this procedure but Samantha if you wish amenity, I then suggest Illium."

"But Illium is still an asari world." Shepard argued.

"Yes, but these are precedents that are unique to Illium alone. Because they are so close to the Terminus Systems practically everything is legal there provided you have the correct documents and contracts." Liara stated.

"What do you mean practically everything?" Shepard frowned.

"I mean that if you have the correct documents even red sand is legal as is indentured servitude."

The Spectre was still frowning. "I can't believe an asari world would legalize slavery!"

"Indentured servitude!" Liara corrected defensively. "The indentured servant willingly goes into service; more often than not to pay off substantial debts they otherwise may not be able to pay back to their creditors. A good example is a student recently graduated from a university who had to finance the majority of her education by loans and does not have immediate employment upon graduation. She has accrued quite the debt, to pay it all off she can go into indentured servitude with a contract broker who will find her placement in her field of study.

"The holder of her contract pays off her debts, while she pays them back through her work. Once she has completed her obligations she is freed from the contract and also has substantial work references. The contract is binding to Illium and the … mistress or master as it were is completely responsible for food, health, and lodging. Disciplinary action is extremely restricted to certain measures."

Put like that Shepard and Chakwas both thought indentured servitude didn't sound so bad. After all the military had a similar scheme with their deferred education program, give them four years of your life and they paid for four years of university education. Add to the fact if you racked up a ton of credits in debit say on the stock market or very bad economic decisions or even loan-sharks, creditors didn't foreclose on your property nor charge you with fraud or horrifically maim you. Sure you lost a few years working to pay it back but it was better than the alternative.

"There are many aspects of Illium that affords itself to those who wish to obtain services and items that may not be available anywhere else." Liara continued. "Finding a qualified physician with the facilities to perform this procedure will not be difficult. I do recommend however that we take our corporate liaison Mallene with us before we sign anything." Liara placed a hand upon her wife's shoulder. "You want to keep this from the Council don't you?"

Shepard nodded. "Councillor Sparatus already thinks I'm mentally unstable, all I need is to give him ammunition to use against me. I don't arm my enemies."

"You _still _count the Council as an enemy?" Liara asked.

"Not the body no, just one man. Least you forget the Council is made up of men and women, and they are fallible just like anyone else." Shepard said.

"Then you will need a cover story." Chakwas said conspiratorially. "Perhaps the ship needs upgrades? The crew could certainly do with shore leave."

Shepard smiled. "Perfect. Mallene can set us up with that as well. We've nearly got a billion credits in the ship's stores. I think we can afford a few upgrades."

Spectres weren't paid exorbitant sums of money as one might think; their salary was about equal to that of a commander in the military. They also had to bank roll their own equipment, weaponry and modification upgrades. It was a measure the Council took to ensure those that served the elite office did so out of honor and service to duty to safeguard the galaxy and not for financial gain. Spectres already had a great deal of power; their office didn't need to be corrupted by monetary gains. Spectres who had substantial wealth had so by independent means, such as the stock market.

To help finance the mission during their hunt for Saren, Shepard had ordered her recon teams to salvage weapons and armour from fallen enemies, as well as prospect minerals, gases and several rare, light and heavy metals. She then took the profits from the sales and had Barla Von ingeniously invest it into several companies. With the volus's aid she became a major shareholder in both Serrice and Armali Councils, Kassa Fabrications, and of course Hahne-Keddar, the latter two had substantial holdings with Alliance Military. Consequently Shepard now had a very healthy bank account all of which she invested in the protection of her ship and crew.

"Commander, our new objective aside I want you to get some good solid rest. Go back to your quarters, eat and sleep." Chakwas said. "You've been though a very traumatic ordeal, your body and mind needs proper rest. I'm making a medical call so don't even think to contradict me on this, not even your silver tongue will talk your way out of it. You're off duty tomorrow and light duty the next day. Liara make sure she complies."

"I guarantee it will be so."

"Grub and quality rack time actually sounds good right now." Shepard said displaying more calm than she actually felt.

Chakwas discreetly left knowing that sometimes reaction to the gravity of a medical situation was delayed with patients. Even soldiers with piercing eyes and sensitive souls need a few moments to take it all in.

For a long moment neither woman spoke, they simply sat side by side on the bed staring at the bulkhead before them.

"I'm in it thick this time." Sam said softly. "It's all spiralling out of hand."

Liara still remained silent. She knew the one thing Samantha did not do well was accept the loss of control or accept a situation that had her up against a wall with no escape. Only this time the enemy wasn't easily outmanoeuvred. Her own body was the opposition.

Chakwas was right Sam had pushed the envelope with Prothean tech simply because she could. Now she was paying for her flaunting of that ability. Sam looked to her wife and winced. Because of her arrogance she had placed her Liara and their unborn child in very grave danger. The very idea of losing Liara was abhorrent.

The Spectre slid off the bed, turned to Liara to find the soft blue face wet with tears. "Liara?" Sam reached to cup her cheek.

"The memories…I forced out of you…"

"You did the right thing, Liara." Sam repeated her earlier conviction. "Never doubt that for a moment."

"I wasn't the only one to see them." The asari blurted out. "The vinculum was tied into a holographic simulator. It allowed …. we saw everything."

Sam closed her eyes. Liara knowing her childhood memories, even Ash knowing was one thing but the others seeing her more vulnerable moments as a child and youth were another. "They all saw…"

"Yes," A soft answer.

Silence.

"It's okay." Sam answered quietly. "I trust them."

"Ashley vowed them to secrecy. None will speak of what we saw, but Samantha there was nothing there to be ashamed of. All of us were that young once, as younglings we all had days we were distraught. You only a babe in arms and to suffer such ridicule is….difficult." Liara said in a voice full of knowledge. "And as a teenager you…" Liara took her bondmate's hands into her own, bringing them to her lips as she kissed them. "You were confronted with such changes…you were so lost. Your reactions are quite understandable. There is no shame."

Sam drew in a breath. "They'll have questions."

"We took a vow, Samantha. No discussion of what we witnessed unless you initiate it."

"They'll want to know more about Elysium."

Liara nodded not denying it. "I would imagine they would like to know how you imagined that coded password for one: 'fried shoelaces marinated in spider venom.'"

Samantha smirked. "Oh that." She laughed. "When I was about seven, I was with my father when he had a tour on a space station. I think Mom was assigned to a frigate so I couldn't be with her. Anyway, I had a couple friends and we had a clubhouse - in truth it was just a bunch of blankets thrown over some chairs, in whosever quarters we happened to be 'camped' out in. We had a few rules, one of which was no double-digits allowed. To ensure security against teenager siblings and prying parents we came up with a password."

"Fried shoelaces marinated in spider venom," Liara smiled.

"What can I say at the time we thought it was pretty clever. Nevermind the fact we plain forgot that blankets are not soundproof bulkheads. I suppose we felt that inside our little fortress we were invincible as if the blankets had some kind of magical power to keep away the unwanted."

"The double digits?" Liara said playfully. "Hmm…you do of course realize had I known you at that time I would be one of those double digits?

Shepard smirked, "I got over being an ageist as soon as I hit ten. Besides I'm attracted to _older_ women."

"How fortunate for me then," Liara teased back.

The air of levity, though fleeting was a welcomed reprieve. Memories all jumbled up, the threat of a biotic mental condition was enough to break most anyone else. Shepard clung onto her inner-self. There simply was no other option in the Spectre's mind. The gentle strength of Liara's presence bolstered the human's resolve. She would not allow all that she was to face all that she had faced defeat her. She would not allow her fear of becoming more machine than human cripple her or the mission.

Liara laid a hand upon her bondmate's shoulder. "Come, let us return home. After all the doctor's orders as you basely paraphrased were 'to get some rack-time and grub.' And as I was ordered to ensure this happen I intend to do just that." Liara leaned forward flicking the tip of her tongue teasing the soft flesh of Samantha's earlobe before nipping it. She knew just how sensitive her human's ears were - how responsive her Samantha was to such a touch. Sam moaned softly, her heart thundered as her stomach fluttered.

"I might do a little more than grab some rack time, Angel Eyes." To prove her point she grabbed Liara around the waist, nuzzling the soft folds at her neck. "How about embracing a little eternity?"

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

All the anxiety, the fear, the uncertainty, the relief of being freed of the vinculum transformed into hungry passion. Liara grabbed Sam on either side of her face pressing her lips to her lover's dominating her. Sam thrilled at the touch; she wrapped her arms around Liara's back and waist deepening their kiss. They had scarcely made into their quarters before Liara pounced.

Sam moved a step back allowing her wife to lift her tunic and sports bra over her head. Liara's delicate hands cupped each tanned breast, her thumbs brushing rosy nipples until they perked. She brought her lips to the hardened tips, tasting each eliciting a deep moan of pleasure from the Spectre.

Blue energy flared between them, swirling around their bodies, filling them, enhancing their desires. Sam's hands frantically removed Liara's own top and bra. The rest of their clothing quickly shed. Their biotic powers pulsed brilliantly once more coursing through their very cores. Sam rained tiny kisses along blue flesh, starting with windswept curves of her beloved's crest, down to the folds of her neck, her shoulders, to her cleavage. Tender little kisses trickled down the swell of her belly where their child grew.

Liara's moans provoked the fires burning within the Spectre to greater heights, crippling her self control. Sam nearly lost it when she felt Liara's thigh wedge between her legs.

"I want what is mine first," the asari said huskily, gently biting Samantha's lower lip. With little effort, Liara maneuvered Sam to the bed, pushed her down and began crawling her way up to Sam's body returning every little kiss she had received with those of her own. She slid her hands down Samantha's body until her hand was between the Spectre's legs. Two fingers slide easily into the warm wet depths. The pad of her thumb brushed against Sam's clit causing her to moan loudly.

The bond pulsed with each thrust, each stroke overwhelming their senses, overwhelming them both in their shared pleasure. Each was desperately hungry to feel more - desperate to hear the gasp of wanton pleasure escaping each other's lips, to feel the release of orgasm through the other's mind, body and soul. Each roared in their pleasure, their bodies quaking, shivering in the purest form of their expressed desires. Once more the blue energy of biotics flared as they inhaled the heady mingled cologne of their lovemaking, sending ripples of aftershocks of their mutual climax.

"Liara…" Sam's voice was husky, slightly deeper as it always was after an orgasm, "my beautiful everything," she snuggled closer holding her asari beloved possessively, "now it is my turn to have what is mine."

Liara gasped as she felt familiar – and very talented fingers - enter her slick core. She nearly climaxed right there and then with just the slightest of touches. Sam's lips curled into a wicked smile as she replaced her fingers with a very knowing tongue…

Sam slipped from her beloved's sleeping arms, padded naked into their ensuite. She stood before the large mirror not out of vanity, not truly. She stepped closer peering at the face staring back at her. Her finger traced the sickle scar under her right eye: the eye that looked so human but was a cybernetic replacement.

It was her decision. Be left with partial sight in the eye or replace it fully. She was no pencil pusher; she didn't want to train in some boot-camp. She wanted to fight, to truly earn her N-Seven status. She had trained so hard for it. So in the end she had accepted all the cybernetic replacements: bones, tissue, organs. She couldn't give up. She was an N-Seven marine. Now she was a Spectre and that same drive to persevere drove her to do what she must to continue the fight.

The Spectre traced the scar trailing diagonally across her shoulder to her hip. During her time at Arcturus she had never imagined such foes, nor such epic battles as she had faced with Sovereign, the geth and the rogue Saren.

"You're going to remove it aren't you?" a soft voice said from the threshold of the ensuite.

"I thought I wore it out of idealism I will always bear it within regardless what is shown without. But now…now I am tired of scars, Liara."

"You bear more than you should, Samantha." Liara came up behind her bondmate wrapping her arms around the body she so loved. She rested her chin upon the creamy-caramel shoulder.

"Before this war is over I will bear more as will all who travel and fight with me."

"We will do so gladly, my love." Liara turned her human in her arms staring at the face she so loved. "Our dedication, our loyalty to you is unwavering, we fight with you because we will not be parted from you. The willingness to bear the scars of war stems not only from this love but the dire need to stand against the Reaper blight. Our allies are few, many believe in only the geth and the war with them. We will bear scars of battle for t'is a better fate then extinction." Liara traced the angry scar marring the flesh. "Remove the scar or keep it. My love for you will not wax or wane because of what marks your flesh or what lies beneath. You are still Samantha Secura Shepard, my bondmate and arda of our daughter. And if you intend to see the birth of our daughter you will take this surgery. She will know you as flesh and blood not some synthetic construct. Your soul, your heart, your mind are still yours."

Sam allowed her wife's words to fill her with a secret strength. "I don't know about that, Liara. Did I not give you both my heart and soul?" She tried to smile but failed.

"As mine are yours. Let this fear pass from you, Samantha. Do not give it dominion over you. Do what you have always done and take strength from that which would diminish you. I have touched your soul, the Union even without the vinculum allowed me to know you as no other have. Do not despair; this procedure…a necessity. We both know this."

Sam didn't say the words: she knew there was no other true choice. Instead she led her wife by the hands to the shower stall. "I don't know about you, but a shower feels like a good idea to me."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Hot shower, food, meditation, more lovemaking and another shower left the Spectre feeling like her old self. Liara was very happily content in the exceptionally sated state Sam had left her in. Those not content however were the worried crewmembers of the ground team as well as the rest of the ship. Morale was a powerful thing. While Shepard felt fortified she knew now her duty was to see to the rest of the crew, starting with those that had accompanied her to the sanctuary as well as Shiala, the ship's third. Besides waylaying their concerns Shepard had to tell them what she understood from the Regent's memories. She had to tell them what she believed to be true about the connections between the Protheans, Reapers, husks and the Collectors.

"She's right. In the memories we saw husk like creatures. And more, we saw the Collectors." Liara backed her wife.

"Collectors? What do you mean the bogymen from beyond the Omega Four relay?" Ash might buy the husks were originally Prothean constructs but this was too much.

"Despite their rarity, they are not myth." Liara said. "They do exist. The fact so few know this to be true gives them greater power and immunity. They are more known to trade in the Terminus Systems than any other. They tend to work through intermediaries however rather than directly with their clientele."

"Alright say the collectors are not creatures of myth, if they were there in the memories of this Regent that would make their species at least fifty thousand years old." Garrus argued.

"Why not? The Reapers are." The Spectre countered. "And I've been thinking about that. The Reapers are older than that right? They are living ships, but still ships. So who was the original crew? Sovereign bypassed my questions on the matter like he was a politician. That makes most of what he said suspect. All politicians like to spin-doctor and re-work the truth to their liking; it's why they can't be trusted.

"My point is all ships have a crew, maybe the Collectors were …are the original crew. Slave-servants to the Reapers no doubt, but crew nonetheless. The memories show the collectors working for the Reapers after indoctrinations start to fail due to mental instability. I don't know the connection but Regent Izu-Chuan's memories clearly show it. If they weren't the original crew, they have been since the Protheans fell. They have a symbiotic maybe even a parasitical relationship. They look like bugs maybe they are nothing more than sapient parasites, I don't know. The memories show the connection, the Reapers give the Collectors tech and the collectors give the Reapers the one thing they don't have."

"Which is what?" Shiala asked.

Shepard showed her hand and wiggled her fingers. "Opposable thumbs." The Spectre smirked and then sighed as seriousness took hold of her once again. "They also find and harvest unique specimens. Isn't that what the stories say, that they scour remote regions of space looking for genetic mutations and abnormalities? From the memories of Regent Izu-Chuan, I know that the Reapers have a unique weapon, something she called seekers. These aren't the smart bombs we know of; they are altogether something far different. I don't know if they are bio-synthetic like the keepers but it wouldn't surprise me if they were. They swarm upon colonies like locusts. From what we saw from the memories they are used to immobilize their prey. Now herein lies the problem. If the collectors used them fifty thousand years ago, I bet my next pay check they will still use them today if they wanted to take out whole worlds. Maybe that is how the Reapers do it: attack whole civilizations but leave no trace of how they did it."

"During all of my studies," Liara stated "The one thing that truly had me perplexed was the cycles of extinction. Even with the memories of this regent, the motive is still so unclear. Why do this? There has to be more than simple genocide. Left to the galaxy's own devices its races are quite capable of doing that to each other. Not a single asari lifetime can go with out some great war breaking out."

"Last time someone tried to have a heart-to-heart with a Reaper it didn't turn out so well." Ash said.

Liara gave the young human a look. "I do not wish to have congress with a Reaper, I am not my mother. I merely desire to know their motives."

"I …I… didn't…" Williams blanched. She hadn't meant to infer but damn if she didn't put her foot in her mouth. "Sorry. I know if we understand their motives we can better formalize a plan to defeat them, but I don't see how that is possible."

"We search the memories." Shepard said.

Liara turned on her wife so quickly everyone in the room flinched, including the Spectre. "NO! You heard what Dr. Chakwas said. No more interfacing with prothean tech! It will destroy you. She medically forbade it and as your bondmate so do I."

Shepard smiled slightly. "There are other ways to search through memories. As an asari I would think you would know what I speak of."

"A knowledge bond." The frustrated young woman said in a deflated tone. "I…I assumed you meant…"

"It's alright, Liara." Shepard soothingly dismissed the embarrassment her wife now felt for her sudden outburst. "But yes a knowledge bond. It helped me sort out the images from the beacons and the cipher; I have no reason to believe it wouldn't do the same for the vinculum."

"Hold on." Ash interjected, holding a hand up to pause the on-going conversation. "What did Liara mean interfacing with Prothean tech will destroy you?"

All faces in the room stared intently upon their Commander. The Spectre took a breath and began to explain to them what Dr. Chakwas had told her about Cyan Syndrome, what her body was doing and how it was changing. She told them an abridged version of the details about needing a particular procedure Dr. Chakwas had recommended. Their trip to Illium was more than the need to upgrade the ship with new shields, scanners and fuel systems.

"I knew Klencory was bad place." Williams said after the explanation was given. "That goddamn place was screwing with all of you biotics, and yours specifically Skipper. Then you were inside that Device for so long. It isn't right, none of it is."

"Perhaps not but it is what it is." The Spectre said. "We stop at the Citadel first give them the finds from the caches, meet with the Council and introduce them to Weareth'Bol and Ksad Ishan."

Uncomfortable looks were exchanged from one face to another. Shepard crossed her arms over her chest, her feet shoulder width apart. Not a good sign for anyone on the receiving end of the glare. "Williams. SitRep. Now."

"Yes ma'am. There was an incident in the sanctuary. The vinculum, Ksad Ishan knew what it would do to you. It seemed his secondary programming from his creator was to preserve any and all Prothean knowledge. When he saw the vinculum he deliberately enticed you to interface with it."

"I see." The Spectre's voice was still very stern. "I assume he is shut down then?"

"In a manner of speaking." Tali said.

Shepard's attention was again drawn to her hotheaded second-in-command. "I'm guessing that you shot him?"

"No." Williams shook her head.

"I did." Liara admitted freely. "For what he did to you he deserved no less than to be turned into slag." Liara's voice dripped with venom that startled the Spectre.

"Liara?" Shepard studied the woman before her, through the bond she felt a rage barely contained. Rage burning in her name, rage unquenchable, unyielding. Terrifying was the quiet rage burning behind innocent eyes.

"Ksad Ishan…Vigil deliberately misled you, Samantha! All that knowledge right at ones fingertips but at what cost? For my part in what happened I am glad to have done it and I would and will do so again and again to any that would dare strike against you and cause harm to you. That construct is in ruin now."

Shepard frowned slightly; she was unaccustomed to feeling such dark emotions from her beloved. "Is anything left of it?"

"We retrieved what was left," Tali said as if she were speaking of something quite visceral. "For my part, Commander I can't say I will mourn the loss of the geth. Despite the alterations and cybernetic lobotomy we gave it, it still was a functioning geth. There were too many unknown variables. Since the uprising they have adapted, one might even say evolved from that data you gave me for my Pilgrimage which denoted autonomic functions."

Shepard had been warned about such back on Ilos. It had taken a better part of two days for the science team to shut down the neurolink and autonomic functions to install Vigil into the memory core in the geth's posotronic brain. They had taken so many precautions against the geth mind they hadn't thought of the Prothean AI's hidden programming or agendas.

"I want to see it."

"We took only the head. The body…was beyond salvaging." Tali said

"Show me."


	31. Knights, Promises, Beliefs

Chapter 31: Knights, Promises and Beliefs

In the elevator heading down to the labs Shepard tilted her head side to side relieving the tension building up in her shoulders. "So how just how did you get me back to the ship?" her question was generalized relating to anyone of the ground team with the answer.

"Once Liana proclaimed you free of the vinculum I carried you, Commander." Garrus answered. "While Williams was able to fling you over her shoulder in a fireman's carry, I was simply able to carry you rather like a child. I have to say, so fully armored and so fully armed you are remarkably light weight, Shepard."

"Smooth Garrus, real smooth." Williams teased. "A woman always likes to know about her weight."

"I was only stating a fact." The turian defended. "With all she was carrying, Shepard is not nearly as heavy as I thought she would be."

Liara placed a hand on his arm. "If I was you, I'd stop right there, or you are going to need a very large shovel to dig yourself out. My bondmate is not known to take such things lightly."

Garrus's mandibles fanned out in embarrassment. It suddenly occurred to him that he was the only male in a very small-very confined space filled with five women, and if looks could kill... Perhaps his words should have been better audited. "I….I… I'm stopping now."

The others laughed, including the Spectre. "I appreciate the intent, Garrus." she said light-heartedly letting him off the hook Having carried Ash over her shoulder in heavy armour and fully armed in the extraction on Virmire the Spectre could truly appreciate the comment for its practicality.

Entering the lab, the Spectre wasn't surprised to see the table in which the geth head rested upon encased behind a forcefield. What did surprise the woman was the state it was in - practically obliterated. And that was being polite. One side of its flashlight head was crushed as if it had been made out of aluminium. What wasn't smashed in looked as if it had been blasted with a plasma ray - melted metal and wires hung out of the carapace like so much slag.

Shepard spun around giving her wife a look of appreciation for the sheer biotic power she wielded. "Damn…" she gasped turning back to the remnants on the lab-table. "You must have been seriously pissed off."

Shiala only stared at the remains. To do this the young maiden had to have summoned massive amounts of inner energy. She had only heard of matriarchs doing such things; Benezia came to mind. The powerful matriarch had done something very similar as a demonstration of her power both to the geth and the krogan warlords Saren had taken on Sovereign. Only it was a colossus the matriarch had pulverized with her biotics not a prime, but still…to have that much power coursing through the younger asari was noteworthy indeed. Was it because Liara was pureblood or was it because of the gestalt or was it because of the knowledge of Prothean biotics in the cipher's memories? A combination of all? This would need study.

"You should have seen her." Williams piped up. "Flash of blue then bang! That clanker was sent into the side of the pyramid in chunks of shrapnel and slag. There was barely anything left of the body itself. Most of it was imbedded in the walls of the sanctuary and in that pyramid vinculum thingy. One thing is sure; you don't screw around with Miss Prothean Expert's woman."

Liara blushed slightly at the praise and the truth behind the words, _'I am protective of what is mine. Just as you my love. I understand your conviction to play the role of protector far better now than ever before. When you were becoming lost to me, there was no greater need within me than to protect you.'_

Liara felt a flush of awe and wonder emanating from her bondmate. Sam had no words to say to such a vow of devotion. Her silver tongue seemed quite tied up. Her mind boggled: when had their roles shifted and reversed? Wasn't she the one who was the Spectre in shining armour? Wasn't Liara the fair maiden? Perhaps that cool reserved role of protector was always there, simply cloaked by the soft voice, innocent doe eyes and gentle demeanour. Or perhaps the pregnancy simply unleashed the mamma bear within.

"Is any of what Vigil was recoverable?" Sam brought the subject back to hand.

"I can attempt it, but I have my doubts, Shepard." Tali said. "The positronic brain is fried as is the memory core. The only thing this piece of scrap is now good for is research and study into the geth. Vigil is gone Commander, anything we have left of the AI is the data files we saved to our hardsuit computers and OSDs."

"Crap." the Spectre muttered. "The Council's going to _love_ this."

Liara looked slightly abashed of what troubled censured path lay in store for her bondmate in the Council chambers, it was only a fleeting expression. Something in her eyes revealed she had no true remorse over the destruction of the synthetic. It had crossed the line and dared bring harm to her love. Beyond that haunted look there was something more, something far colder that spoke of similar fates should anyone else dare do the same. They would burn…they would burn until there was nothing left of them. May they find peace in the embrace of the Goddess for they would find none in Liara T'Soni.

"Well maybe they'll be so distracted by our new little friends they'll forget all about Vigil." Williams said optimistically. "Hopefully first contact with them will be a hell of a lot better than it was with us and the turians. God knows those buzzards like to bomb everything in sight."

"I'm standing right here, Lieutenant." Garrus said

"I…I only meant Trace. He's always riding the Skipper's ass about everything she does. Everyone knows just because she's a human he never wanted Shepard to be a Spectre."

"Right. Of _course_ that's what you meant." His mandibles twitched in amusement for having caught the young woman out. Not that the ex-C-Sec officer blamed Williams. There were plenty of his fellow turians that still felt resentment over the humans' swift rise to power, both political and in other areas of government service. Since the attack on the Citadel the humans practically ran C-Sec. No doubt there were Ward Intendents candidates that rallied the other races to 'take back their Citadel' during their up-coming election campaigns.

"Speaking of them, I'll have to meet with Weareth'Bol and prep them for their conference with the Council." Shepard commented.

The others traded glances with Liara, who in turn looked at her wife with concern awash in her ever expressive eyes. "Do you truly think that is wise, will this not aggravate the condition?" she said.

"I won't sustain a prolonged connection, you can monitor it. But I'm the Commander, I initiated first contact, they trust me. So yes I have to be the one to go in, and wise or not I am. Look Chakwas said to meditate and to take a more aggressive motivation to train my biotics further. This is a step in that direction."

"As well as two in the direction she said to stay away from." Liara argued.

"This conversation is over, Liara. And that goes for the rest of you as well. I am not some earthbound wallflower." Shepard folded her arms over her chest her own azure eyes burning with the icy aura of command. "I'm not in Klencory's Ee-Zo polluted atmosphere. Nor is this a Prothean device. Besides, if I have a flare up you'll pull me out. End of discussion," her tone taking on more of the command voice none dare rally against.

The Spectre looked back to the disembodied head of the geth. "Take what you can from it Tali, then space it."

"Um, Commander I was wondering if I could not send it back to my father. He sent me a message telling me he's heading a scientific team researching the geth. The information we recovered was a great boon of fortune. It's given hope to the Flotilla that one day we may be able to take back our home world. If I make sure it is safe for transport will you allow it?"

"You're looking for vulnerabilities in their defences." Shepard said more than asked.

The young quarian nodded. "Will you allow it?"

"How will he pick it up?"

"I can send him a missive on a drop-point. Perhaps on Illium, though the Flotilla isn't allowed near the planet individual scout ships are allowed to trade."

"Why isn't the Flotilla allowed there?" asked Williams.

"For the same reason we are heavily scrutinized anywhere we go. The other races tend to think of us as thieves and scavengers. Why should one planet be any different than any other? You think it is difficult being a human amongst the Citadel races, try being a quarian." Tali said, her tone unusually venomous. "The only time I found complete acceptance among other races is here on this ship and that's because it's your ship, Commander."

Shepard placed a sisterly hand on the younger woman, leaned in and whispered, "You're family Tali, and besides you're the best engineer I've ever seen. Better than Adams and he's very good. Hell he even asked me once why you aren't the Chief of Engineering; he told me he feels like a bloody novice in comparison. I want those little miracle working hands here on my ship, holding her together. I know if I gave you a circuit board, hunks of metal and some Ee-Zo and you'll have it making jumps in no time."

Tali grinned behind her helmet. "You better believe it, Shepard."

"As for the geth head, yeah go ahead. I suppose if we encounter any more geth in our travels there will be bits left over from it. If you make damn sure it's safe I'll allow you to do the same. Not whole bodies, nothing that can be reanimated. We're treading on a thin line of ethics here, Tali. I know it's hypocritical at this point considering what we did with the geth-prime and Vigil but I don't want to go further down that road. It can lead to all sorts of war-crimes that are too easily justified. I did it once, I can't do it again. And I won't."

"I understand. I promise I'll ensure it is safe," Tali vowed. "I won't endanger this ship or my Flotilla. My father would never do so either. We just want to find a way to neutralize the geth and take back the homeworld. I know it will never happen in my lifetime, that it's only a pipedream. My father once promised to build me a house on our world, even if it is a fantasy I want to believe in it. But perhaps the future children of the Flotilla will know the soil of our true home."

Shepard found a sad smile forming at the corners of her mouth. She had rarely heard the young engineer speak with such passion before. Her heart wanted to help Tali's father make good on his promise. It was impractical as it was improbable but the urge was still there. "We'll do what we can."

"Thank you, Commander!" the youth in the other woman shining through in her excitement.

"So am I right in guessing there was nothing truly salvageable in the prime other than the head?" the Spectre asked.

The others save for Shiala shook their heads.

"Like I said Skipper, it was mostly slag and shrapnel. Liara gave it one hell of a biotic punch. If she can do that, I think she's been holding out on us." Ash commented.

"Or perhaps she had not previously been properly motivated." Shiala voiced her thoughts for the first time. "It is not uncommon for bonded asari to display very protective natures when their mate is in grave danger. Add the factor of the pregnancy which furthers those more aggressive displays and desires to protect your family."

Liara felt a hand upon her arm. No words or thoughts exchanged the message was all in the touch. Sam understood all to well that burning desire to protect. She had felt that way for a long time even before they were true lovers. When Liara was taken down by one of Benezia's commando's Sam practically became lost in a berserker's rage.

"Speaking of protection, Commander there is something I need to speak to you and Commander Shiala about." Williams said.

"I get the feeling this is going to need a bit of privacy." Shepard said.

At the nod of the younger woman's head, Shepard gestured for the others to leave the lab. Liara was about to follow the others but was caught short by Ash's hand on her arm. "You may as well stay, there's something else we'll need to talk about after this."

"Ash what's going on?" Shepard questioned leaning against one of the lab tables with her arms neatly folded over her chest.

The young marine took in a deep breath, "Okay. Skipper, I've put a lot of thought into this, and you've given me a great chance to rise up above my grandfather's legacy. And I feel I have risen to the occasion at least I hope I have." Ashley had worked so hard to gain Shepard's respect, it was something she valued practically above all else, nearly more than her family's name.

"Ash?" Shepard unfolded her arms; her stymied expression steadily became one of concern.

"What happened on Klencory and then again in that cursed sanctuary proved it, you don't need me as your XO, _you_ need _me_ to be at your six. Skipper you and I both know what the regs say about the commander and the XO being deployed in the same mission and on the same ground team. Despite the fact we have…" She shrugged. "Look Shiala's been grounded since her pregnancy and she's been doing most of the more administrative aspects of the XO's duties anyway and most of the crew have already started to see her in that role. Why not make it official?"

"Ash, you actually want a demotion?" Shepard was agog. "You've earned your place as a lieutenant… as well your position here on the ship as its XO. I would never have given it to you if I didn't for a moment believe you couldn't handle it."

"I know. It's not going to be a demotion. Not exactly. Look I just…" she sighed. This was more difficult than she had imagined. She wanted to convey her deepest thoughts logically but the words were all becoming jumbled, making her feel the fool she sounded like. Or at least in her more self-critical mind it was thus.

"She does not desire to be parted from you in battle." Shiala explained knowingly. "This I understand. I felt the same when I was serving Matriarch Benezia. Sometimes a huntress prefers to be at the side of her commander in battle rather than in command of her troops and parted from her."

"And what of you Shiala, you are already shouldering the duties of CAG. If you become XO a new CAG will have to be chosen. Even grounded as you are you fulfilling that role remarkably well." Shepard said. "I'm not saying I'm opposed to this change of position, but think of what this will look like in your files, Ash. It will appear you cannot handle the pressures of command." Shepard pointed out.

"Not if you document the truth." Liara said. "You need her as your Two-IC in the flagship ground team and such a position is prohibited for one individual to be both the Two-IC of the same team the Commander is on and the XO according to Alliance military regulations. You are placing her where she most effective. As Ashley stated - covering your six. " '_And I am more comfortable knowing she is there for you when I cannot be_.' Liara added through their bond.

"Who then shall be CAG?" Shepard asked for recommendations.

"Two names come to my mind, Commander." Shiala said. "Both are excellent pilots, strategists and can take command. While young Naga'sadow has an amenable personality and will easily conform to your style of command and she is highly adaptive to improvisation during battle. The other is a matron, more fixed in her demeanour but has skills in leading others and bolstering their courage. She is in fact on your own ground team."

"Morwen." Shepard concluded.

"The same."

The Spectre nodded. "Any other ideas? What is your assessment of Russan Vos? You flew with him in battle over Ilos, Shiala. What's he truly like under the pressure of combat?"

"As all turians he follows the orders of his commander even if he doesn't like them. He might complain but he will follow them. He is highly observant and watchful of his allies in theatre. I would go as far as to say he has a knack perhaps even a sixth-sense for tracking the actions of both enemy and ally in a dog-fight. He seems a capable enough ranking officer. The others in the air-group have a healthy respect for his abilities."

Once more Shepard seemed to mull over the offered name. She knew his record as a fighter-pilot it was one of the reasons she had recruited him. That had he had once served with Garrus and the former C-sec officer seemed to have an open respect for the man was also a recommending factor.

"Place Morwen in the open spot in air group, and Russan as its CAG. For now it's a probational position, neither he nor the others need know this. If he doesn't work, Morwen becomes the CAG. Ash, Shiala set the paperwork in motion, I'll sign off on it."

Ash was grinning widely. "Thank you Skipper." a breath later, "I…I hope I haven't disappointed you."

The Spectre shook her head. "To tell you the truth I was wondering how long it was before you asked for this transfer. I sort had a gut feeling it was going to happen, just not when." the older woman smiled back.

"You…you knew!" Ash stuttered. "And you didn't tell me?"

"Hell Ash I know you prefer shooting things with your boom-stick apposed to playing watch-dog over a ship and pushing papers while the skipper is groundside playing in the muck."

Ash's smiled brightened as she let out a breath she felt she had been holding for a millennia. The pent up anxiety she had been holding back for some time had become terrible—toxic and she wanted rid of it. To do that she had to she had to confront a rather weighty elephant in the room. One not so easily dispatched as the other had been. It had been her rather late night conversation with Priestess Kerubiel that had been the catalyst to tackle the issues setting as a stone in her heart.

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_Not long after the crew returned from groundside, Ash had come to the chapel…seeking she didn't know what… answers perhaps. Wasn't that where you were supposed to go when you were lost? The chapel was warmly lit with several score of candles something it seemed many religions had in common. Rosewood incense burned near one of the altars off to the right where a smallish golden Buddha was nestled, similar scented incense smouldered near an emerald -marble statue of Athame mounted upon a fraxon shark in the opposite corner giving the chamber a comforting atmosphere rather than cloying._

_One of the first things Ash did when she entered was go to the small tapers of white candles, set the wick a flame with a whispered prayer that her Skipper would be okay, and five by five in no time. Her chocolate brown eyes watched the flickering flames of dozens of offering candles, mesmerised by their silent dance. _

"_The Commander is resilient; she will pull through this new dilemma. Have faith in our good doctor and her skills." A soft voice interrupted Ash's inner thoughts. _

_Ash turned to see Priestess Kerubiel approach, garbed in the snug fitting black robes of her Order. She wasn't wearing exactly the same sort headdress Benezia had sported but something akin to a nun's cowl. "Isn't that a strange thing for someone of the Cloth to say? Aren't you supposed to be telling me something religious and full of piety?" _

"_Am I?" the asari smiled a grandmother's smile despite the fact the face that expressed it was still quite young looking. She looked maybe to be in her mid-thirties but one could never tell with an asari. She could be well over five hundred years old for all Ash knew. "And what solace would that give you now? Have you not already offered a prayer to your All-Mighty? You came here seeking answers to questions you do not want answered and yet need them nevertheless."_

_The young lieutenant almost got lost in that comment until she deconstructed it and found herself agreeing with it. "Yeah you can say that again." Ash shook her head, her gaze still fixed safely on the flames of the burning candles. "What are your thoughts on a trinity?"_

"_Trinity?" Kerubiel cocked her head. "I gather this is not a theoretical theological query. You speak of an asari bonded trinity?"_

"_Er yeah ... sorry I should have clarified that."_

"_Bonded trinities are exceedingly rare. They only occur when three hearts have truly bonded and find only pain in separation. By asking me this question am I to gather that Commander Shepard and Dr. T'Soni have asked you to join their bonding?"_

_Ash nodded silently._

"_You lament over what is right in accordance to your Faith and what you desire?"_

"_Yeah. No. Not exactly. To me…that sort of thing is simple, you don't mess with the sanctity of marriage and yet Liara's faith allows for it. Even the Skipper's does. She was raised as a druid for crying out loud. Miss Prothean Expert even pointed out there are or rather were more than a few polygamy agreeable religions on Earth that supported this practise as well."_

"_Those faiths are your not faith." The priestess concluded. "And this troubles you?"_

"_What troubles me is that I'm so damn tempted. One of my sisters asked me once if Shepard were a man what would she be and I said without blinking an eye the love of my life. Before her I never was even drawn to my own sex. I mean I ...I was curious when I was a teenager. Any girl tells you otherwise is lying. But Lynn is the bonafide Williams lesbian not me. Then I met Shepard, served with her and …I found myself drawn to her. _

"_Skipper has a way to make you see things, believe things you normally wouldn't. She can turn the world upside down and inside out. Falling in love with her wasn't part of the plan. Then she goes and gets married, is about to be a mom…and then of all things when I think I got a handle on my emotions, Liara comes and presents this blasted trinity thing."_

"_This I suspect becoming involved sexually with another woman is not that which waylays you. Liara, then. You have a history of not trusting non-humans. I can imagine being intimate with one is disconcerting. Do not look so astonished lieutenant, that I know this. When I was assigned as a part of the clergy of this ship I made myself quite well aware of the nuances of all her crew. I cannot other wise perform my theological duties if I am blind to the ideologies of each crewmember."_

_Ash shifted her feet. "I trust Liara implicitly. I trust the other's on my ground-team with my life."_

"_That is not an answer to my question."_

"_I care for Liara." was all Ash offered. _

"_T'is obvious you've made up your mind Lieutenant Williams, they await your answer do they not? Go and do what needs to be done to settle the matter once and for all. To linger so does a disservice not only to yourself but to the two women waiting your decision."_

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"Sam." Ash tempted the rarely used first name of her Skipper. "Liara, I have to say this now. There is something between the three of us that needs to be resolved."

Shiala knew this was one conversation she need not be present for, with a slight bow she said. "I'll inform those directly affected by the new orders personally and note the changes in the ship's logs, Commander."

Shepard returned the comment with a nod. "Thank you, Shiala." Her eyes however never shifted from Ashley.

Ash looked behind her and moved to a small flight of stairs leading to the upper deck of the laboratory and sat down, with her elbows resting upon her knees. It wasn't long before both Sam and Liara followed suit. Neither one of them uttered a word, preferring to wait for Ashley to speak.

Ash opened her mouth then closed it again; her words seemingly vanished in the air like so much smoke and vapour. For a moment she almost wished her long black hair was free from the regulation bun so it would fall forward and veil her face. Unfortunately she had no place to find cover overall not a good defensive manoeuvre

"Ash we're completely off the record, whatever you need to say you're free to do so." Shepard placed a hand on her friend's arm.

Ash took in a second deep breath. "Yeah, I know. That cursed sanctuary put more than my position on this ship into perspective for me it put our relationship, the three of us into perspective as well. Inside I went as apeshit as Liara when that fracking clanker outlined his intent. Liara was faster on the draw but God help me I had my rifle out and aimed ready to blow that toaster into dust!

"Then we saw those memories- first those of that Prothean woman then yours. Liara was so desperate to pull you out of those of the Regent, we all were. But Liara…when she held your still form as she did … I knew the truth. She's your wife and you're hers. But that word wife…it's too weak to carry the truth of what you two are to each other. Wife is such a small word, such a common word. You two are so much more to each other. Sam, I can be your Galahad but I can't be your Lancelot. I won't. I can't." Ashley raised her head her dark brown eyes met the cerulean of Samantha's.

"I do not know the subject of the metaphor but I think I understand the context. You are refusing the Union of the trinity." Liara said.

Both humans nodded. Shepard reached over and squeezed Ash's hand, holding it for the moment. It was she who gave the explanation.

"A long and beloved story of Earth. It refers to King Arthur Pendragon and his knights of Camelot and his Queen Guinevere, the Holy Grail, Excalibur, and Merlin, the Lady of the Lake and of Avalon and Morgan Le Fey. There are many versions of it. Perhaps too many. But one aspect of the story is central to them all.

"There was the once and future king of England, her High King. His name was Arthur, he had one knight beloved above all others, his friend, brother in all but blood, and they loved each other. Lancelot was the greatest knight of them all. None could match him in his prowess in battle. But for all his glory Lancelot was fatally flawed." Sam explained. "Arthur had a wife, the beautiful and in many stories she was more than simply beautiful she was intelligent and a political strategist, a true match for Arthur. Her name was Guinevere.

"The king and queen loved each other greatly, but the queen had desires for Lancelot, and he for her. As I said there are many different retellings of the story, but this is also central to it. Lancelot and Genevieve betrayed Arthur, the man they both loved and had an affair. It broke their friendships, the marriage; in fact it shattered their 'trinity.' Though in time the friendships were restored the bond the three once held was never truly fully healed.

"There was however another knight, who sometimes is far over-shadowed. His name was Galahad. He loved his king as deeply as Lancelot and was as devout to his oath to service to his king. Galahad was not the greatest of the knights but he was the truest of them all. I would go as far to say he was the most noble." Shepard let go of the younger woman's hand only to place it upon Ash's shoulder. The meaning clear.

Liara remained silent for a moment before she addressed the younger of the two humans. "Is this truly what you want? For once this is decided…it is a finality, Ashley. Be certain of your heart in this. Is this what you truly desire? "

Ash touched Sam's hand that was still resting on her shoulder before rising up only to kneel before Liara. She took two blue hands into her own. "It is Liara. But I wanted to…needed to thank you for your offering, your willingness to sacrifice. You can't know what it means to me."

Liara leaned foreword slipping one of her hands free to caress the young human's cheek with such tenderness it shocked Ashley to her core that she had actually welcomed it. "You are _still_ family, Ashley. You always will be." She bent forward touching her lavender lips to dark red. "You are dear to us both."

Ash didn't know what startled her more: the kiss or that she was responding to it! Liara ducked back breaking the kiss and gave a look to her bondmate nodded once then gently turned Ash's head so she was looking at her skipper. She slipped past, leaving the two humans alone knowing they needed this moment for themselves.

"Skipper…I…never wanted to hurt you, but please don't try to change my mind on this." Ash said firmly. "I'm okay with it, truly."

Sam said nothing, she took Ash's face between her hands, leaned in closer, so close they could feel each other's breath. Their eyes locked in acknowledgment of sacrificed love, and much more…

Liara had given them this one small moment, it would not last long. Sam's arms were so strong, so warm, her hand touched Ashley's dark hair in the softest of caresses. She leaned in taking her own kiss from Ash's lips. A kiss that wiped away all dark memories, past fears and sorrow: a kiss sealing away a desire that was never given true birth.

Ash felt her heart slam into her chest, her breath a gasp, a moan, a plea. Her hands grabbed her never-to-be-lover's black almost blue hair pressing hard and hungrily into the kiss. Time slowed, each felt as if they were already falling, drifting, intoxicated. For a long wonderful moment they were just Sam and Ash.

Sam's own moan of desire escaped her swollen lips before she pulled gingerly away. It was her first and last kiss to share with Ashley. Sam breathed in Ash's scent, memorizing it before letting it go.

"Galahad it is." Sam smiled sadly yet accepting Ash's heartache decision, her voice soft like a summer breeze. Her lips kissing the tears in Ashley's eyes, knowing full well her own eyes had shed tears of their own Ash was her ground-team's second-in-command, her occasional sparring partner, a woman who saved her ass in a fire fight more times than Sam cared to count, but knew she would time and again without a second's thought.. Ash was her Trusted, her unborn child's godmother, not least of all her truest and closest friend.

"Galahad," Ash uttered in a strained whisper. Her throat thick with emotion.

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"What further have you discovered from the refugees we recovered from Virmire?" demanded a cultured aristocratic voice.

"Some of the effects of indoctrination are as the old HAARP." Henrico Vorschslagg said to the holographic interface of the Illusive Man.

The Man himself was seated upon something very akin to a throne, simple in design but a throne nonetheless. A burning cigarette held eloquently between two fingers before he took a long drag, breathing in the cloying smoke allowing it to fill his lungs before letting it out. He removed the cigarette from his mouth with his other hand, tapped the ash off into ashtray inset in the left arm of the throne. He watched his young protégée with keen interest. Though he had summoned the doctor to this conference he allowed another to chair it, figuratively speaking.

"Harp?" frowned a young woman with shoulder-length raven black hair and storm grey eyes. Her arms were folded over her ample chest. It was evident from her expression she had no liking for the scientist. So far his Shocktrooper Project had a decidedly large fail rate. If you took into consideration the majority of his facilities had been infiltrated and destroyed by Spectre Shepard it wasn't hard to figure out why. His rachni, thorian creeper and husk shocktroopers had been completely wiped out by the woman.

In fact it seemed the more recent projects have gone down hill, the Shocktrooper, the Ascension Project; and long before that Project Zero was a massive bust. Ensuring humanity not only survived but thrived was a risky business. One the Illusive Man took quite seriously as did the young Miranda Lawson. So seriously in fact she was willing to hear out the bootlicker if only because her illustrious leader saw value in the man's science. Even if a project failed it brought a wealth of knowledge to the next. Project Zero was restarted under the Alliance's own Ascension Project. The 'bestial' shocktroops led to the enhanced clones.

"HAARP as in High Frequency Active Aural Research Program." Vorschslagg explained: his scouse dialect as thick as ever. "It was a joint program manned by the American Air Force and Navy back in the late twentieth early twenty first century. They were conducting experiments to prove the viability of certain technologies Nicola Tesla discovered, including mind control. It is definitely possible to impair rational thought and induce certain moods - aggression, paranoia - through radio frequencies.

"They discovered that using ten Hertz will induce mood swings and migraines only. For thought control you'd have to be able to hook into brain frequencies - the Theta waves, which are in the seventy Hertz range. The indoctrinations of Sovereign probably piggybacked its mind control frequency on an ELF wave. Extremely low frequency. That was how both Sovereign and the thorian indoctrinated their minions including that asari matriarch. If we amplify the WNISCE with something more akin to ELF and HAARP, I believe we will have hundred percent success rate and forestall the madness our subjects in the WNISCE have been experiencing."

"Your WNISCE subjects have failed to meet expectations." Miranda declared coolly, her upper-class Australian accent gave her voice a sound of arrogance. "How can you guarantee The Illusive Man that your ELF-HAARP subjects will fair any better?"

"The WNISCE, is successful in _human_ subjects, Operative Lawson." the scientist answered defensively. "They were more open to suggestion and control. We all knew using the asari was a calculated risk. It was assumed with their high adaptability, unique nervous system they would be more open. Look how many of their commandos were so easily indoctrinated by the Reaper ship. Not only them but a God-cursed matriarch witch as well. The rumors of their mental prowess are well deserved. The krogan, turian and salarians subjects went utterly mad or completely docile. Neither option is viable for shocktroops. In the end they were no better than the rachni and we were forced to euthanize them.

"May I remind you Lawson not all aspects of the Shocktrooper Project have been a failure. Indeed our _human_ enhanced subjects are coming along marvelously well. Using Saren's tank-bred krogan clones as a base my team has devised a plan to use the HAARP program into tank imprinting our own unit of clones. They will be just as enhanced as the original. In addition their bodies will be augmented by cybernetics. I promise you will have your shocktroopers."

"How many viable units can you create, Dr Vorschslagg and how soon?" The Illusive Man demanded.

"Twelve within the month. More if we forgo the cybernetic implantations."

"No. I want them fully ready for testing."

"Sir?" the scientist frowned rubbing the back of his neck. "Against whom do you plan to test them?"

"The bane of your Project, Doctor. If they can not stand against Shepard, what hope is there to stand against the Reapers and their agents?"

This time the scowl on the British man's face deepened. "You mean to set them against the Spectre? But why? The reapers are only a class of geth dreadnaught ships."

The Illusive Man took a long pull from his cigarette, but did not answer the question. He cut the communications having nothing left to say to his subordinate.

"This is more than a test for the new shocktroops, this is a test for Shepard." Lawson reasoned.

This brought a smile to the Man's lips. "Indeed."

Again it was Lawson who spoke, seemingly to answer her own question. "If she can't stand against Vorschslagg's shocktroopers, she can not stand against the Reapers or their agents."

"Very perceptive."

"Despite her motivations, Shepard is humanity's best hope of survival. She did everything right, everything we could ever hope for and more. Saving the Citadel, even saving the Council we've earned the respect of the entire galaxy. And still it's not enough. They are sending her after Prothean trinkets to fight the geth. The geth! We both know they are not the true threat. The Council and the Alliance would never follow Cerberus, but they would follow Shepard, she's a hero, a bloody icon but she is just one woman. If we lose her humanity might well follow."

The Illusive Man touched a button on the armrest's computer counsel activating a small hologram of the human Spectre. He was fascinated by her. She was unique. Not just in ability or in what she experienced but in what she represented. She stood for humanity at a key moment. She is far more than a soldier, she is a symbol. He didn't know if the Reapers understood fear but she killed one that they have to respect. He certainly did.

"Then see to it we do not lose her." He ordered staring at the image of the woman, smoke circled around the Illusive Man's head like a crown.

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Miranda was devout to the Illusive Man, a hardened follower of Cerberus. She owed them so much, not least of all her freedom from her controlling father. Her father created her to be the perfect woman with the only intent she was to be his legacy. Her mother was a test tube. She was created to be smart, beautiful and ruthless. She fled after discovering the truth. It was the Illusive Man himself she ran too, for she knew her father to be a major investor in Cerberus. In return for her freedom from her father, she promised servitude the Illusive Man and had quickly become his favourite operative.

Miranda owed more than her own freedom to the Illusive Man she owned her genetic twin Oriana's freedom. The girl was now with a loving family knowing nothing of her origins or in fact Miranda herself. When the Illusive Man ordered her to secure Shepard, Miranda had not hesitated. To do this however was no simple task, which was why no doubt it was left in Miranda's very capable hands.

The Illusive Man had already started the ground work for Miranda's mission though mostly unknown to the young woman. She needed credible deniability. Allowing Udina to run his hunt and the creation of the Shepard-Caesar in the eyes of the public had been the first step. It would take just a seed, just a spark and the flame would roar to life and would infect like a disease. The Spectre's course had to be set, must be set - directed so it led directly to Cerberus. They would be there for her when the love of the public, the Alliance and the Council were no longer hers.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Alone in their quarters, Shepard stood before her workstation looking at the collection of a dozen or so miniature starships. Her mind mulling over Ash, the decision regarding the trinity, seeing Liara first kiss Ash and then kissing her herself.

'_You endure you're heartache well my love_.' Liara sent through their bond. She wrapped her arms around the thin waist of her bondmate.

Samantha turned in those arms and kissed Liara warmly upon the lips, savouring the soft silken texture. "You think I should be bound to despair?" the Spectre shook her head. "No. We agreed we would yield to her decision in this. My heart would be broken had Ash decided to join the trinity out of loyalty rather then what was in her heart. And she is right, it would not have worked. You two do not share the same feelings for each other. Caring from one another simply isn't enough. While I do love her, my heart is yours, there in no room in it for another. Our daughter…holds her own place there as she does in yours but that is hardly the same."

"I must admit, I was conflicted then in what I felt for her as I am now." Liara confessed. "She is a balance."

"A Balance." Sam repeated the word. "Yes she is that. But perhaps we misunderstood that role…as you said she is family. Liara, I told you no lie when I said I was …am attracted to her, that I have feelings for her. But when I touch you, feel you, draw in your scent, hear your voice I am blind, deaf and dumb to all others, for there is only you. That isn't fair to her, to you or me. It would destroy us in the end. Still…there is something there."

"She has a place in our lives," Liara whispered agreeing with Sam's earlier remark, "but not the place we believed. Love is not diminished."

"No not diminished."

Liara knew without asking that both humans had shared a kiss of intimacy. She had deliberately tugged at the threads of their bond almost inspiring her bondmate to share such a touch. It was why she had kissed Ashley first; it was a blessing of sorts to take this moment, for there would not be another. Liara knew well that moment would not be carried beyond the kiss. Not simply for the metaphor of knights but because it would be a betrayal of what was drawn into consensus and promised. Ashley was Samantha's most 'trusted knight', much beloved but not to be the lover.


	32. Foreshadows

Chapter 32: Foreshadows.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

When she slept the memories of others snuck into her deep dreams as a thief, cloaked by shadow and night.

In those memories Shepard beheld the galaxy in the glory of the prothean expansion a millennia before they were wiped out. Their worlds overgrown with abundant life and vitality and she knew the worlds left behind were nothing more than corpses, the galaxy a husk of what it had been before the culling of the Reapers.

After disarming and occupying the planet, the reapers believed they were more than halfway toward their goal. By utilizing a percentage of protheans to cultivate and harvest bio-resources, reaper experiments could be carried out by the collectors uninterrupted. The great hive at the central core which became known as the Omega Four relay became the site of the great work.

Light and shadow cast reflections and silhouette distorting the figure casting it. But it was clear enough to reveal t'was no human that cast it. Without confirmation, without a second glance there was no doubt it was Regent Izu-Chuan. She had seen, had heard, had known the creatures that hunted in the reapers' name. They had collected onto them the essence of the people and wrought their ruin. She saw the collectors placing captives into cocoons. She saw bodies ripped, torn and flayed as the teeth of dragons gnashed them into remnants of what they were converting them into husks.

The memories only deepened the Spectre's resolve. Even now the galaxy was being bled dry by the megalocorporations' solicit parasitic influences. Operations like Cerberus, and Virmire would sacrifice much to preserve their power and petty ambitions heedless of the profound cost.

Shepard bolted from her sleep and from her bed, her breath hot, heavy and leaden in her lungs. Liara was there at her side instantly, holding her closely to her breast as she always had after the nightmares came. Liara placed her hand over Samantha's heart causing her own eight-chambered organ to slow to its rhythm. Her spirit ever-linked with her love opened the bond between them, their nerves systems merged, blue light of dark mater flashed dimly like distant starlight.

'_Be still my love. Take knowledge from the nightmares and memories but let their haunting go from your spirit.'_

"Liara." Samantha uttered the name so very softly. "I think we're in very big trouble."

"Surely that fate has not changed since the beginning of our mission to stop Saran." Liara said with some levity she had learned while in the past year in the company of her bondmate and the other humans. She had learned to value the tension breaking power of an ill-placed dark humour.

She felt Samantha's smile before she saw it. "Fate-no it hasn't changed the quantity however I think we've maxed out." the Spectre retorted.

Liara offered a beleaguered smile. "It is unfortunate the Universe doesn't play by the same rules."

"There are ways around that, you know"

"Is there indeed?"

"Learn the software and cheat."

"Somehow I had the distinct impression you were going to say something like that."

"How well you know me my love." Sam placed a kiss on the bridge of her wife's nose. She shifted from the bed, scrounged around on the floor for her boxers and tee-shirt before moving silently towards the sitting area of their quarters and shuffled into her floor length black silk robe. One of her few impractical vices, the feel of silk next to naked flesh.

"What are you doing, _melethril"_

"As well as you know me, I know you Angel Eyes," came the answer. The Spectre always enjoyed the sound of the asari language which was why she had made sure her translator no longer interpreted for her. In fact she hadn't since her recovering after the battle of the Citadel.

Liara giggled. "I was going to try to sweet talk you into going to the galley for me." She snaked a long delicate blue finger along the swell of Samantha's now covered left breast. "It seems your daughter is making her mother crave some of those lovely pickled jalapeños."

Sam rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Right, jalapeños, anything else?"

"Something sweet. Fruit perhaps."

Sam nodded and headed for the elevator alcove acting as the dutiful wife. Stretching the kinks out of her shoulders and neck she waited for the lift to make its slow decent to the third level crew deck.

Padding barefoot into the galley the Spectre discovered someone else on a looting mission. Aleena was rummaging in the storage units no doubt on behalf of Shiala. She was about to reach for her prize a familiar looking jar of pickled peppers when it rushed past her grasp, sailed across the mess hall and into Shepard's waiting hands.

Aleena spun round-fast ready to confront the biotic thief. "I had claim on those!" the huntress grumbled indignantly not caring if she was being insubordinate.

"Let me guess, Shiala craved something very hot and spicy and sent you to fetch it for her?"

"Yes to both. And this is the _last _jar of jalapeños." Aleena had her hand balled into fists resting upon her hips.

Shepard smirked cockily holding up the jar was if it was the grandest treasure to be found in the galaxy. "Commander's bondmate outranks assassin's girlfriend."

"Assassin's girlfriend also happens to be the Commander's mentor." Aleena shifted, her arms now folded over her chest, her scowl deepening.

"Ah damn, that's right." Shepard frowned. "How about we split it fifty-fifty?"

"Sounds fair enough, however make sure the juice is also split equally." Aleena's scowl turned into a shudder. "Shiala likes to sip it like tea." She scouted the kitchen area for a container to take her half of the bounty back to lover. She found pint glass which she held up for Shepard to see before she set it on the counter in front of her.

Sheppard scrunched up her nose in a grimace. "So does Liara. Tell me is this normal for asari pregnancies, craving things like jalapeños, green calishite and pepper cheeses and other hot foods?" She began splitting up the picked peppers and juice.

"I was under the impression human women also have strange cravings during their pregnancies." The assassin busied herself by scrounging the large bay refrigerators for fruits and discovered a mixing bowl filled with berries of various types. She put them on the same counter as before then turned back to the fridge to retrieve the cheeses the Spectre had previously mentioned.

Shepard handed her a knife and two small plates as she used a ladle to scoop out several portions of berries into two soup bowls. "Yeah we do. My mother tells me when she was pregnant with me she ate a lot of melons and peanutbutter-banana sandwiches. She also tended to eat a lot of heavily smoked flavoured meats. Not necessarily strange, but strange for her. She hated peanutbutter before and despises it now."

"My own mother admitted to craving calamari, sushi and wasabi rolls as well as kelp pancakes. Come to think of it my mother's cravings are not all that odd, only odd for her as well. You see she is as she says not on speaking terms with fish. She hates fish."

Shepard laughed.

"What? Just because our home planet is world of oceans and islands doesn't mean we all like to eat seafood. Very stereotyping of you, tsk tsk and here I thought you enlightened alien with being bonded to one of us and all." Aleena tried to sound affronted despite the fact she was more amused. "Shall I further that stereotype and say Mother was a promiscuous exotic dancer?"

"I would never have presumed as much." Shepard said honestly as she snuck one of the jalapeños from Liara's share and happily munched on the very hot pepper. She offered another to the bounty hunter who quickly shook her head, her nose wrinkling in distaste. "So…kelp pancakes?" Sam made a face best described as being very ill. She plucked the offered pepper back into the jar.

"Actually kelp isn't that bad. Red kelp found in the oceans of Thessia have long been a food source for my people. It has a sweet taste to it. In fact there are several recipes in the ship's databanks; I believe Rupert has made several salads that contain it. If you ate it without knowing it, you probably enjoyed it." Aleena said.

"Humm… true enough," the Spectre shrugged indifferently licking her fingers clean of spicy brine. "We'll be on the Citadel tomorrow; I'll make sure to put in a stock order for jalapeños."

"A wiser idea would be to have two stock orders delivered directly to the loft and the XO's quarters. Saves time." Aleena suggested placing the last of her finds on a serving tray just as Sam was doing with hers so they might easily carry it back to their lovers.

"Excellent idea. I'll do just that." Shepard nodded in consent. Though Sheila and Williams had not changed their private quarters given their new positions, their destinations of their quarters had. Fortunately it had been mentioned in the ships logs as well or Ash might be quite surprised to discover a shipment of jalapeño peppers intended for Shiala delivered at her doorstep.

"On a side note Shepard?"

"Yeah?"

"My mother was a cooperate lawyer as well as the CEO of a major cooperation."

"You know I would never have guessed that."

Aleena shrugged. "My elder sister took after her in a way. She is _very _good at aggressive negotiations and making sure things go her way and by her own reckoning a _CEO_ of a major organization in the Terminus Systems."

"And your career choices?"

The bounty hunter smiled smugly. "Came to be very useful to my sister from time to time. Sometimes however there are other choices that are better than killing."

Shepard was silent for a moment before she spoke with a quite strength. "Like becoming a parent?"

"That is one of the choices yes. Another…is actually doing what is right for once. I owe you Shepard. You've given me both." a coy smile. "Even if you are a jalapeño thief."

The Spectre chuckled. "We all have our foibles."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Having never seen Samantha phase out as she had when in the Device it was rather disconcerting for Liara to witness. Partially because she felt a distance between her and her bondmate as if separated by a great void and yet contrariwise Samantha's spirit still felt very close—nestled in her heart as fondly as the memory of a favored dream.

Liara pondered the strange relationship her beloved Spectre had forged with the beings of light. She couldn't help but wonder at the words written by Matriarch Dilinga all those millennia ago. How she discovered the entities came from dark energy itself. How had the matriarch phrased it … 'they come from it - from the ebbing flow of the summoning power.' Eons ago something on Klencory awakened in a massive exposure of element zero at its core. The whole planet was rich with the rare element, so abundant Shol had used his mines to finance his expedition to find the beings of light that were right under his nose the whole time. Leave it to Samantha to discover the truth by stumbling right into it, just as she had with the secretes of the Protheans.

A part of the young archeologist sympathized with Shol. After discovering how her rescuer from Therum had uncovered the truth of the prothean's extinction Liara felt cheated. More than that, it felt as if the past fifty years had been wasted. Rage filled her for a short time before young T'Soni allowed reason to settle in her mind. Samantha hadn't purposely usurped the secretes of the protheans away from her any more than she had the truth of the beings of light from the volus billionaire. The Spectre simply seemed to have a natural talent for uncovering that which was lost.

Liara resented agreeing with Vigil's assessment when it once asked Samantha if she was a pawn, savior, redeemer or destroyer, or if in fact did she even know what role she played in galactic events. Vigil had once accused the Spectre of wandering the galaxy blithely unlocking secrets that have been sealed and forbidden for several millennia. Some of those secretes included the beings of light and now the alleged connection between the secretive race known only as the collectors and the Reapers.

The young asari hated to admit especially to herself that if it had not been for the vinculum's holographic playback she had doubted there was even such an alliance between the insectiod race and the sentient starships. But she had seen the evidence for herself as had everyone else on the ground team. There was no denying there was some sort of connection between the cycle of Prothean extinction and the collectors.

Had this connection been known to Saren? Was this why he had so ardently believed he and those that pledged fealty to the Reapers would be sparred? It seemed a logical conclusion. Sovereign must have shown Saren similar recordings to those recovered from the vinculum. Compound that with indoctrination and you generate very willing subservient minion more than willing to do his master's bidding. Perhaps even desperate to do so.

Liara found herself deconstructing ideas and theory after theory on the matter. There must be more to the collectors harvesting warm bodies as a resource than what the memories revealed. But what? Perhaps it was as Samantha had theorized the collectors were akin to the keepers on the Citadel-bio-synthetic constructs engineered by the Reapers for a specific task. Even their name hinted of their Repaper construction. Not imaginative or meaningful as much as it was descriptive. The keepers were the custodians of the Citadel. They 'kept' it in order. The collectors, collected rare individuals of various species for some still unknown reason.

Those who had created the bio-synthetic beings of light must have known something similar to the collectors as well. Despite the effectiveness of their sentient weapon they too had been wiped out. If those that had created the beings of light as well as the Protheans despite all their knowledge and inventiveness were eradicated what hope was there now that this new cycle of mass genocide could be survived?

Liara scolded herself for giving into momentary laps of hopelessness. They would find away. Already they had stopped a Reaper from taking over the Citadel, a major foothold staging ground for their nefarious genocidal campaign. If the allied races of Citadel Space and even those of the Terminus Systems could uncover another such stronghold it would go a long way in defeating the Reapers unslought. Liara shifted her gaze to the one woman that was their irremovable center. Samantha Shepard was an icon, a symbol. Liara knew this deep in her heart that without this one woman it would all fall apart. The young Spectre was the force-the flux that united them all. Samantha will find a way to stop the new cycle of extinction. Liara trusted this. She would find it because the Spectre did not hunt for survival of her own species but all sentients. She campaigned to any to have ears to listen they unite and band together.

Liara became struck with the memory of the poem Samantha had quoted during the awards ceremony so many moths ago. _'Souls driven to madness,-when the souls of the oppressed fight in the troubled air that rages_.' The words had echoed deep within Liara at the time as they did now. She recalled the words '_whirlwind of fury comes from the_

_Throne of God, when the frowns of his countenance, drive the nations together.' _How now that seemed so very true. The memories within the vinculum, the beacons and the cipher only cemented it. With each new memory, each find of ancient technology the idea that Sin was indeed clapping its broad wings over the battle, singing in rejoice over the flood of Death.

The memories of the Regent so vivid it was a wonder Samantha reached any measure of sleep at all. Her nightmares came every night now. She saw souls torn to everlasting fire and with the images of the seekers, the collectors became the very fiends of Hell and they did rejoice upon the slain. The Regent argued against the deaf ears of the Prothean Assembly. As it was now- the Council stopped up their ears to the words of a single Spectre and her crew. And still Samantha struggled to unit them, unite them all. She would see the recovered technology of the Protheans, of those more ancient than they shared so survival was given unto all sentients. Liara promised herself to be at her beloved bondmate's side every step of the way.

Sam moaned from stiffness as she uncrossed her legs which had fallen asleep and in the midst of the pines and needles feeling as blood flowed back into them after being crossed for more than three hours. Rubbing her thighs to help circulate the blood she slowly rose to her feet with the help of her beloved wife's outstretched hand. The strength of the pull landed the Spectre nicely into the asari's arms where she planted a quick kiss on the lilac lips.

"I was half expecting Joker to bud in." Sam snickered as she quickly planted another kiss on those light purple lips.

Liara softly chuckled. "Yes he does have the worst timing. A part of me still thinks he is spying on us and waits just for the 'wrong' moment to bud in." Blue fingers feathered a lock of black hair away from the Spectre's eyes. "I was beginning to become concerned, Samantha. You were so very very still and your heart rate and breathing slowed well below that of when you are sleeping."

"Yeah Ash said something similar on Klencory. But don't worry it's all apart of the deep meditation. I've seen you do the same you know."

"Yes…" Liara frowned "But you are not asari, hibernating trances are not common for humans…"

"No. But neither are they impossible. My grandmother Secura did it quite often when she was doing her religious thing. She'd slip deep into a meditative trance that lasted for days or so I'm told. Of course it could all have been an exaggeration. Don't worry, I'm fine." Sam brushed away her wife's concerns. "I told you before I'm not some frail thing to be coddled. It wasn't a Prothean artifact and it wasn't intrusive. I'm fine Li. Really."

Liara wasn't satisfied until she looked deep into her bondmate's blue eyes and found the sclera relatively white. They still had a hint of cyan as before but thank the Goddess it had not progressed. "Very well. What is the verdict with Weareth'Bol?" the archeologist changed the subject rather than get into another argument with Samantha.

"They understand what is needed of them when they meet with the Council. They'll meet with them just they had when they helped us find the crypts rather than the avatar in the Device. Basically I told them the truth that of the four only one possesses the glow as the rest are dim. Being that the Council members are all 'queens' it was more desirable they meet in congress."

"I think you enjoy hearing _some_ of the members of the Council being called dim."

Shepard's body shifted into a 'who-me' shrug as she held her thumb and forefinger together pinching the air. Liara returned a humoring smile. There were times when the Council seemed jejune in response when dealing with the threat of the Reapers. Samantha's small tithing of joy she garnished when hearing the word dim given to the Council was a relatively harmless retaliation for all the frustration they gave her.

Navigating through the cargo deck absently watching as engineers and marines both collected much of the tech recovered from Ilos and Quana to be repurposed and backwards-engineered for the fleets of Citadel space to better protect themselves against the Reapers threat.

Heading the operation was Tali'Zorah vos _Victory_, expertly directing the troopers as an experienced commander on the battlefield. "You seemed to have rubbed off on our young quarian." Liara smiled. "She has taken after you very well."

Sam only smiled proudly. Tali carefully inspected each create before she gave the approval for it to be shipped off _Victory_. Her Omni tool activated, her three fingered hand typed in commands into the holographic interface so quickly they became blur. At one point she paused, her body language clearly depicting her displeasure.

Sam watched a moment out of curiosity. Something was troubling Tali there was no mistaking it. It was if she had been given an order she completely disagreed with and yet reluctantly obeyed. It was this curiosity that moved the Spectre to investigate.

"Something vexes you?" the Spectre said approaching the younger woman.

"In a word, yes." Tali was a little short in answering.

Shepard looked at crate that had generated the engineer's wrath then back to woman. "Those are the vehicular and personal GL's aren't they?"

"Affirmative, Commander."

"So…what's the problem?"

"The name." Tali said as if it explained everything.

"The name?" Shepard folded her arms over her chest.

"It's wrong, Commander. Its function is not as the name implies. I know fundamentally we agreed on gravity leveler or GL… but it it's an elementary name at best. We can't in good consciences hand them over to the Council with that name. It needs to be changed. Essentially, it's a device to alter gravity's vector inside a small volume without altering the acceleration gravity imparts."

"Yes. And so calling it a gravity leveler is a mistake? Care to explain?"

"A gravity leveler is something entirely different to what we have. Ok, assume we have an object with a GL standing on a clear docking bay on the surface of a planet. Assume someone sets the GL such that it alters the gravity field one millimeter out from the surface of the object it's operating on, such that the gravity field's 'down' is now directly in front of the object: i.e. between the object and the 'target', tangential to the surface of the earth. Now the object 'falls' one millimeter into the new gravity field, moving 'forward'.

"Now the gravity field is... still... one millimeter in front of it. So it keeps falling, and falling, and falling, much like the pijak with a carrot on at the end of a stick, where the stick is tied to the object. The back of your head can't catch your nose while you're alive and not mutilated and under normal physics no matter how fast you run. Now have someone remotely, perhaps or use a AI inside the object have the gravity field be 'up' for the object... it falls up one millimeter, then one millimeter more, and so on... at, in a one-G field in a vacuum, if we ignore friction—atmosphere after ten seconds, it's going at a speed of ninety-eight meters per second. After hundred seconds, nine-hundred and eighty meters per second. This generates a C-fractional bombardment."

"Tail…get to the point! Talk in 'Commander Dummy' for a moment" Shepard didn't even try to hide her growing irritation. She followed technobabble for so long before it numbed her. She was more solider than tech-geek though she was no slouch when it came to technical understanding by any means but she did have her limits.

"A C- fractional bombardment refers specifically to accelerating an object up to a significant fraction of the speed of light. Do this with a reasonably large object and you have a planet-cracker." Tali finished quickly. "That is a gravity leveler, Commander. The Council will assume this is what we discovered. And we haven't. What we have is more akin to a grav-lock. And even that has its difficulties. As we've noted that anyone using it has had their aim thrown off. Everyone using them assumed a battle position as if using meg-locks on hardsuits."

"Which are generally only activated during zero-g," Shepard nodded. "Z-G certified doesn't prep you for GL use in practicality."

"Likewise, for sniper or other long-range battles, one of these somewhere in the middle will cause anyone not compensating for the differing gravity to miss for at least the first round as the bullets flying through the altered gravity area will gain a new vector change not anticipated." Tail explained. "Our field tests prove that good spotting allows for correction on subsequent rounds, of course, as long as the GL isn't changing the vector randomly and quickly."

"Which would be wise, though it only applies to vectors roughly perpendicular to the line of flight - left, right, up, down to get maximum defense." Shepard said following the line of thought laid out before her. She sighed rubbing the back of her neck trying top push away an unsetting headache "You know Tali, you could have mentioned this discrepancy in the name early. Everyone who's been training with them have come to know them as GLs. It's a little late now, top switch the names."

Since the first test, Shepard wasn't at all convinced the GLs had any practically purpose other than functioning as meg-locks on hardsuits on surfaces that were not magnetic.

In the first exercise those that participated responded to it as if in Z-G training. Subsequent training thereafter had the marines and commandos toggling the leveler to 'down', and bounce back and forth among all six 'floors'. It wasn't surprising that the asari commandos were more adept at using the device as they had similar experiences with their own biotics and using lift and pulls in conjunction made them nearly impossible to hit. Of course taking in the factor the GLs were invented with biotic soldiers in mind it wasn't difficult to fathom why the asari were more effective.

Still all those in the GL training had learned to use the leveler to fall 'up' soon enough to slow their 'descent' to a controllable fall, then to fall 'down' again onto whatever surface they wanted if they desired to stay on it for awhile. The ground-troops partiality those without biotics learned that they were essentially using the equivalent to a biotic lift without a time limit. They also found the device was particularly nasty outdoors. The idea being an activated device with an adhesive agent flung at an enemy target put them out of commission. Even if the target wasn't sentient enough to get rid of the device and fall they'd end up too high in the atmosphere, freezing and suffocating as well as irradiated. They'd end up drifting in space, repelled from all objects with gravity fields.

One of the marines had jokingly said they should try and using a vehicular GL on a thresher maw, to see how big those _mothers_ where. The idea was quickly deep-sixed by Shepard and the squad leaders unless of course the marine wanted to do the job himself. The solider had quickly backed down.

"Not necessarily. GLs can stay the definition is what must be changed. Grav-locks rather than gravity levelers. They do not level gravity as so much as lock it in a micro-fractional bubble. It neither creates nor alters the actual acceleration of gravity; merely redirects it without loss." Tali earnestly said.

"I don't understand what the big fuss was over." Shepard commented.

Tali wrung her hands. "I…can get a little…obsessively compulsive when it comes to tech and engineering, Commander." the quarian admitted as if it were some sort of defection in her mental capacity.

"If that's what makes you so damn good at what you do, then I still don't see a problem. Besides from what I hear all the best engineers and inventors had the same 'flaw.'" Shepard put a hand on Tali's thin shoulder. "So this C-fractional bombardment thing-this planet cracker can it be made into a warhead say…a Reaper cracker?"

Tali gave a pause for a moment of thought. "Theoretically yes."

"And realistically?"

"This ship isn't designed to be weapons and research platform Commander. We don't have the full means at our disposal."

Shepard tapped the quarian's omni tool. "But you have the means to design the schematics for such a thing, yes?"

Tali nodded once more. "I'll see what I can come up with. With all we found of the prothean tech it might very well be possible. Much like the mass effect technology used in firearms such a thing can be used and mounted on a warhead."

"Then design it Tali. We'll get the Council to make it. And if they will not we will find somebody who will, even if that means sighing contracts on Illium. Though I'm fairly sure Anderson and or Hackett will be amenable to its construction. I want you to give the planes to the Fleet as well." Shepard paused for a moment more before she spoke again. "Tali how amenable do you believe the Admiralty will be to allying the Flotilla to the Citadel fleet against the Reapers?"

Tali took a step back, hesitant to answer right away. "I…I wouldn't like to say." She said honestly. "It is difficult to say. Since our forced exile had the hands of the geth, quarians have never been welcomed for long in any one system. It draws resentment in my people to still face the punishment of our forebears' mistakes. If the Admiralty Board and Conclave can be made to see the truth in the threat …they might. Solid proof must be given to them. I know many of the Captains want information on the Reapers. Most believe what has been told by the Citadel that Sovereign was of geth construction. Others in the Conclave theorized it was installed with an advanced AI that was able to override the geth's rudimentary intelligence systems.

"The galaxy already blames us for the geth and their war on sentients. The Reapers will be blamed on us too, simply for the fact what the rumors coming out of the Citadel are saying: Sovereign is an advanced geth dreadnought. It's just another reason for the galaxy to hate us. Some of the Admiralty and especially the Conclave I can tell you might get it into their minds to make it serve them just as Saren did. They'll want to use it to take back our homeworld and colonies. They don't do this out of malevolence but out of desperation. Shepard our Fleet has ships as I told you that date back to the uprising. Many are falling apart faster than we can repair or replace them. It makes the people and more importantly our leaders desperate.

"They don't grasp the truth of what Sovereign truly was. Others realize the magnitude of waking another Reaper will mean. Sovereign nearly destroyed the Citadel and practically took out half its fleet. They will want to avoid waking anymore dormant Reapers out there lurking in unexplored space. They know it is something that needs to be avoided at all costs. My father believes me, he believes you. He is a voice of reason but he isn't the only voice.

"Convincing the Migrant Fleet to stand against the Reapers will not be an easy task but not completely impossible. Sharring all this tech will help smooth negotiations, at any rate and perhaps it is best we go and speak with them show them the truth and the dangers of the Reapers."

"I'm willing to give it a shot." Shepard said. "I want you to start laying the ground work Tali. You've just become the unofficial ambassador of the Migrant Fleet and _Victory_. Set up a conference after our 'downtime' on Illium. As a good will gesture for these negotiations give them some examples of the Ilos discoveries and tell them we are more than willing to share more to keep the lines of communication open. Tali your people have the largest fleet in the galaxy: fifty thousand ships… that's one hell of a force. If the quarian join forces with Citadel armada we truly stand a chance against the Reapers."

Liara placed a hand on the young woman's arm. "Perhaps one might suggest that this union may well go to change the view and reception of the quarians in the eyes of the galaxy, a reception that perhaps might open doors to lines of trade and commerce. Not only that but aid in finding to take back the territory behind the Perseus Vail. Or at the very least worlds that can be inhabited by the quarians. Did you not say that your people have fraternized with the idea of colonizing a new home world?"

"With all due respect, Liara that is a lot of ifs." Tali said.

"Nevertheless it is still a possibility." Shepard answered. "Then again such things are possible. Thirty years ago humanity was the newcomers. In a way we still very much are still the new kids on the block and yet we now have a Spectre and a seat in the Council."

"Yes. But humanity hasn't had the stigma of three hundred years of battle against malevolent AIs. So many people…me included want what everyone else takes for granted. You still have a homeworld Shepard and so do you Liara even if you rarely set foot on them, they are still there. You can kiss your beloved. A kiss can kill me. If I take off my helmet in my home I die! I envy you, sometimes so much I curse the Pilgrimage for it has shown me what I can never have! I have never smelled a flower without the filtration systems in my suit. I have never touched its petals with my naked hand.

"No, I won't tempt my people with the dreams of help to recover what we lost. Even that little hope seems a cruelty. I will play the ambassador and give the Fleet the gifts of Ilos but not empty promises. If they draw their own conclusions…let them but I won't plant the seeds of such bitter hope."

Shepard moved turning the young woman to her touching the hooded-helmeted head with a gentle hand. "Tali…"

"I won't let you down, Shepard. You're right. If we have any chance of standing against the Reapers we will need the Flotilla. And maybe in standing against that threat my people will regain our honor in the eyes of the galaxy."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

**Obedience breeds discipline. Discipline breeds unity. Unity breeds Power. Power is life. Life is Humanity's survival. Survival is Cerberus. Cerberus breeds Obedience. **

It was the inscription above the threshold of every door in every barrack of Cerberus's commando units. They were indoctrinated in this maxim since the first day of their enlistment. It was a belief held by the lower echelons. High ranking operatives had only to look at the concentric diamonds of Cerberus's emblem and hear words in their minds.

Weak minds did not question the aphorism, stronger minds slightly disturbed by the words who might have questioned were told to think of Shanxi, of the continued dominance of the Council races. They were told to look too the sacrifices of Battle over the Citadel and soon theses stronger minds stopped questioning as resentment took a greater more powerful hold over their consciences. Some followed out of fear of retaliation if they discontinued their pledge of service. They had no desire to _disappear_. Some followed out of the benefits so _generously_ given to them denied by an ungrateful Alliance. Those who were able to withstand the pressures of antipathy, fear or greed followed out of the compulsory need to repay a great dept owed to the Illusive Man. All such minds had free will.

This free will was abhorrent in the clones, just as individualism was. The Illusive Man wanted troopers as disposable as malfunctioning assault riffle. This had been the motive for non-sentient alien troopers. However just like all alien life they were less than the true magnificent of humanity. It had been a mistake to rely on anyone else but humanity. Even cloned the troopers were far superior specimens than any other construct to date. Saren relied on cloned krogan troopers, The Illusive Man upped the anti and used his own species, they would not fall so quickly in their tests as Saren's krogans had.

The words of obedience became an integral makeup in the tank-breed Shocktroopers. Along with all the ELF-HAARP imprints of rudimentary motor control, speech, combat skills, defensive and offensive battle strategy, this maxim became a fundamental aspect of their minds. It was one of the reasons they were superior to Saren's troopers. It was the reason they were worthy of testing Shepard. Worthy of withstanding minions of the Reapers which would no doubt be aliens just as Saren and that asari witch had been.

Shepard had as intel reported spoken to Sovereign and managed to withstand its indoctrination. It only served to prove to Cerberus how superior humanity was to the aliens. The Illusive Man studied the rows tanks of the twelve commandos like a very proud father. They were the vanguard of an army bred for war, to preserve humanity. They only needed a commander to see it done.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

_Victory's_ berth was private just as the _Normandy's _had been. Shepard waited for her crew to join her, her eyes trailing the eloquent sleek lines of her ship. A wavecrest class was beautiful. It always reminded her of a stingray- pterodactyl hybrid. Its wings out stretched like both species, the bridge tapered like the Jurassic trysail, it was actually to be truthful quite a beautiful ship. A part of her missed the old familiar contours of the _Normandy_. But it was more than that. Shepard had missed its name. Victory had been a name chosen by the Council in honor of her victory over Saran in the battle over the Citadel. The designation however never set well with the young Spectre. Victory seemed self-possessed and boastful. Of course it was designed by those whose dreadnought flagship was called the _Destiny Ascension_.

In her mind frigates were named after famous battles in history not some esoteric concept. Apparently the asari thought otherwise. Shepard snorted in half amassment. They very well couldn't call the ship _Citadel_ now could they? Shepard chided herself for being nostalgic. She was a spacer accustomed to life on ships you couldn't get attached to a name, especially when you changed the ship you called home every other tour. It never bothered her in the past to call a new ship home. It was silly and possessive. Still…

The Alliance would never have allowed her to keep the ship that saw her and her valiant crew through the war, not unless she resigned her Spectre status. She could not serve two masters. Fundamentally Shepard was a military woman; she understood the stance the Alliance took. The _Normandy_ had cost billions in military funding despite the joint effort with the council. She was the prototype as was the victory. Both would serve as blueprints to create new ships for the others Spectres. Even now her bothers and sisters in the Spectre branch were slowly receiving their own frigates. The turians no doubt would favor the _Normandy_ class; while the asari the _Victory_ model. What the salarians might choose was in the galaxy's grab-bag.

Shepard turned to see what was taking her crew so long in assembling was quickly answered when she saw the Williams sisters, Aleena, and Tali with their heads together. Liara was no where to be seen nor was Wrex and Garrus. When she approached it was Tali that bumped Ash causing the lieutenant to turn her attention to ask why she was so jostled when she lay eyes on the Spectre. She quickly became silent.

"You know mutiny or conspiracy to commit mutiny is court-martialed offence." Shepard teased as she joined the small gang of women.

"Not mutiny, Commander." Abby said quickly. "Some of us non-married folk are looking to get together latter, Dr. S'thasa had some good joints to check out. The last time I was here I only went to Flux and she suggested a place on the Zukara Ward. Tali, I and Ash are going to go check it out. We'd ask you and Doc S'thasa out with your gals but its single girls night only. Sorry."

Shepard looked to Ash who only shrugged sheepishly.

"According to Abby going with married couples puts a damper on trying to 'get tanked and laid.'" Tali confessed.

"Tali! God! You don't admit things like that to your Commander." Abby screeched. "Shit you're as bad as Sara always telling Mom what we planned to do. You're going to get us into trouble."

Shepard chucked. "What you don't believe I let my hair down when on leave? After a night out at the bar the only difference between being single and being married is I am guaranteed 'action'."

The others starred open mouthed at her confession.

"Liara may not be able to get tanked but that doesn't mean I can't have a bit of fun." the Spectre flashed a very toothy grin. "Williams, I'm sure you are familiar with regs concerning recreation sex? Make sure the others follow safety protocols if it ever gets that far. The last thing I want is Chakwas ridding my ass for unsafe medical practices."

"Aye, aye Skipper."

Liara who was carrying a small silver case emerged out of the airlock and became a distraction for the Spectre, who then left for her beloved's side leaving the four women on their own. Once she had parted each in turn let out a breath of relived air.

"That was too damn close." Abby said.

"You're getting better at that." Tali commented. "Making up excuses. I think Shepard actually bought it."

"At lest this one had the merit of truth in it." Ash said elbowing her sister in the ribs playfully. "Chakwas will stop by later and help out but says despite the fact she wants to stay she's hooking up with an old friend on the _Orizaba_ which just berthed two days before we got here. Anyway if everything goes according to plan the shower will happen tonight."

"I'll get Shelia to the hotel under the pretext we have luxury suits there. In fact we do, it makes things easier." came Aleena.

"Pampering your girl, eh?" Abby asked.

"Would you not do so" the asari said, "if you care for some one so deeply?" Despite the truth behind the words, they troubled the bounty hunter. She had not known Shiala that long and yet now, the woman had become very dear to her.

Aleena secretly frowned at herself though gave no outward display of it. At one time she as a cold-hearted merc, she prided herself on her ability to distance herself from the weaker emotions. Since the murder of their mother at the hands of a Dantius, her sister Aria had trained and raised her well. Aria, shown her how to take power, wield it and keep it, how to even shape fear into a finely honed weapon. And for a time those lessons had served her well both as a commando and a mercenary and exceedingly well as a bounty hunter.

Now with a new life about to enter hers, Aleena had begun to see a different light in the galaxy of worlds and realities. She was looking forward to becoming _Arda_. Her sister would have scoffed at her for entertaining such frivolous fantasies once more. The bounty hunter could almost hear Aria's disproving comment: '_Have you not learned the first time around sister? Are you so willing to be wounded once more? I did not raise you to be masochistic. What you are, what you do makes your loved ones a target, you know this. When this inevitably blows up in your face, when your enemies take those you love __**yet**__ again, I won't be there to put you back together as I did last time.'_

Aleena shook Aria's phantom words of cautioning from her mind. It didn't have to play out like that. Despite being the target of bounty hunters, Shepard and T'Soni were making it work. They were happy. Aleena had entered her matron stage in life. The maternal calling was setting in on her.

Aleena knew Aria despite her warnings had daughters, though she kept their identities secrete. Aleena knew of only one at Arai's side now, Liselle. But there were others and they well hidden. Many of which served in the varying militaries of Serrice, New Arara and one was even a cop on Illium, another was a consort's acolyte on Thessia. If Arai had a lover Aleena did not know who it may be, what she did know was that Aria had not taken a bondmate.

The bounty hunter had not taken Shiala as bondmate; it was something she was going to rectify perhaps tonight after the impromptu-surprise baby-shower for her lover and the Shepard-T'Sonis. Let Aria play queen, Aleena wanted something far more quantifiable. She wanted what the Spectre and Prothean archeologist had.

Wrex and Garrus the last of the flagship team finally emerged from the airlock, tailing them was Shiala. It was to her the bounty hunter looked to, her quantifiable countenance her sister's ideals be damned to the Progenitor. Damn the past too.

The ship's newly appointed XO stepped in line with the assassin, their hands softly touching each other briefly before they fell quickly joined with the others. Shiala nudged her in the shoulder gesturing with a tilt of her head to the head of their column: to Shepard and Liara. They too had shared a small touch of affection, which conveyed so much more. No doubt the two young lovers were sharing thoughts and emotions through their unique bond.

Normally it only took only a few minutes to pass through costumes, since the attack however security had been significantly heightened. Only three were allowed to pass through the first security door at a time. DNA scanners were now standard procedure. They were so sensitive they could pick up any illegal modifications either cybernetic or genetic. If they weren't who they said they were the scanners would send out a silent coded alarm. Six well armed C-Sec operatives moved into positions at either exit as well as the operative inciting the scan not to mention the automated systems.

"All this security seems extremely tight. Did you hear that turian back there trying to board a shuttled with some sort of blade and here we are armed to the teeth and they're not stopping us." Ash commented a bit stymied at the protocols in play. "I'm surprised we got through with the Device with so little troubles. I'm a little more than surprised those scanners didn't pick up life-signs, only ee-zo."

"I suppose it's because we're military or apart of a military operation." Shepard said. "And I'm a Spectre."

"Yes but in that argument so was Saren." Liara pointed out. "However his status was revoked and while recognized by the upper echelons of the Citadel population the broader citizens of Council space were ignorant of the fact. A fact he took advantage of. With the effort to rebuild C-Sec must be extremely cautious with whom they allow to pass through."

"That makes since. It would be all too easy for enemy operatives to slip in the reconstruction efforts and carry out acts of terrorism." Shepard surmised.

They waited in the debarkation area waiting for the rest of the party to join them. Shiala and Aleena with Abby in tow came through but after two minutes there was no show of the rest of the ground-team. Shepard frowned at this delay. With purpose in her step the Spectre strode up to one of the human C-Sec officers. A tall male with a buzz-cut so closely shaven it was impossible to detect just what hair color he had, his brown eyes glowered in contempt at the marine before him.

"Where is the rest of my team?"

"Step back Ma'am this is C-Sec procedures. If you do not step back behind the red line you will be arrested.

Shepard took a bold step forward which caused two of the other officers to pull their sidearms. Shepard snorted. "Try to arrest a Spectre. Unless you two want to find yourselves thrown back in a biotic singularity I suggest you holster your pistols boys." Blue eyes narrowed, her lips curled into a feral snarl. "Now where are my guys?"

"Shit. I don't need this." the man sputtered raising his hands in the air "They're being detained."

"Why?" A growled demand as Shepard slammed the man against the bulkhead with her own body.

"Protocol says detain any possible geth insurgents."

"Geth insurgents?" Shepard scoffed. "They are not geth agents! The flashlight heads kinda give it away," she tapped the side of her head for emphasis. "Now let's pretend you have working gray matter in-between your ears and let my people go. Or I pop you right here and free them myself. Your choice but as for me…I just polished this armor I rather not get it bloody before I go before the Council so I hope you do the right thing."

"I'd do what the Spectre wants, Simmons." the other agent said having quickly obeyed the short-tempered Spectre by holstering his weapon.

"Damn it. I knew I should have called in sick." Simmons grumbled. He tried to move for the holographic interface but was still held by Shepard making it very difficult for him to carry out her wishes. "Um…Spectre if you want me to comply you have to let me go."

"My pardon," Shepard said cordially and let go her prisoner.

Moments latter Tali, Garrus and Wrex tromped frustratingly towards their leader even as they were re-strapping on their weapons to their backs and hips.

"I want the name of the little varren shit who thought it was a good idea to stuff me in a tiny cell with the turian." Wrex barked.

"You put them in a cell?" Shepard rounded on the one called Simmons.

"They said I was to be held for thirty-six hours, Commander!" Tali complained.

"All do respect Spectre a quarian, a krogan and a former turian C-Sec officer are of questionable reputations. Especially the quarian. They made the geth." The one that had previously advised Simmons to listen said as if his words excused everything.

"Tali'Zorah Vos _Victory _is one of the heroes of the Citadel! She destroyed more geth than you'll ever see in your lifetime, and she'd seen more battle you ever will. In fact she holds Palladium Star and you accuse her of being a geth insurgent?" Shepard hissed. "Urdnought Wrex and Garrus Vakarian also hold the Star! They all stood against Saren, his geth and Sovereign. What have you ever done other than detain innocents and search old ladies handbags and confiscate their knitting needles?" Shepard's voice became fridged.

"Look I was just doing my job. I was only following orders!" protested Simmons. "Since the war with the geth it's SOP to hold any quarian for questioning."

Wrex loomed before the young Simmons making the officer retreat swiftly unfortunately for him he stumbled against the bulkhead, rather hard. No doubt the young officer would be feeling the goose-egg on the back of his scull for days to come. "Your lucky day human." he snapped showing his mouth of razor sharp crocodilian teeth. "If I had it my way I'd paint these pretty gray walls with your entrails for you insolence. But the Spectre doesn't approve of those kinds of things. Me…this place could use a good paint job." the krogan snorted in contempt just as he had nearly a year and a half ago when C-Sec ran him in for threatening Fist's hired goon squad.

"Wrex, I think he gets the point. Ground troops move out." Shepard reigned in her rouge battlemaster before things got out of hand. "I will make a point to tell the heads of C-Sec the crew of _Victory _will not be detained as they are all serving a Council Spectre."

As they were heading for the rapid transport hub, it was Liara who turned to her wife and asked. "Earlier you said the heightened security was a good thing, but you seemed to contradict yourself with that little confrontation."

"I still think heightened security is a good thing but not when they do racial profiling to get it done." Shepard said clearly still upset. "Look who they let through with no hassle: three humans and three asari. Who did they detain? A quarian, turian and krogan. Look quarians get a bad rap everywhere and Tali believe me it's undeserved but the 'Verse doesn't know you or you people as I've come to learn. Most still view them as the progenitors of the geth but that doesn't mean you deserve to profiled solely on that basis alone. Either do you Wrex. If they keep doing this shit 'the more humans in C-Sec thing' is going to turn around and bite us in the ass."

She looked over her shoulder to the security station and shook her head sadly. 'Yep that is not going to win us many friends.'

Others shared the sentiment. Those that viewed the humans as the of the vorcha of Council space such actions would only cement such views. Turians were not the only ones to view humans with suspicion. Many an asari felt the same way as did plenty of salarians.

"Liara, Williams come with me to the embassy. The rest of you do recon on the on the rest of the Wards. I want to find out what the true reception is of the Reaper attack. What are we not hearing, seeing? What is being diluted, filtered and covered up. Don't try to be too obvious about it." Shepard ordered.

"Trust us we'll get done." Tali vowed. "And we'll be discrete. One way I'm sure is to ask Avina."

"Screw that." Wrex snorted. "You want dirt go to a bar, the seeder the better. You can always find someone willing to sell Intel under the right pressure."

"Shepard did order discreet, or is that something that escaped your mind, krogan?" Garrus asked snidely.

"You ask your way, I ask mine." came a barked answer.

"Just see it done." Shepard ordered. "If you can't be discreet then try not to get arrested." She gave a pointed look to Wrex.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Shepard entered Anderson's inner office leaning her ground team behind including Shiala; the others have already taken their leave to whatever task that better suited them than politics. The Councilor looked so out of place out of uniform, he seemed as if another wore his skin as a finely tailored suite that adorned the body.

The Spectre looked to the corner of the chambers to see the administrable robes draped over what looked like a tailor's dummy. No doubt worn with the same enthusiasm as one wore the mess-dress uniform.

Both Shepard joined Anderson and leaned as he was over the ballasted of his office overlooking one of the bridges that crossed the pristine fishless lake.

"Repairs seemed to be going well." Shepard commented dryly for lack of anything else to say presently.

"Due to months of round-the-clock labor and ceaseless toil of both the restoration crews and the keepers. Many of the Wards have yet to see true repairs as they had not earned the priority status as the center of the Citadel. One ugly bulkhead put up by hands of repair-crews and the next day they would find it seamless by the keepers. How they manage such a feat is still a mystery." Anderson said. "They estimate somewhere between five to seven years before this place is back to the state it was before the war."

"What did they do with all the wreckage of Sovereign?"

"What the keepers didn't depose, unsanctioned salvaging all across the wards took care of the majority of it. What little the Council could account for unfortunately proved or disproved the fact Sovereign was a Reaper ship."

Shepard shot him an incredulous look. "Oh come on Councilor, even small chuck of metal can forensically reveal the metal isn't consistent with geth technology."

Anderson had the good since to look chagrined. "Commander. . . you have to be aware the Council. . . are questioning the origins of Sovereign. They seem to want to believe it is geth tech. I don't want you to be blindsided when it comes up in your meeting with them. They're going to try to whitewash all of it."

Shepard frowned. "But Councilor Lei'cree joined my mind as did four other matriarchs in order for me to perform the Great Hunt! She touched some of the memories with Sovereign. The Council sanctioned my mission to find ways to neutralize the Reapers!"

"Yes they did." Anderson gave an apprising look to his protégée. He needed to defuse her anger before she met with his counterparts. She was already on the defensive, she would go on the attack almost immediately if Trace or the other three immediately confronted her about the Reapers and the geth. "From all the reports you and the crew of _Victory _have been very busy. Rediscovering old civilizations, lost cashes of knowledge and making alliances." He smiled proudly at that "and making a few people a little unhappy: Cerberus, Udina and an eccentric billionaire."

"The first two deserve it and the third brought it on himself. Shol should have heeded my orders. He didn't. His men died when he ordered them to attack mine." Shepard countered.

"From a military stand point I understand, but the rest of the Council aren't soldiers Shepard. However they are accustomed to the actions of their Spectres not universally well appreciated. They can distance themselves if they need to disavow any actions taken by Order." Anderson smiled at Shepard. "Of course making first-contact with a long thought extinct race went a long way in your favor."

"A lot better than Saren's had." Shepard added. "The beings of light have been prepped for their first inaugural visit with the Council. Though I must warn you don't take their references to being dim badly. To them it merely means those without biotics. Apparently through their perception those with biotics have a perpetual glow about them like they can see the dark-energy within us. It was one of the reasons Shol couldn't communicate with them."

"Yes I seem to recall that in your mission report. " Anderson nodded. "So how will we speak with them if they can only perceive biotics?"

"That's the avatar within the Device. I brought Weareth'Bol's hive. They will form into their swarm; they did it before on the surface on Klencory. They were able to interact with non-biotics, like Lieutenant Williams."

"I see. Is there anything else I should know, Commander Shepard?"

"Off hand no. Though when you address Weareth'Bol make sure it is in the plural. It isn't a single enmity but billions."

"Did you say billions?!" Anderson was astonished.

"Yes sir. Their true forms are microorganisms. In fact they are more akin to particles of dust in sunbeams sir. And I am not to sure some of those dust partials in shafts of light are not indeed beings of light."

"That….that is a disturbing thought."

"Yes sir." Shepard nodded agreeing full-heartedly.

Reuniting with Ash and Liara in the forayer of the human embassy, Anderson took the lead in escorting the three through the pandemonium of light and sound of Presidium.

Despite all the construction chaos rousing in the five arms of the wards, the innermost core held a soft serenity to it as if it had never been touched by the scares of Sovereign's war. Simulated sunlight shown brightly and tranquil upon the central lake its beauty nearly at odds with the pace of the humans' footsteps.

It took good fifteen minutes to navigate from embassy row, along the winding walkways, across the bridge to the base of the tower. If security had been heightened at costumes it was significantly so at the tower. Where there had been two guards there was now a full squad of six including two mechs.

"Two heavy mechs guard the elevator exit incase you're wondering." Anderson supplied. "As well as four more C-Sec officers all of which are biotics."

"Sensible precautions," Liara said. "We've noticed such at customs. However they do seem to be targeting certain races."

Anderson didn't have an answer to that. It wasn't the first complaint of the new measures of C-Sec was taking he had heard. Many of the complaints came from the krogans, the few quarians passing through tied hard to keep a low profile but it rarely worked. It was because of young Tali's Pilgrimage a year ago the Councilor had an idea why many young quarians came to the Citadel alone. They were on rights of passage to claim the right to be called crewmember.

"In line with the new security measures I'm afraid that you Lieutenant Williams and Dr. T'Soni will be required to surrender your firearms and Omni tools. Only C-Sec officers and Spectres are allowed to carry arms and tech. They will be returned to you once you leave the Tower." He said instead. "Of course they can't confiscate biotics which is why all officers stationed are required to biotics themselves. Using mechs with bio-dampeners opens the doors to too many political ramifications."

Of course the only race not needing biotic-amps were the asari. There would be an outcry from all other races for subjection. Not that the outcry at customs was any less but some things could be apologized or rationalized away.

Once they cleared security for a second time, Anderson lead them not up the several flights of broad stairwells but to a small alcove where again they passed through a tertiary security checkpoint.

A curious look from the others Anderson gave an explanation. "You're not meeting them through the typical interface. With the introduction of the ambassador of the beings of light it was prudent to meet them in person." Anderson explained. He had slipped on his official robes before leaving his offices at the embassy, before he looked out of place, here in the right context the aging former Commander truly looked the part of Councilor. He was the de-facto most important voice of humanity even as Shepard was its symbol.

"Don't you have to join your counterparts?" Liara asked. She knew from her early days with her mother how subtle nuances of diplomacy affected and even effected those around you. Her mother always had Shiala the figure of her military might just off her right hand. It gave appearance Benezia wasn't afraid to confront obstacles, opposition or issues on her own. It also gave the appearance if might was needed it was directly at hand, quite literally. To Benezia's left were her highest and most honored acolytes: those who followed not the commando-templar path of the priesthood but the more cerebral aspects of it. It was a show of status of who Benezia was with in the Order, that she was the voice of faith and reason.

If Anderson was reluctant to stand amongst the three on the dieses he would always be estranged, never to be accepted as an equal. If he sent his ambassadorial assistant to important diplomatic functions he'd would never gain the respect of the other Councilors or in-fact the other diplomats. Again such lessons came not only from observing her mother and listening to her but such tactics were also learned from Shiala as well as Shepard.

"They will expect it yes." he turned his attention to the Spectre. "I may be up flanking them Shepard but I got your six. Remember that." He put a hand on her shoulder giving it a gentle almost fatherly squeeze before departing down another corridor presumably leading to the others on the Council.


	33. Ambushing Truth

Chapter 33: Ambushing Truth

Shepard opened the silver case Liara had been carrying and withdrew both the Device and the Hive. She handed the hive to her wife while she handed the Device to Williams. She had thought to hold the artefact herself but thought better of it. She wanted her IIC's presence there to be more than window dressing. She wanted the Council to see the importance and trust in the role the young woman held. It was a trinity but of another kind.

The amphitheatre was considerably smaller than the main reception area where Shepard had typically spoke with the Council. But it was no less grand. Cherry tree saplings newly planted grew alongside their blossoming elders. The scent of freshly mown grass permeated the air mingling suggestively with the blossoms. It was pleasing to the senses, presumably to all species to have been granted such personal audience. A psychological ploy to place the petitioner into a false sense of security making them on a subliminal level more susceptible to the will of the Council. It was not unlike the carefully staged scent of fresh baked bread, cookies and freshly brewed coffee that leads people to spend more credits while shopping.

Where the dais was located in the chamber's big sister there was a small presidium stage minus the curtains. The wings however drifted off into shadowed areas no doubt constructed for the dramatic effect when the Council members opened hidden doors and entered the stage proper. Indeed twin doors opened revealing Councillors Sparatus and Velarn coming on stage left while Tevos and Anderson came from stage right.

"Agent Shepard," it was Tevos who spoke, "you bring us welcome news with your cementing an alliance with a new species. Not to mention the uncovering of lost knowledge and technologies from Ilos as well as ensuring they remain out of the hands of Cerberus."

"Yes the list of your discoveries was quite extensive," added Velarn "and impressive."

Shepard gave a dubious look to Sparatus half expecting the turian to make an off-handed snide remark, but he remained strangely and rather diplomatically silent.

"My crew know what they are doing. My science and engineering teams have been working around-the-clock to harness this knowledge and tech to use against the Reapers."

"Ah yes the Reapers." Sparatus made quotation marks with his fingers; it looked oddly strange with one taloned digit on each hand. "We have dismissed that claim. There is no conclusive evidence of the Reapers, only what your mind has conjured up."

"Look at the wreckage C-Sec uncovered before the scavengers got to it. Surely you must realize this is far beyond the geth." Shepard argued.

"The geth are remarkably technically advanced. This new dreadnought is clear evidence of their adaptability." Tevos said evenly.

"They didn't create that ship." Ashley interrupted. "Goddamn it but you people are so blind."

"I would remind you it is a courtesy _only_ that we allow two of your crewmembers in this audience, Shepard. Remind them to keep their places." Sparatus snapped. "Or we will order them removed."

"Stand down Williams." Shepard ordered. "Apparently the Council still wishes to live in denial. And they have forgotten just what it cost to keep them alive as well as the _Destiny Ascension. _"

"We have _not_ forgotten the sacrifice. Councillor Anderson's joining of our ranks is proof we have not. And while we are forever grateful we can not blindly accept your prophetic words as truth." Velarn said. "You were misled during the war with Saren just as you are now."

Shepard glared coldly at Tevos. "Councillor Tevos, you melded with my mind. You saw some of the images from the beacons and you saw and heard Sovereign's own words."

"What I saw are memories and while not false they can be false-positives on the truth. They are what you perceived to be true so they are true to you. Saren was a compelling and charismatic man; he made the geth believe his words just as he made you."

Shepard snorted. _'Bullshit!'_ her mind screamed. Liara actually started from the telepathic expletive. "First I never found Saren to be either compelling or charismatic. Maybe it's just me, but I find those trying to either covertly assassinate me or kill me out right unattractive. I'm fickle that way," she gave them all a pointed look as if daring them to accuse her of believing Saren's 'lies'.

"Then it is the beacons that have made you mentally unstable." Sparatus shot back. "Let's not forget that gestalt event you had with your bondmate. You cannot deny this had an intrusive effect on you as well as her."

For an instant both Shepard and Liara flashed pale blue, their biotic energy flaring to life almost as a spark of lightning on a distant horizon. Just as quickly it flashed out of existence. It almost could have been imagined. Tevos glanced to Sparatus with an expression discernable as suspect. Knowing perhaps the outcome would be exactly as it had played out. Verbally assault Shepard, herself you get next to nothing in reprisal. Go for her bondmate and there is an immediate retaliation almost unconsciously. The link between them…their bond while not completely uncommon amongst asari especially the purebloods it was uncommonly strong for a mixed race bond.

"Now hold on!" It was Anderson who interjected, his voice having all the command it once held when had captaining a starship. "I won't let you railroad Shepard like this, nor Dr. T'Soni. One thing has little to do with the other. The truth is there to see. We all know Sovereign is not of geth construction. White-washing the truth to the civilian population to avoid mass hysteria is one thing but to outright deny it is dangerous. For all of us."

"Perhaps Sovereign is not wholly geth. Your discovery of the truth of the missing Leviathan of Dis explains much do you not think? It is a more logical conclusion and scenario than a race of sentient starships coming to harvest all organic life from the reaches of dark space. Consider this: the derelict Reaper is hi-jacked by the batarian pirate Edan and his associate . Qian's research uncovers hidden indoctrinating properties of the dead reaper's AI. Something Saren obviously took advantage of for the past twenty years. He must have been making an alliance with the geth by proclaiming himself as the prophet of a long extinct race during that entire time. His using the prothean beacons and the cipher gave him the name Reapers and the insight into how they died. Armed with this knowledge he fabricates a new reality. He gives the geth the husk of the dead ship. They in turn repurpose and assimilate it.

"You might not have found him either compelling or charismatic but many did. How else was he able to convince one of the most respected and exalted leaders in asari space to unite with him? Yes, she was indoctrinated - we understand this. Her autopsy proved the extent of brain-damage she suffered while under the influence of extensive indoctrination. It was why we acquitted her and her disciples for treason. It was how Saren even turned the geth to his will. Did you think we blindly believed the geth who despise organics would follow him because of his words alone?

"We will not deny Saren had access to tech that allowed him control over others. A piece of ancient tech that he himself didn't fully understand, no doubt was used to hack into the geth collective CPU. We are repurposing ancient prothean technology; this does not make us Protheans because we use their ancient knowledge, technology or space stations. It is reasonable to assume the geth have done the same. Ask yourself Specter Shepard is it not a more likely scenario that the geth and not some ancient vanguard are the true enemy?" Tevos argued serenely, her calm demeanour giving her words more weight and plausibility.

When put like that, Shepard had to agree that it was a more logical and conclusive argument for Sovereign. It raised bile in her throat to even entertain the idea that it was a more preferable version of the facts. The geth were a known quantity, a known enemy. It was a sound argument; one Shepard might have bought if she hadn't known the truth. The Reaper threat was real. They were coming. Sovereign was only the vanguard of the harbinger of galactic destruction. Her only true ally on the Council even found himself compelled by his counterpart's words. But he trusted Shepard. Anderson knew deep in his gut the threat of the Reapers were real.

"All right say that's true. Then the geth know how to manufacture more of those dreadnoughts based on what they took from the _derelict _Reaperjust as we have taught ourselves how to backward engineer Prothean tech." Shepard started to play the game.

She became more sharp as she spoke: "You have the public believing that Sovereign is a class of geth dreadnought…hell you are decrying all I have said trying to make me sound like some lunatic crying out the 'sky is falling' just to cover your collective asses. Fine. But you can not ignore the fact based on your own argument that there will be more 'Sovereign'," she said, glaring at Sparatus as she etched the quotation marks in the air "class dreadnoughts out there. Which means more ships with Reaper style technology and it means more AIs with indoctrination capabilities. Hell it's better to turn your enemy into a friend and use their own knowledge against them. Our militaries must be ready to face that threat. Not liking it doesn't make it any less real or any less of a threat!"

"Which is why you've been sent out on missions to recover tech and weaponry capable of doing so." Velarn said. "And you are not the _only_ Spectre deployed on such missions. Our other agents have been quite successful. As has the garrison we've deployed at Ilos under the guise of an archaeological colony."

"This is true." It was Anderson now speaking. "In conjunction with the other Council races and its flotilla, Alliance military have been deployed to hunt down and pacify the geth threat." Shepard turned to her former Commander, studying him with appraising eyes. Perhaps for the first time since he took up the role as Councillor in a new light. While he always was enigmatic about his past even about certain mission details he sent her on, this was a whole new level.

"As of two days ago we lost a ship in the Omega Nebula, somewhere in the Amada System. They were sent there to rout out geth strongholds. We need you to investigate its disappearance. We have had no further contact either from survivors or an emergency buoy. It is presumed all hands were lost. If there are survivors they are no doubt stranded without communications."

Shepard frowned at this information. It derailed her upgrade plans for _Victory_ as well as the needed surgery for herself. But she could not deny the importance of a rescue mission. "No other ships have been dispatched?"

"There was a salarian merchant ship the _MVS Oraearon _in the system. They reported only debris of a frigate matching the description of an Alliance ship. They scanned for life signs but found only those of animals." Velarn commented. "While it is an important mission it is not a top priority yet."

"Not a top priority? You said it yourself if there are survivors they are without communication capabilities… There may be caves capable of masking their life signs Liara spoke up, voicing her concerns. "In fact I've been in such places. The one on Therum was one such cavern."

"There is something more isn't there?" Shepard said. "Do we know who shot down the frigate?"

"Not precisely. It could be geth but given the fact it was indeed the _Normandy _it may well be someone looking for you." Sparatus answered. "Cerberus, the bounty hunters Udina sent after you, mercenary groups like the Blue Suns, the Eclipse and Blood Pack to name but a few."

"The _Normandy_! You think bounty hunters could take down the most advanced ship in the Alliance military?" Ash snorted in disbelief, her contempt for the Council clearly displayed in her dark brown eyes. "And if she was hunting geth, she was cloaked."

"Your subordinate continues to be problematic, Shepard." Sparatus didn't even acknowledge Williams in his dressing down. Apparently Liara speaking up hadn't upset him nearly as much.

"Maybe, but she does have a point. No mercenary ship is capable of putting down the _Normandy._ A geth dreadnought armed with Reaper weaponry isn't out of the realm of possibilities. Is there any other information? Did the merchant ship report anything out of the ordinary? Any dark energy radiation as was found over Eden Prime or the battle here? It's a very distinct signature unlike any weapon that a pirate or other paramilitary group might have access to. If it was geth armed with Reaper tech it will show up in the scans."

Inwardly Anderson smiled at his protégée's inquisitive nature and deductive reasoning. "The merchant ship did pick up higher than normal s of dark energy yes. They couldn't account for it. For now that isn't the concern. The _Normandy_ was targeted because it was your ship. They must have believed you were still its commander. If it were mere pirates or even the geth why didn't they go after the merchant ship as well? It was the _Normandy_ they deliberately targeted. This is cause for some necessary action albeit unorthodox."

"Unorthodox?" Shepard repeated the word. She didn't like the way Anderson uttered it or to the allusion of a more clandestine motive behind it. "Who's working on six month old intel? Alliance Military, the Council flotilla all know I'm the commander of the _Victory. _Certainly Cerberus has its spies they must know I wasn't the _Normandy's_ Commander when it went down. Udina had to have told them."

"Nevertheless, whoever it was has access to very unique and very powerful weaponry. They believed you were on the _Normandy_ and shot it down deliberately. We need to play on this assumption." Tevos said.

"Shepard, you're not going to like it but as I said it is necessary. We reached a consensus that misinformation is our best avenue. To that end you will have to play the Huckleberry Finn card." Anderson looked exceptionally uncomfortable relaying the request. He knew precisely how the young marine would react. Not well.

"What!" Shepard snapped. "You can't be serious! You want me to fake my own death?"

Liara and Williams traded glances with each other before turning their incredulous gaze on the Council. Each wondering when it was they had all gone completely mad. Their expressions a mirror of the Spectre's own from disbelief to outright inflamed anger.

"Rather as I have come to understand the context, the reports of your death and the fall of the _Normandy _have been greatly exaggerated. The hostiles that destroyed the _Normandy_ already assume you are dead." Velarn stated calmly. "There is another human saying: 'rising from the ashes as a phoenix.' The _Normandy _must rise from the ashes if only to smoke out the enemy from the shadows and take from them that which they wanted most. To this end the _Victory's _IDC will be changed to _Normandy._

"This is insanity." the Spectre hissed. "No one will believe that! It's ploy that is so transparent even those born blind will see right through it."

"You mistake the intent. Whether we on the Council like it or not you and the _Normandy_ have become a symbol, an icon, one that rallies both civilian and military alike. Both you and your ship are heroes," admitted grudgingly. "It is not the attempt to simply deceive the enemy but to bolster the morale of the populace of Citadel Space. They can not lose their heroes so soon after the war, or the spirit of their heroes."

"Shepard, you and the _Normandy_ are connected you always will be, just as Eisennhorn and the SSV_ New Deli,_ Nelson with the _HMS. Victory_, Van Vakenburg and the _USS Arizona_, Cook and the _HMS Endeavour_, Lidanya and the _Destiny Ascension."_ Anderson said. "Shepard and the _Normandy."_

"I was taken off the _Normandy_ and given the _Victory_." the Spectre answered. "And the _Normandy _**is **destroyed!" Something in her broke a little at that. Her old ship, her first command. Anderson must feel it as well, she thought, his last command before he embarked on this new life of diplomacy and sanctioned deceit. She caught his eye for a moment and knew that he too grieved, not so much for the crew who he had not known, but for the ship, that fine brave ship that deserved so much better than this. One day soon they would meet and raise a glass to her, the _SSV Normandy, _but not today. For now she would have to bottle up that grief and let it lie and mature until there was time to feel it properly.

"No the _**SSV Victory**_was destroyed. A ship re-named for the victory over the Citadel. The use of information and disinformation is ultimately the path of power. To push others into an unreal world is a balance of that power. It facilitates what is necessary to keep the peace." Tevos said. "In this case a ship not at the battle over the Citadel must masquerade as your former ship or rather the spirit of it. If the greater populace ever discovered the truth of the fate of the _Normandy_ the morale fallout would be disastrous. It gives our enemies a foothold within our territories it is something we can not afford either the geth or Cerberus to hold."

Shepard pondered the words said and not said. She knew why she had been given a new ship detached from the Alliance; she needed to be autonomous from their command. She understood the power of morale and symbols as well as the need to facilitate discretion and even covert action to keep the civilian public in the dark for their own safety. She might not fully like it she understood it. Despite how ludicrous she found this sudden drive to keep the name _Normandy_ circulating even if it wasn't the same ship to bear the name she understood this as well. What she couldn't quite work out was why they just hadn't swapped designations when she took on the new ship – why this sudden sleight of hand months later?

"If I am so connected with the _Normandy_ why then didn't you simply christen the _Victory _as such and change the IDC of my former ship to that name instead? It's a little late in the game to be calling those kinds of shots," the Spectre pointed out. "It's not like you can turn the noise level of this down, even if you black-out the Intel of the fate of the real _Normandy_." She looked at each Councillor in turn, her eyes coming to rest finally on Anderson. "I serve at the discretion of the Council but I don't see how you can expect me to pull this off."

"We laid the foundation for this a month ago by leaking the information to certain news networks as well as various extranet sources." Tevos continued. "By special request for nostalgia's sake you will ask the Council for special dispensation to be allowed to call your current ship the _Normandy_ while asking that the ship that led the triumph over the battle for the Citadel be rechristened as the _Victory_ as you feel it should be the honor. It will also be your desire to establish a small armada with the '_Normandy_' as its flagship on a hunt and destroy mission of geth insurgencies."

"The Council then took the time to deliberate over this request and after much review and negotiation with the Alliance Brass it was decided by all concerned to humour or perhaps the better word is to _honor_ our newest Spectre and grant this rather unorthodox request." Sparatus's mandibles flared in what could only be called an ironic smirk on the avian face. He knew as did the others, Shepard would lose favour with the lower echelons of the Alliance military for her 'request' as well as her precarious standing with her sister and brother Spectres for requesting and being granted such a special privilege. Imagine the conceit of wanting the flagship of a small armada renamed for the ship that truly led the victory over the citadel. The bullshit was piling up so high you needed wings to stay above it.

There was no doubt in Shepard's mind this whole scheme was the turian's idea. He seemed in desperate need to tarnish her sterling reputation for the crimes committed by one of his own race who was supposed to be one of the greatest Spectres to serve the Council.

'Hang on…hang on.' her hind brain gave her a good swift kick in the ass as it caught up to her rage. 'Stop thinking like the typical jarhead and use your fucking brain, Shepard. She said small armada! A small armada…you will have a small armada! Think of it. It will be the foundation of the flotilla needed to face the Reapers. Keep your teeth together you idiot and agree. Yes it's an insane order, but you're going to get an armada. You need that so do the smart thing, Shepard.

'HA! That will serve that bastard Sparatus right anyway. He _wants_ you to protest, he _wants _you to make a noise about this. So you're not going to. You're going to respond to him just like you did with that hard-assed bitch at Arcturus. You took all that drill sergeant's crap because well there was no other choice other than to ring the bell. If you rang the bell you were finished, drummed out of the N-Sevens. And you are not going to ring the bell, Shepard. You didn't then you're not now. You will put up with it all and do it gladly. Sparatus is the bell, that's how you have to think of him. And you're not going to ring it.'

All of these thoughts ran though her mind in a matter of seconds. She knew what her reaction had to be. She snapped to a rigid stance of attention with a crisp pristine salute. "Actually as you presented the case the more sound it becomes. Admittedly the public needs a symbol to rally behind. Names have power." At this she turned her gaze on Sparatus and gave him a gleaming smirk. It said: 'The game is up you right bastard. No matter what you do to me, what you say, I won't ring that fucking bell.' "Raise up the _Normandy_ if you must. Besides as you said I will need such a rallying point in _my_ armada when the time comes."

Sparatus's mandibles flared slightly in irritation. But there was nothing he could say to this. She actually agreed with them! He had contrived to push her into insubordinate behaviour but she wasn't taking the bait. She completely bypassed the slippery slope he intended to put her on by going down that hill on a surf-board and waving at him as she did.

Anderson knew inwardly Shepard was seething. She'd object on the principle that they were hiding the truth of what became of the crew of the true _SSV Normandy_. They were only doing this to save face, to keep their trophy. He understood her objections completely, even sided with them. It gulled him as much as it did her. But he was like Shepard a soldier born to the uniform - it was bred into him just was it was her.

There were some orders you could object to and be given leave not to follow. You were taken off the mission. It might put a black spot on your record - might not but you had a choice. There were some orders where your objections were duly noted but you still had to follow them, no choice. If you didn't follow you got court-martialled, in a time of war it meant you were shot. This order was the latter and Shepard knew it. Like a good soldier she obeyed. Shepard would never be anything other than a soldier: a Spectre. She was a bond-mate…a wife, she would become a mother but under it all she was a soldier through and through and she followed orders.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"It is impossible to describe through words what is necessary to those who do not know what horror means. Horror. Horror has a face. And you must make a friend of horror. Horror and mortal terror are your friends; if they are not then they are enemies to be feared. They are truly enemies." The Illusive Man spoke almost as a sage to his twelve new soldiers who stood at stony attention. His hologram blinked once as the transmitters tracked his physical movements.

The words once spoke to one of his ancestors by a man who knew what was truly necessary to win at war. The words had been written down in a journal and passed down through the line of his forbearers until at last they came to The Man The Illusive Man had memorized the words, dedicated half his life to fully understanding the true meaning behind it all. The man who first quoted these words had been a genius to grasp and utilize such necessities.

"To win you must have soldiers who are moral and at the same time able to utilize their primordial instincts to kill without feeling, without passion, without remorse, without judgment. Without judgment, because it is judgment that defeats us." He continued to quote the ancient words as if they were biblical script. "The progress of history requires butchers as well as Shepards."

Not a single man spoke, nor did they move, they didn't even seem to be breathing. Their naked bodies perfect examples of men in their absolute prime. All of them identical, the only distinction between them were subtle differences in the barcode tattooed upon the inside of their wrists and the back of their necks. They were numbers only both to themselves and to The Illusive Man. Vorschslagg's tank-bred clones were ready for the penultimate test.

"Obedience breeds discipline. Discipline breeds unity. Unity breeds Power. Power is life. Life is Humanity's survival. Survival is Cerberus. Cerberus breeds Obedience." The Illusive Man told his neo-soldiers.

"Sir!" they all chorused with the same voice.

The Illusive Man turned his back on the men so he might address Vorschslagg's top assistant. Wilson was a man who in his own right was a brilliant physician and especially groomed for Cerberus's greater projects.

"Deploy them." He cut the holo-transmitter not even waiting for an affirmation from the medic.

The plan was simple enough: drop the twelve soldiers on a batarian trading colony, their orders - to covertly terminate all non-combatants by dismemberment and then pull out. If they faulted in the mission, the project was a failure. Vorschslagg and Wilson knew one more unsuccessful trial not only would the project be terminated so would they.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Just as Shepard ordered, the remaining members of the ground crew had dispersed and travelled the Wards two by two. Garrus escorted Tali around Zakera Ward, while Wrex took Abby around Tayseri Ward leaving both Aleena and Shiala to wander Kithhoi Ward.

The turian turned to the young quarian at his side. A part of him enjoyed her company that wasn't on the whole at a professional-comrade-fellow crewmate level. She had a pleasing narrow waistline, beautifully wide hips; the double joints of her legs were exquisite… He smacked himself in the head with the palm of his hand for entertaining such ideas. Williams and Adams would have his hide for those types of thoughts. And after he lost his hide, Liara would burn his bones to a crisp by a simple flick of a wrist. And she wouldn't stop there either. She'd turn his gizzard to slush with her biotics. And then there were the things Shepard would do to him that didn't bear imagining. Yes, thinking of Tali with impure thoughts lead only to pain. A great deal of pain. Over a great deal of time.

"What's wrong with you" Tali asked innocently, not knowing where Garrus's line of thought had led him.

"Nothing!" the former C-Sec officer nearly snapped trying to cover up his embarrassment for being caught out. "Just…nothing. Lost in thought. Nevermind."

Tali frowned. She didn't believe him but dropped the matter at least for the moment. "If you say so."

"I do. I just thought of something, that is all. An idea popped in my head, something I …forgot... When I was on patrol there were times we turned to more unorthodox measures of seeking information that doesn't involved the Shadow Broker. There are those who see things and yet are unseen themselves. They scuttle and scurry. They hear and see but remain completely unacknowledged."

"You make them sound like some kind of vermin."

"Near enough. They are called duct rats. I don't know who coined the term first others or they themselves. Doesn't matter."

"What's a duct rat?" Tali asked thinking it didn't sound very hygienic or appealing. The way Garrus spoke about them reminded the young woman of the vorcha. A truly undesirable prospect to be sure. Vorcha were the true scavengers of the galaxy barely sentient enough to scramble a few words together to form a sentence. They weren't even intelligent enough to create their own ships, tech or weaponry. What they didn't scavenge they stole and killed for. Krogan were intellectual giants in comparison.

"Duct rats are the children of the more impoverished regions of the Citadel. They get their name because they hide out in the ventilation ducts all over the Citadel."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Tali's lips took on a disapproving line. As an engineer she dreamt of all sorts of horrible ways to die trapped within the ventilation shafts of a space station.

"Very. But the more we try to evict them or find their nests the deeper they go into hiding. Sometimes we'd find a little body broken by a fall or crushed by the intake fans, sometimes sucked into the vacuum where sections of the station do not need life support. Sometimes a keeper will find them and they go disappearing into their protean vats. But the rats know the station probably just as well as any of the keepers

"Most of them are petty sneak thieves, pick pockets, graffiti artists, beggars. Nothing too serious in the crime department and if you want backstreet Intel you find a duct rat. You have to pay for their 'services' but it's dirt cheap in comparison with legit information brokers."

The Ward was not the pristine space Tali was used to on the Presidium. The crescendo of noises became ponderous settling as an unwelcome guest within the eardrums. It was the white-noise of thousands upon thousands of lives all buzzing about their independent course. The war had left its destruction behind in wakes and waves. Shoals of workers busied themselves trying to put their world…their home back into some semblance of what it was before Sovereign's blitz.

There was work for those who didn't mind hard labour. Thousands of unskilled labourers formed an army that had been assigned the more inglorious tasks of debris removal and recycling. Many more were assigned the arduous tasks of construction. The pay was good too for the more dangerous salvaging and construction jobs, jobs generally reserved for those who knew that they were doing. Then of course the keepers would come along and make bulkheads seamless, it seemed the insectiod custodians suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder. Anything out of order, discoloured or seemingly out-of-place and they reacted with almost hostility - if hostility could be termed in actions of scurried construction, rather re-construction in the frantic actions of ants evicted from their hill by a deluge of water. Of course most of their efforts were done when there seemed to be no one looking. It was as if they didn't want to be noticed making things proper, not unlike a doting parent clearing up after their child's grade-breaking science project that wouldn't quite make the mark.

"So where do we find these duct rats?" Tali finally asked.

"I have to make a call."

The quarian looked at the male next to her curiously. She didn't say anything. She didn't exactly wish to point out her ignorance on the subject of how one contacted juvenile delinquents running around in the air ducts of a space station. But obviously it was something quite achievable or Garrus wouldn't have pointed it out.

Garrus led the way keeping a close guard on his partner. He knew the eye of every C-Sec officer they passed were on the woman at his side with suspicion. It was if they preconceived all manner of crimes Tali had committed and were ready to run her in for them. He tried to look his former self, daring them to cross him. To add punch to the glares he offered his former colleagues he channelled a bit of very pissed off Shepard for good measure. It seemed to work. They backed off.

Garrus continued to escort Tali towards the open markets. He stopped at one of the sweet shops where he purchased several treats some made for both major dietary systems. His next stop was at a clothier where he bought several bundles of cheap tourist-y tee-shirts several sizes larger than your typical underfed teenager whether they were human, asari or turian. He also bought a clear duroplast backpack and started to shove his previous purchases into the sack. Tali continued to give her partner curious looks as to what exactly what he was up too. He turned this time to a general store; here he picked several packets of MREs. Again he bought food suitable for the different types of digestive systems. Along with food he bought several bottles of water. All of which he stuffed into the backpack. In what seemed to be a second thought he purchased a dozen or so tokens usable in the food vending machines scattered about the Citadel. This last purchase he shoved into his pocket.

"Those are bribes." Tali said knowingly. "Of course such things would be more useful to the impoverished children than a credit chit easily stolen."

"Now you're getting it." Garrus mandibles flapped in an avian smile. "A bit of food to fill the belly, sweets to tease the tongue and shirts to cover backs it works ninety-seven percent of the time."

"And their information is reliable is it?"

"Some of the best." the mandibles flapped in another smile.

"And who takes advantage of this secretive information brokerage?"

The turian turned. "It's not as if they advertise their talents. And most people will go for the legitimate avenue even if it costs them thousands even millions of credits. You need dirt, dig in the dirt." the turian said feeling a little smug for that titbit of wisdom. It was the sort of wisdom that comes with walking the beat for ten years and knowing how to ferret out the grim and dirty. To anyone else it would seem quite the long shot and at best suspect.

As they had been speaking Garrus navigated through warrens of makeshift lodgings set up to house those displaced by the battle. A certain wave of homesickness settled within Tali. The way the cubicles were set up was reminiscent of the living quarters of her old ship. Of course all the ships within the flotilla were the set same: rows upon rows of private homey cubicles. She missed the dazzling colours and intricate patterns of the front curtains which were lacking on the Spectre's ship. The quarian supposed the lack of personal expression was because of the mentality surrounding living upon the ship. A ship was the place you served it wasn't your true home. Only spacers like Shepard who spent practically her entire life on a ship went out their way to fully personalize their allotted space. That is if they served upon a ship large enough to have a personal space. On the _Normandy_ there were only personal lockers as hot-bunking was norm.

The _Victory _was Shepard's ship she had the right to personalize it. Even the crew took to small touches of a personalization: pictures of loved ones or favoured musicians, actors or what was termed cheesecake/beefcakes were taped to the bulkheads next to their bunks or to the underside of the one above them. Tali shifted her wandering thoughts trying to keep up with Garrus's longer strides. He too seemed lost in his own thoughts and belatedly realized Tali wasn't at his side and paused long enough for her to catch up.

Tali didn't know what to expect or where Garrus was leading her but she trusted the man enough not to question him. She followed him into the confines of one of the several warehouses that dotted the wards. Once they were past the gates of the warehouse the former C-Sec officer continued to lead her further into the processing area. Garrus sneezed and Tali's eyes watered. The smell coming from the remote area of the bay was the sort of smell you sense with your teeth. Garrus seemed to still his movements as if searching the shadows for something or perhaps someone.

"Ah perfect." Garrus said approaching a knot of piping. Why this was perfect wasn't exactly self evident to the quarian but once more she trusted her companion to know what he was doing.

To say this was so, was the truth. Garrus picked up a spanner discarded by some former bored and apparently disinterested dockworker desiring nothing more than to hit the nearest pub after shift. He hadn't even bothered to tuck away his tools leaving them for whatever hands decided to pick them up. Fortunately for this dockworker it was a former copper and not some two-bit hustler, which might have cost him at the very least a very heavy reprimand from the boss the next morning.

Spanner in hand Garrus banged a repetitive rhythm upon the pipes: waited several moments until a very distant tap-tap-tap-bang had been returned. "Won't be long now," he said moving away from the collection of pipes to a darkened section of piled crates. One of which Tali decided to perch upon and oversee what the male had been doing.

Not five minutes later the squeak and teak of ancient rubber and old shoe leather permeated the atmosphere. Garrus turned to Tali proudly as to prove to her his word had worth she actually might have entertained to question. In truth she hadn't. If you furthered that trail of much sought after truth all she wanted to do was see who exactly these duct rats were and what exactly did they know. More pointedly if what they knew had worth to Shepard.

"G-man!" came a young scratchy voice. The owner was a human male or at least Tali thought it was a male. It was difficult for her to tell what the sex was at this early age in a human. He or perhaps _she _couldn't be more than ten years old. The hair was straw colored and sticking up at all angles as if he never bothered with grooming for the past month. "Been a long time. Heard you buggered off to space following that Spectre Shepard what went after that other Spectre."

"I did." Garrus placed the clear duroplastic backpack on one of the crates so the kid could see all that it contained. His watery brown eyes gleamed greedily. "Still am, Roach."

Garrus drummed his taloned fingers on the sack looking at the kid intently. "I know your buddy's around here somewhere. So you may as well pop out of the shadows. I know you duct rats always run in pairs if not packs."

There was a scuttling sound somewhere nearer a large stack of crates that Tali had used as a perch. A shadow parted from deeper shadows revealing a young turian. She was (and Tali knew this one was a female—no leg spikes) a bit taller than the human but not by much.

"Varren." Garrus addressed the newbie. "Thought it might be Mouse back there."

"Getting too big for the ducts to be a proper runner," came Roach. "An'a'sides we're as good as 'e. What you an'yer pretty girl looking fer?" he said still staring at the backpack.

Tali scoffed at the 'your pretty girl' bit but kept her tongue. Garrus heard the metallic sound but decided on the side of discretion that he hadn't. "What's the word on the Wards about Shepard and the Reapers?"

Roach looked at the former C-Sec officer incredulously. "You servin' 'er why yous two wanna know stuff like that fer?"

"On account they don't know what the real people are saying. Military types and the government scuttle things a bit." said Varren.

"Right on the snout, kid," Garrus nodded. "So what is being said?"

"We have the goods on why Shepard went and changed the name of her new ship." Varren commented. "The truth not the crap they spew on the news."

Garrus and Tali exchanged glances but said nothing. This obviously was news to them. Since when was the name of their ship changed and why hadn't the Spectre known about it? Why keep her of all people in the dark?

'Because she'd go high and to the right, if she did.' Garrus answered the hanging question. 'They ask her to change it she'd outright refuse them.'

'So they pressgang her into a corner and make her accept it because it's already accepted by the great masses. We didn't hear about it because we were on stealth missions trying very hard not to get unduly noticed.' Tali answered back in their silent conversation.

"She wants to scare the enemies to the core and send 'em to shaking to their marrow bones. But she can't do it if'n her ship was called something like _Victory_. It has to be _Normandy_. It's the name the bad guys know. _Victory _ain't no real name anyhow." Roach said. "But _Normandy_, now that gots real power. Shepard knows what's what. It ain't what the news been saying for the past month. That's all political crap and spin docterin'. The Wizard says so; he's got the truth of it."

"The Wizard?" Tali frowned. She had heard the urban rumours about an extranet hacker who was deep into governmental conspiracies.

Oh to be sure if you took the time to search the extranet, searched for the right key-word you'd find the Wizard's secret web-page. Like the Shadow Broker no one knew if it was a single sentient or if the Wizard was male or female. It didn't matter. What mattered was that Wizard knew how to get into certain files and if you were willing to take a risk of being arrested if you got caught for using illegal websites you could have those files as well. The duct rats seemed to have a special connection to the hacker. It was difficult after all to catch a ragamuffin sneak thief surfing illegal extranet sites on their stolen omni tools deep in the unreachable ducts of the station.

"So all this Intel comes from the Wizard does it?" Garrus shifted the pack making kids look enviously at their treasure slowly disappearing from their hands. "Perhaps this is the one I should be speaking to."

"We also have ears of our own." Varren said eagerly. "And eyes. And brains. And we're here now, anyway. But if you want to know more you pay half up now." If they were to lose some of those goods because Roach was dumb enough to give the suggestion that the extranet Wizard knew more at the very least they should get half of it, the young turian thought.

Garrus opened the pack and dug out two of the MRE packs: one in silver foil the other red and surrendered them.

"What about the ship Sovereign?" Tali pressed. "Pieces of that thing must be still around."

"Yep. Good prices for salvage too. Lots of people want a chunk of it, so there's lots of credits to be made. The news said its geth, but we knows the truth of it. It's an old god the geth gone and woke it up. But Shepard knew how to put it down; she's a god-slayer." There was reverence in the lad's voice. "Saren was its prophet and all them others got brain washed into being its disciples. Machines can't have a prophet or have disciples on account they don't need 'em. So Sovereign's a god, a geth god. And the geth knows how to summon more of 'em. It's why Shepard needs to have 'er ship called _Normandy_. Geth are living machines and so are their gods and they fear the _Normandy_. May not be the same exact ship but the spirit is all the same. Spirits of ship can be transferred to other ships like data-streams in the extranet or crewmembers or VIs. It's the power of ideas." Roach said tapping his head.

"Mouse said it's in the ship's VI. You can transfer the personality of the VI from one ship to another." Varren added. "He thinks the _Normandy_ actually had a true AI not just an VI and that's how the spirit transfer will work. See the holier-than-thou Council wants us only to believe it's just the geth dreadnoughts. But we know truth from spin and besides the Wizard confirms it. The Wizard says the government is covering everything up because they were too embarrassed for not trusting Shepard in the first place about that rogue agent Saren, and Sovereign being more than a geth." the young turian's mandibles flicked in a haughty expression. "Pride and honor motivates them, but truth and duty motivates Shepard. It's why she's going to win, even over the government."

"Tell us everything." Garrus said handing over the entire contents of the backpack, then displayed the vending tokens. "And make it bankable."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Spectre Shepard, I am well aware this change does not sit well with you but we are grateful you have come to understand the necessity of it." Tevos said softening the edges of what could quickly become a massive gulf between their newest agent and the Council.

The words 'as if I had a choice' were well on the way out of her lips when, "Ma'am." came out instead. Politics…she'd rather face Saren's husk again than wade through the erratic mire of political swamps. But here she was swimming in it. Deep in it.

"Perhaps we should address other important matters," Anderson interceded, "the beings of light. I see your squad-mates carry the Devices your briefing spoke of. Perhaps you can intercede on the Council's behalf and begin the proceedings."

"Yes sir. I feel it prudent to remind the Council that though you will see a single individual you are in fact seeing several billion individuals. I don't know what they will appear to you as. To me they sort of mirrored my hardsuit, their voice seemed more feminine but I suspect that is a reflection of what they heard as well. They also have a difficult time relating to non-biotics, in fact they have difficulty in perceiving them.

"I suppose it's not unlike unable to distinguish a single different silhouette from a jumble of shadows. To them those who are dim that is to say without the glow of biotics are as interesting to them as an ant is to any of us. I don't know how but they come from dark energy and for the most part it is all they perceive. I suspect they were designed to detect the strong Ee-Zo emanations that come from the Reapers…or as they know them as the machine devils."

"And how do you know that these machine devils are in fact the Reapers?" Sparatus accused.

"Perhaps that question can be better answered by the beings of light. I'm sure they can enlighten you, Councillor if you choose to be so enlightened."

Anderson stifled the sounds of a chuckle by covered it up badly with a cough; even Tevos and Velarn looked slightly amused.

Sparatus stared frozenly at the Spectre. She was daring him, he knew it. She was daring him to cross her in the only way she could. She was learning…politics. At an accelerated pace. The Council had only itself to blame for Shepard's ability to adapt to their ways of doing things.

"Spectre Shepard," Tevos started "if you please begin the introductions."

Shepard answered by way of a nod. "Williams?"

"Yes Ma'am." came a crisp military answer. She handed the Device to her CO.

"In order to activate the hive I'll need aid." Shepard said. "Councillor Tevos if you wouldn't mind..."

"How powerful do you need the wave?" she said understanding the Spectre's meaning.

"To tell you the truth I'm not entirely sure. I initiated the activation by a pulse, but Dr. T'Soni and another crew member assisted. The Device absorbs dark energy, a lot of it. If you and Liara send a moderate wave it won't tax either of you."

"Very well." the Councillor answered then moved down to where the Spectre stood.

Knowing what was to come Liara placed the Hive before their feet, took a step back and prepared to feed the hungry Device with a wave of biotic power. She placed a hand upon her bondmate's shoulder. Nothing had to be said in that touch the message was clear enough between two of them. It was a touch that said: 'I am going to be the one sending the majority of the power into the Device, you don't have a choice.'

The look reflecting in Shepard's blue eyes answered: 'Yes dear.'

Though completely discreet, Tevos was close enough to have caught it. That was bonded couples for you. Secret married language; all bonded couples had their version of it. She had shared it with her own bondmate when she had been bonded. Even now she shares such a connection with her lover.

Shepard closed her eyes for a moment summoning the dark energy within her and sent it into the Device held firmly in her hands. A smirk crossed her lips as she decided to give the Councillors a little bit of a show. A small ball of glowing blue energy surrounded the Device; she was no longer holding it but levitating it. It was the old levitate the rose trick and it was working. She could feel the thrill of wonder emanating from the non-biotics. And Shepard pushed more power into the Device despite Liara's silent wifely command that she was going to be the one to do so.

'By the Goddess that woman can be impossible!' Liara cursed inwardly. If thoughts were transmitted to her bondmate, well that was all the better. 'She's just showing off for that…that…that fucking turian! Honestly, I'm going to fling her into a stasis field and drag her backside back to the _Vic_…back to the _Normandy_. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.'

Part frustration, part anger and part worry spurred Liara into action. She flung a wave of dark energy into the Device. It rose over Shepard's pulse faster than the rising tide and took it over. Seizing the cue from the two younger women Tevos added her own wave of biotic power into the building energy.

Milky jade light emanated not only from the Device but from the Hive. The glow swirled as mist along the legs of the women and snaked up their bodies. From the Hive like a blanket of frozen rain came the ice-gnats. They swarmed in a cyclone mingling seductively with the jade light. As before on Klencory the ice-gnats coalesced into a cyan crystalline lattice somewhere between a snowflake and a Mandelbrot set, it flared brilliantly, ever changing fractals pulsing as a heartbeat.

Not having seen it before Liara was astonished at the pure beauty of watching it grind, grow, become…it assembled in the pseudo-shape of a hanar before it folded and yes folded was the correct word into the shape of a humanoid female in a hardsuit. It had the crest of an asari but the face…the face staring back at them was Shepard's.

Liara wasn't the only one agog, all the Councillors stared with their mouths open. They tried to close them but dropped open once more. They could only stare.

"Shepard Spectre. We hear your dance, you wish us to meet with your queens."

"I do." She gestured with her hand to the asari matriarch at her side. "This is Councillor Tevos."

"A crone like the one that came before." Weareth'Bol commented matter-of-factly.

"Crone?" Reaction to the implied insult was evident in Tevos's comment.

'Blast! I forgot about that.' Shepard cursed herself "Um they mean Matriarch. The last one they met was Matriarch Dilinga." The Spectre swiftly explained. She turned her attention back to the other Councillors.

"These are Councillors Anderson, Velarn and Sparatus."

"They are dim." Weareth'Bol said dismissively. "They cannot dance."

Translation: if they cannot dance how can they be queens?

"No they can't as you can see them but the majority of our people are dim. So they dance pretty well for them to see." Shepard quickly explained. "For those of the glow, Councillor Tevos dances for them." she winced the translation wasn't going well. She knew, knew without looking the matriarch was giving her a scathing look. The Spectre flashed a hapless smile that said: 'Please just drop it. Look it's just the way they speak, okay. I didn't say exotic dance, just dance.'

"We of the Citadel Council wish to extend a welcome to the beings of light." Tevos responded with the refined dignity synonymous with the asari. "And we welcome the willingness to aid us against the…synthetic machine devils." she was going to say geth but stopped short of uttering the word.

"We were created at the dawn of time to do so, Tevos Councillor. They wake, their hives hum. Their queens dance for them to breach the barriers between our space and theirs. We have seen one of their queens. Shepard Spectre danced for us the images of the attack. They attacked this hive."

"Yes. They did." Velarn said. He was wondering as were the others just what had the Spectre told the impressionable ambassador. He recalled Shepard's briefing on the matter at hand. She had admitted that had shown Weareth'Bol the recordings taken both from the transmission sent to the _Normandy _from Eden Prime during the first attack as well as those recovered during the battle over the Citadel. But so convinced the Reapers were real, that they were coming she no doubt had convinced the beings of light that their apparent destiny was at hand.

The Counsellors knew they were on very shaky ground. The same ground Sparatus intended for Shepard was now under their feet.

"The geth have taken ancient Reaper technology and perverted it." Sparatus said "As we've come to understand it the old enemy …the synthetic machine devils had the capability to indoctrinate their victims. Apparently that technology was still functioning in the derelict ship discovered two decades ago. It had a most unfortunate effect on one of our greatest Spectres and turned him rogue. He in turn captured several others and with the same brain washing techniques turned them to his cause had had many more believing including Shepard here that the true return of the Reapers was on the horizon. He was so indoctrinated he attacked the Citadel and allied with the geth."

'You son-of-a-bitch.' Shepard's mind snapped. Then shifted slightly, 'he's the bell and you're not going to ring it. He wants you to fail; he wants you to fall just like Saren.'

"Geth are not the synthetic machine devils." Weareth'Bol stated. "Sovereign is. We were created at the dawn of time to destroy them."

'And here comes the circular logic.' Shepard thought. 'Good luck coming out of this without a headache.'

"The Reapers…the synthetic machine devils have been around since the creation of the universe?" Anderson said incredulously.

"Since the dawn of time." Weareth'Bol corrected. "The universe is not time. Dawn is not creation."

The Councillors looked at one another and back to Shepard. She shrugged. She too had assumed the dawn of time was metaphorical for the creation of the universe—the big bang or something close to it. So just what did 'dawn of time' mean then? Dawn of civilization?

"The cycle of extinction came to your people." Liara began carefully "Perhaps our 'queens' can better understand your mission given to you if you explained it to them."

"The synthetic machine devils came to cultivate. They came to harvest. They collected lives. They turned creators into traitors. Those that created us enlightened us with the glow. Dawn came and we were given the mission. We destroyed the synthetic machine devils, sent them back to the dark. The creators were gone. We drifted in the cold dust of the Void. Without the mission we settled in the places of glow. Without the mission we became endarkened. We are of the glow, we come from the glow. With the glow comes the dawn of enlightenment. With enlightenment comes the mission."

And there it was. 'Dawn of enlightenment'.

Shepard grasped upon that scrap of knowledge. So dawn of time could be at time then. Enlightenment and endarkened it wasn't metaphorical. It was literal. If the beings of light were bio-synthetic perhaps something akin to VI…if they were not in use they went into hibernation. Hibernation must be the endarkenment. When they _woke_ from their endarkened state with enough Ee-Zo the dawn of time happened. There was no real telling then just when they were truly 'created'. Shepard probed the ideas lying before her.

Alright then if it was literal when did Weareth'Bol become enlightened? Obviously it was before Matriarch Dilinga came to Klencory because they were already whispering in their Device for someone to find their crypts. But she didn't. Their dawn of time, Shepard continued to travel down the line of thought, must have happened when Klencory's core experienced that massive explosion of Ee-zo.

It seemed the Councillors were wrapping their individual minds around this concept as well. But was that all it took for microscopic insectiod entities to become enlightened…self-awareness was an overabundance of dark energy? No. Surely not. It had to be more than that.

They had _been_ created. They said creators made them to destroy the Reapers. Someone had created them with a purpose. But like the Reapers they had been wiped out, taken…harvested, Weareth'Bol had said. But harvested for what? That was still the very big question. And now the geth had this information, they had...'gotten religion.' Even so did their faith now compel them to harvest organic life as well?

Weareth'Bol began to tell the Council just as it had Shepard. No they did not know the protheans, nor did the creators. This was explained by Liara that the Ee-zo explosion at Klencory's core happened hundred thousand years ago. They didn't know the protheans because they predated them by fifty thousand years. At that time the protheans were in their Cro-Magnon stage of life.

"The synthetic machine devils were not known as the Reapers, they had their own name. A name the creators would not use because it honoured them and so they scorned them by calling them the machine devils."

"What is the name the Reapers called themselves?" Shepard asked carefully. She needed to know, wanted to know if the name was known to the Protheans. Names had power, what the beings of light may not understand is if you had the name, the true name of something….someone you had them, you could own them.

"Nazara." Weareth'Bol said evenly.

They were all silent for the moment before Sparatus spoke apparently forgetting that Weareth'Bol was the ambassador for a long lost race and not some crewmember of Shepard's ship. "While Reaper history is fascinating this is all a bit superfluous. We have a tangible enemy and it isn't the Reapers, Nazara, synthetic machine devils or whatever the name they are called. We have the geth they are the machine devils we need to be concerned about. And lest you forget they do have this Reaper technology."

"What my learned colleague is attempting to convey, is our space has been targeted by another synthetic menace and it does take precedence." Tevos said hurriedly in case the ambassador of the beings of light took offence.

Apparently it wasn't only what an invaluable resource the creatures before them was that had forgotten - he had also forgotten their skills as warriors. Tevos remembered vividly the way the beings of light utterly demolished the volus's derelict ship. If they chose to do so here on the Citadel Station because they were angered by a single man…

"We have allied with Shepard Spectre to destroy the machine devils and…their minions." Weareth'Bol said evenly. "We do not follow the words of the dim. They can not dance, they do not glow, they can not lead. We are of the glow."

Anderson and Velarn placed warning hands upon their fellow 'dim'. "Perhaps out of discretion we leave further negotiations with this newly rediscovered race in the hands of Tevos." Anderson whispered. "After all I'm sure the turians do not wish to incite yet _another_ first contact war. You won't be able to call this one an incident; Sparatus like your people did with us. "

Sparatus spun his head around to the human his anger plainly visible in his golden avian eyes. He knew the other man was right. Damn it to the nine high hells, he was right! Curse the humans! They all should be boiled in their own blood, Shepard and Anderson to be the first!

"My apologies ambassador Weareth'Bol," Sparatus half bowed, careful to keep his voice as neutral as possible. "I fear the ever looming threat of all out war with the geth has taken precedence in minds of the Council." There - he apologised but he'd be damned if he was going to fully admit he was at fault for his undiplomatic slip. It was all Shepard's doing. She always managed to unhinge him. He never came to terms with both admiring and despising the one individual at the same time. And why did she always have to play the bloody hero and be so damn good at it!?

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

It was all a bit like Father Christmas, Miranda Lawson thought as she sat one of the many lounges in Afterlife's night club on the Omega Station. She sipped on a long glass of rum and coke. She had spent the past two hours crowd watching, listening to them with some interest

When you were a child you were expected to believe in a jolly fat man in a red suit who had workshop run by enslaved elves who made toys for the good children…well human children. A child's willingness to suspend disbelief was practically infinite. As you grew-up you became more and more aware of the _lie_. It was all a conspiracy drummed up by the marketing corporations. But even as you grew older you were willing to hold the lie and pretend there was no conspiracy because frankly you wanted that extra present. But just as equally you wanted the _lie. _

Miranda recalled the first time she started to doubt her belief in Father Christmas. Really was she expected to believe Daddy was so very rich and so very powerful he rated a personal visit? At five she believed it. At six she doubted; it didn't make any sense. So when she asked her father he told her thus:

"_Miranda, Daddy has many friends and one of them just happens to be Santa Claus. Now he came a very long way just to meet you, we don't want to disappoint him now do we? Be a good girl and do as you are told so you receive that one extra gift. We wouldn't want to hurt his feelings now would we?"_

So like a good little girl she obeyed, sat on the man's lap and told him what she wanted for Christmas. But as she sat there telling the jolly fat man her desire she saw that his big bushy white beard was starting to peel off - real beards do not peel and why did it smell of glue?

The next year her father was busy with someone he called 'The Man' and so it was a servant who led her into the den where Saint Nick was waiting for her, but his face seems a bit different from last year and he seemed not all that fat but rather lumpy. As if he had pillow stuffed up under his big red coat. When she told the servant she didn't believe it was the real Father Christmas, because how can he be here and only just an hour ago he was at the megaplex shopping center and at Toy Castle at the same time? She saw them you can't say she didn't see what she saw. She was told:

"_Maybe not the real one no, but he is the __**Spirit **__of Father Christmas Miri. He is Santa Claus's helper. You see they have a telepathic bond and what his helpers are told by the children the true Father Christmas hears. This is why when we went out shopping you saw him there and at the toy store and how he can be here and on Earth. He has his helpers everywhere. But because they are a part of his Spirit they look as he is supposed to look because well that's what is expected_."

At seven she stopped believing all together. But pretended to believe just as the adults all around her continued the charade. Apparently it was important to believe. It was the essence of the spirit of the holiday. It was astounding just how far the adults went to pretend however. She never told them she had long ago figured it out that it was the servants who told her father what she wanted most for Christmas. She continued to believe that the man in the lumpy red suit and fake beard was the Spirit of Father Christmas, mostly because she wanted that extra present. But it also seemed sort of important she couldn't say why only that it felt that way.

Young Miranda became fascinated in the whole affair as she listened to the servants telling their young children the _lie. _Some adults seemed to want to believe in the _lie _as well. They had a wistful expression on their faces. When she brought this conclusion up to one of her tutors when she was eleven he put down the coffee mug he had been sipping from, scrubbed his face with his right hand and said.

"Well the thing is Miss Lawson…" and he never did finish the sentence. He got up from his desk and walked away leaving his coffee half drunk.

Apparently there was not only the adult conspiracy and the_ lie _but now there was a _thing_. No one told her there was a thing. Just what was this thing anyway?

When she was a ten she figured out why adults persisted in the ludicrous belief of the jolly fat man but she also found out what the _thing_ was. Adults no longer had real things to believe in, no longer had soft dreams, they had forgotten what imagination was for. And for two short weeks they got to remember, got to hold on to the belief that something was soft, warm and safe. Something worth believing in. Dreams had a lot of power.

Spectre Agent Samantha Shepard and the _Normandy_ were not soft. But they were however safe. They were **Things **to believe in. And yes this thing had a capital 'T'. They brought other lies with them. They brought hope and justice. It was why people even here in the Terminus Systems allowed their willingness to disbelief to expand from what were the acceptable levels to the 'are you fucking serious?' capability.

Miranda had listened to snatches of conversation in the more secluded lounges and heard the gossip whispered. Apparently anchorwoman Emily Wong of Citadel Newsnet in her continued profile of the great Spectre Shepard reported that the hero of the war had been finally granted what she had wanted ever since she was placed on a new ship: the right to call her the _Normandy._ The name _Victory_ should be rightly given to the ship that was truly victorious.

At first it was 'are you fucking serious?' from everyone and then just like a preteen child trying to believe in the impossible Father Christmas they started to accept it. They wanted that extra dream, that extra belief that made them feel safe.

Besides Shepard was a marine, people said. And they were funny when it came to superstition, just like merchant sailors, gamblers and sports stars. The name _Normandy_ was something of a good luck charm for the first human Spectre, so of course she needed the name to follow her even if it wasn't the same ship. It all was in the _spirit _of the thing. The spirit of something was potent, it had power. Belief had power.

Miranda had been hearing this for the past month, and finally the rumours were no longer rumours but fact. So …if the original _Normandy_ had been called _Victory_ all this time, were Cerberus's agents following the wrong ship? Was Shepard hunting geth as was first reported, or was it the new Commander of the Spectre's former ship doing so? No it was a magician's distraction and sleight of hand. Yes look over here while all the real magic is going on over here by way of trickery. Such tactics played out by the Council left Shepard free to go about unobserved. So what had she been doing?

Miranda's eyes snapped open in sudden realization. 'Ilos! She was on Ilos. It was her not the geth that had destroyed the agents there. We were following the rumours of _Victory_ hunting geth, we paid no attention to _Normandy_…Damn it! We lost sight of the real prey. Why hadn't The Illusive Man known the truth?

'And if he did know why didn't he tell me? Why didn't he correct me when I had that meeting with him? Surely he knew…' Miranda thought bitterly. She ran her hand through her raven dark locks and said aloud. "The thing is…" She got up and walked away from her table leaving her rum and coke half finished.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Did you see his face?" Ash laughed as the trio walked along the bridge leading from the Citadel tower to the financial distract of the Presidium. "He was so livid! And watching him back pedal like that was great! Serves that smug turian right for all that crap he pulled."

Shepard tried to smile but it quickly slipped when Liara gave her a _look_. The Spectre knew she was in trouble, no make that Trouble. There was a definite capital 'T' in there. Liara remained mute. Shepard matched her wife stride for stride, opening then closing then opening her mouth then closing it once more.

Ash flinched this was bad, very bad. She was a child of a large family; she knew a married couple's secret and very silent argument when she saw it. Her parents had been champion silent arguers. And Liara and the Skipper were having a doosy of a one. Not that she blamed Liara one bit. She was a bit pissed off at the Skipper herself. Sam was supposed be taking it easy with the biotics. But what she did in the Council chambers was far from taking it easy. Damn it this was going to make the surprise baby shower difficult if not impossible thought the Lieutenant. She was going to have to play referee and play it quickly.

"You know Skipper; you took quite a risk back there with that little extra trick hovering the Device like you did." Ash eased into the role of peacemaker. Taking sides even if you didn't proclaim it was always tricky. The only side to take here was Liara's.

Sam frowned. She knew if she blasted Ash for the comment which was the truth, she'd leave her flank open for Liara's attack. Damn, this wouldn't do. "I know." She said smartly. She was going to add 'the man pissed me off. Where's the harm in a little theatrics?'

The harm was…well the harm was to be found out. Tevos was standing right there for crying out loud. If her sclera turned blue the asari would catch it and know why. Then she'd be done. The Council would pull her off duty for who know how long perhaps permanently. Cyan syndrome was not something easily dismissed like a head cold.

Liara was still fuming; one did not have to be bonded to her to feel it. Samantha was straining herself out of pride - for show. For show! She was deliberately tempting fate.

Liara turned to her love and sighed. She knew Samantha's temperament exceptionally well. She knew Samantha wanted nothing better than to snap Sparatus' spine with a singularity. The loss of the original _Normandy_ had to hurt and the way the Council, particularly had tried to manipulate her. Pouring that rage into a little trick was at least more constructive than an outright attack on the turian Councillor. And at least Samantha admitted she was wrong. But Liara was still quite angry.

"Look I know it was a stupid, but it's done now." Sam looked to her beloved bondmate. Saying she couldn't help herself the Spectre knew was a bad move. She said instead. "And it's a fool's luck that follows me."

Liara spun around and stared at Samantha, her eyes reflecting a classical wife's glare. It was a look only a married woman possesses and though she hadn't been married all that long the asari was already an expert at it.

Samantha returned _the look_ argumentatively. She was too used to being a commanding officer, getting the knack of being a woman married was a little more of a challenge. But she could return _the look_. But she had not heart for it; she knew why Liara was angry. She was angry because she was worried. It was love. In its purest form.

"You're right, Skipper." Ash switched sides deftly. "Even if they noticed anything the encounter with Weareth'Bol took their minds off of it. Besides now we have other things to deal with. How are we going to tell the crew about this change of names in the ship? I know it put you on edge, and it sure as hell pissed me off. It rubs the nerves all the wrong way." She said reminding Liara of why Sam did her little show. "She was your first command…"

The look of anger relented in the asari and softened. Yes she had forgotten that. Her eyes reflected now deep sympathy for her beloved. Samantha had been placed in a very challenging position one she couldn't fight. Her hand shot out and took Samantha's into her own and squeezed it.

Ash smiled proudly, it was nearly as easy with her parents. Ashley could always make peace between them before their arguments escalated into orbital realms of stupidity.

"Samantha… just be careful. Your fool's luck cannot last forever."

"Yes love." The Spectre answered dutifully just before she kissed the back of her wife's blue hand.

"Say I know I'm a bit peckish what do you say we hit the Ambassador's hotel. Didn't the manager say you can have a free room and a meal whenever you like Skipper?"

Sam turned to her Trusted and gave her a slight push in the shoulder. It said: 'I know what you did back there…and thank you and I love you for it.' She flashed the younger woman her best full toothed smile. "You know that sounds like a grand idea. I'm absolutely starving."


	34. Connections

Chapter 34: Connections

"I don't get you." Abby addressed her sister in the privacy of their shared hotel room. "You had her in the palm of your hand! You had her and you turned it down?" She sat down on her bed the one closest to the window with a hairbrush in hand.

Her sister ever the marine had taken the bed closest to the door in case there was need to take a defensive position or even an offensive one. Even before Abby roused herself from an alcohol induced slumber from the previous nights libations, Ash had already showered, brushed both teeth and hair the latter still hung free down her shoulders in soft black waves. She took to civilian clothing namely denim jeans and a loose fitting white blouse as she wasn't officially on duty for the day. Abby who still wasn't used to the military lifestyle aboard a starship was slower getting herself ready for the day. What Ash did in five minutes took the younger Williams an hour and half.

"You seem to forget it wasn't just Sam I would have, Liara comes with her. They are a package deal. They both come with little Secura. I'm not _in_ love with Liara. It might have worked in time, but…it would never be balanced." Ash took in an unsteady sigh. "You've seen the two of them. Hell last night should have been proof enough. You saw the bond in motion. They are so deeply connected they don't even seem to be aware half their conversations happen within that bond. I will never be a part of that."

Ash gave a wondering look to the door that adjoined their room to the room the Skipper had with Miss Prothean Expert. "No matter if Liara and I truly learn to love each other, I will never be as close as Sam and Liara are together." She turned her attention back to her sister. "Get it now? And… I'm too damn selfish to share. I'm not as open minded as Liara is and as the Skipper has become. I want you to drop it." Ashley explained patiently, though pained.

Abby frowned, her heart breaking for her favorite sister. "But it's hurting you."

Ash sighed. "Tell me about it. I'm the one inside here." She tapped her chest. Absentmindedly she wiped tears from her eyes. "Which is why I'm asking you to drop it."

Abby knew her sister in a way only a sister could. Ash was an infinitely proud woman who despised showing any amount of emotional weakness. Abby didn't say thing as she dropped the hairbrush onto the bed, crossed the room to sit beside Ashley. She held her sister as she allowed herself to feel for the first time the true depths of what the ending of the trinity meant to her, even though it never officially began. How long they remained like that was difficult for Ash to say, to her it felt like hours. In fact it had only been a few minutes.

"How about you and I hit some of the nightclubs tonight, just you and I and get truly and seriously tanked?"

Ash offered a soggy smile. "Sounds good to me, sis."

"Good. Come on let's catch some of that famed breakfast buffet before it's all scarfed up by the other patrons and we're forced to dig in the regular hotel fare."

Ash wiped her face with the back of her sleeved arm. "I'm in. Though even if we do miss the buffet the food for the day is still comped."

"It's good to be the right hand of a Spectre-hero." Abby chided jovially. "And the right hand's sister. Of course you're a hero as well."

Ash grinned at this. Leave it to Abby to know how to lift her spirits. It was a gift she had ever since they were young. For a while they said nothing as they made for the hotel's dining hall. It was only after they were shown to their table that the younger of the Williams turned and spoke.

"So are you going to tell me the real reason you're not the XO anymore."

"What the Skipper told the crew is the truth. I told her I wanted to be at her six groundside and frankly she needs me. Liara agrees. I can do the job as an XO but I'd rather be at her flank than in second in command and left behind holding the deck."

They moved from their table to the queue for the buffet, each taking a plastic tray, utensils coffee cups and a glass for juice or water.

"Makes sense. It's the only way you can show your love for her and for her to accept yours."

"Yeah but it's more than that. A committed ground team has a connection deeper and even tighter than even those of family. We rely on each other to stay alive, we protect each other. Even Wrex came to welcome it. We're a part of his krant, the Skipper is his battlemaster. That's how powerful Shepard is, even krogans follow her. We will all follow her into the jaws of hell if she asks us. To be separated from that…" Ash swallowed hard, "is harder than…turning away from the trinity. So if I have to give up the command track for that then so be it. I'll get back there eventually. Right now I'm where I needed to be. Where I want to be."

They made their way through the queue taking their preferred items from the offered menu.

Abby nodded. "I get it sis. Hell yesterday I was paired up with Wrex on that scouting mission, he definitely has a case of hero worship for Shepard. He headbutted another krogan so hard he knocked him flat out just because he said something challenging against Shepard."

"Headbutting is a favored sport for them. What exactly did the other shellback say to piss Wrex off so much?"

"At first I thought it was some sort of weird krogan complement. He said something about Shepard having a set of quads on her for going up against Saren and destroying his geth-god. then it turned nasty. He said she should be fed to the threshers for destroying the cure for the genophage. Wrex was a race traitor for following a squishy female and he should have dropped her back on Virmire but he doesn't have the stones. Then crack! The other guy was slammed in the head and was out cold."

Ash snorted. "Back on Virmire I was a bit concerned you know. Wrex had his shotgun trained on her and she had her pistol pointed at his skull. I was behind him ready to drop him. I seriously thought it would come to that. But damn if the Skipper wasn't born with a silver tongue. She not only got Wrex to back down but she made him see those tank-bred clones were a mistake and so was Saren's cure. She had him convinced it would have turned the krogan into slaves. I think she was right about that."

The elder Williams found herself frowning as she rewound what her sister had said about the Saren's geth. "Geth-god. Is that what you said?"

Abby nodded. "Apparently that's what a lot of people are saying. Emily Wong even said it on her news show. Word is the geth created some kind of god out of some lost derelict ship dating back to the time of the Protheans. Saren conned the geth into believing it was something called a Reaper because of the visions from the ancient beacons. They say Shepard is a god-slayer."

"…And people are believing this?" Ash asked a bit astonished. The Council was right…the people would believe what they had been told. They were actually buying it! "Where did you learn this?"

"Wrex brought me to one of those dank dark seedy places. It was one bad day away from becoming Omega."

"Wrex took you to one of those places!?"

"Ash, I can handle it. You can stop hovering you know, I'm all grown up not some child anymore. I am just as much as a Williams woman as you are."

"I know sis. It's hard not to play the role of protector. It's always been my job."

"Yeah I know. You played that role sometimes at nauseam. So what does your Skipper say about your hovering?" Abby bumped shoulders with her sister as they headed back to their table with their laden plates.

"She agreed to the switch didn't she?"

"Well yes, but _she_ is a Spectre, your mother henning must annoy her."

"I DO NOT mother hen!" Ash snapped causing several heads in the dining hall to turn in her and Abby's direction. Most of them aliens and each with expressions of irritation and aloofness as if they were not surprised for the sudden outburst from the humans. Ash's cheeks flushed as did Abby's.

"You always know how to make a scene." The younger Williams said between her teeth.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Would you keep your voice down? See you're doing it now. I'm just sayin' sis you allow your emotions to speak for you most of the time, unless you're in front of a superior officer. Then you're all the model soldier: officer and a lady and all that. Outside of that you're as blunt as a balteen hammer."

"Maybe," Ash said in a tone that conveyed she knew perfectly well her sister was correct. She was always quick to snap at civilians if they pissed her off. It was probably the reason Shepard had called earlier in the morning and said the today's meeting with the Council was to be only herself and Weareth'Bol. She recalled trying to argue with the commander about it:

'_But come on! That smug turian Councilor …he can twist things around on an antique dime and test even the most patient person into committing violence. That man even got Liara riled. The last person to push her buttons ended up as metallic goo.'_

"So now that we have the day off what do you want to do?" Abby swiftly changed the subject, brining Ash back to the present.

"You might have the day off, I have duty shift this afternoon. I'm not the XO anymore but I still have some reports to go over and there are still details Shiala and I have to iron out. Transferring positions isn't as easy as simply saying you want it done."

With their plates loaded down with omelets, bacon, fried mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, baked beans and toast the sisters Williams sat down at their table and prepared to stuff themselves. Rupert tried his best with highly preserved military grade food stocks, sometimes even getting fresh ingredients but still there was nothing like dining on true fine food that was expertly prepared, save perhaps for something made by mom.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

The Citadel Council and the Alliance Brass and the skeptics may not want to admit how much

they need Shepard. But if it wasn't for her, Council Space would be thrust into a new dark age. The Council as well as all aboard the _Destiny Ascension_ would have been lost without Shepard's orders to protect them and the flagship. And though humanity has proven more than their worth to the galactic community they are not ready to take the grand responsibility as to dominate the Council or the protection of Citadel Space. They are still learning what it is to be part of a galactic community. The rest of us must help them grow and learn as any true community will with their children. Fine representatives of their race such as Shepard and Councilor Anderson prove they are ready to grow, learn and become part of the community.

Spectre Shepard will need to build an armada to fight the geth-gods, that have assumed the para-historical-mythical name the Reapers. The Council will give her a token fleet to save face, which is why they granted her the name _Normandy_. But she will need more aid. Listen to me children your extranet Wizard says if you believe in the truth then join up on a ship willing to make a stand when the time comes. If the geth-gods are out there then they will come for all of us. They don't care if you are a hard core merc, a decorated officer in the military or C-Sec, a deserter, or a pirate they will cut you down. They will reap! So when Shepard asks for aid, give it to her and the valiant crew of the _Normandy_. The Wizard gives you the truth, children listen and live, do not and perish just like the Protheans. The Wizard has seen first hand the destruction the geth-Reapers can do. Shepard is the only one doing something about it but she can not do it alone. We of the galactic community even those in the Terminus Systems must make a stand with her.

Councilor Tevos closed her connection to the extranet with a gleaming self satisfied smile. She might not be able to support Shepard within the Council Chambers but _The Wizard_ definitely could to a minimal degree. To have openly supported Shepard in the Council would have divided it and such a thing would be detrimental to all within Council space. Councilor Tevos must place greater value on the bigger picture; however The Wizard had the liberty to zero in on the finer details. Covertly aiding the young Spectre was in the long run the better choice, it allowed to aid on two fronts.

Those who didn't believe in conspiracy theorists like The Wizard took the majority of the cues from the Council. The only way the collective populace of Citadel Space could get on with their happy little lives was they did not know about the galactic doom looming in dark space. To protect them the Council acknowledged Shepard as a hero and protector even if they discredited her warnings that the Reapers were coming. They were only geth warships and Shepard leading the battle against them on the _Normandy_.

The matriarch had indeed touched Shepard's deep subconscious and found the truth in the visions from the beacons. What she found terrified her. She wasn't going to gamble on the idea the Reapers were no more. Even if all was left were derelict ships brought back to life by the geth like Sovereign, they were still capable of immeasurable extinction level destruction. What troubled her was deeply how Shepard believed in the true existence of the Reapers. It motivated her every action, her crew and those worshipped her as a hero. It even motivated those who spoke out against her, men like Udina and his bounty hunters as well as organizations like Cerberus.

Shepard needed help.

And so The Wizard was dusted off after thirty years of lurking in the shadows of the extranet and brought back into the light. The idea behind The Wizard had been if you cannot stop the conspiracy theorists, then control them by becoming one of their most revered. Not even the rest of the Council knew the identity of The Wizard.

(Despite how often they attempted to catch that damnable hacker who always seemed five steps ahead of the Special Task Group and the few Spectres that had been sent on the hunt.)

Tevos removed the specialized and highly modified Omni tool she wore when she assumed The Wizard's identity. It was an identity she had assumed for practically the past five hundred years. In her youth she was a sublime hacker, her skills had only increased as time progressed. Only one Spectre ever came close in catching her, the STG never even came close. And then there was a Justicar that nearly caught her, fortunately the appearance of an ardat-yakshi distracted the huntress long enough for the Councilor to cover her tracks and disappear back into cyberspace.

The Matriarch rubbed the back of her neck feeling the tension already building and the day hadn't even officially begun. A blue hand met hers taking over the task of massaging. The Councilor closed her eyes indulging greedily in the simple touch of her lover. The hands massaging her trailed along the soft folds in her neck, down along her spine and back to her neck, mindful to keep the touch soothing without being arousing.

"Your mind is a storm of decisiveness and indecision. This is not like you." The other matriarch uttered softly.

"There are many whispers roaming the Citadel now that Shepard has returned. They are as varied as the emotions centering on the change of ship names. Many have accepted it merely as a part of some political game on the Council's part. Many believe The Wizard." said. "Without divulging the confidentiality of your clients can you generalize their responses do they correspond with the mass public?"

"Before I answer I may add your ploy with your hacker alias is quite clever." Sha'ira said kissing the Councilor's neck folds. "As you said many believe it is a political game. Others have more negative attitudes towards the event. The majority of my clients do not bring it up, but this is the feel of the station. Having read Shepard no doubt she has only agreed to this as a dis-favorable order."

The Councilor nodded. "I had to betray the truth of what I knew, what I saw in her mind when we linked. She was beyond rage, yet kept her anger in check. Though barely. She is becoming more easily provoked; my fellow Councilors and I are concerned over her mental and emotional state. Even Anderson has grown concerned for her."

"She has an acute sense of morality. Sometimes it is blinding to look at her aura, it as deeply aglow as a Justicar's." The Consort said softly. "I feel she has a very similar adherence to a code perhaps known only to herself. She stays as close to her code as she can, it is so very much apart of her just as a Justicar to the Code. Shepard is innocent in her way of looking at most things. Either they are morally just or they are erroneous. If wrong, it must be stopped and the victims saved from whatever is happening to them. When I first read her, her innocent views confounded me. It has been several centuries since I have met anyone quite like her that wasn't a maiden in her eighth decade. She is incredibly idealistic.

"I knew she set herself apart from others not because of her talents but other reasons I will not divulge. I pray to the Goddess she will never lose her views on the galaxy and become jaded like so many others when they discover the truth of how the galaxy truly functions." The Consort studied her lover as she would when she would give the gift of words. "You fear Shepard will rebel and go rogue."

"Sparatus seems to think it is only a matter of time. Velarn believes if she is pressed hard enough she will break and prove humans are not yet fully ready to be Spectres despite she is above the rank and file among many of the soldiers of the Council races." paused for a moment, her face betraying her thoughts. "Before humanity joined that is" She amended. "Anderson is confident not only is her oppressive belief in the Reapers true but so is her loyalty."

"The only threat you have of her rebelling is if you forbid her Liara." Sha'ira said honestly.

"I tested their connection yesterday. Before our conference I had asked Sparatus who has an antagonistically aggressive relationship with Shepard to challenge Liara. The result was quite surprising. They both flared brightly throwing up barriers not over themselves but over each other. I don't even think they were fully aware of it. I have never seen that outside a pure asari soul bonding."

Sha'ira digested the information she had been told. Soul bounding while not rare amongst two asari it was with an asari and her alien lover. She knew their bond was strong just not how strong.

As if reading her thoughts, added. "Perhaps it has to do with Liara's pregnancy."

"Pregnancy!" Sha'ira gasped loudly in a rare moment of exclamation. "Liara is pregnant? Shepard is not a matriarch….I admit her mind is uniquely strong and willful but she does not contain the power of a matriarch. Racen only became pregnant because of the potency of the melds she shares with Lidanya."

Tevos winced inwardly. "I had assumed since you freely admitted to contributing to Liara's siring you knew of her pregnancy and the gestalt."

"I knew a little of such. My daughter and I are still learning about each other. While the lines of communication are…open they are not fully free. Liara has stipulated I be placed on probation with her. I fear for too long she felt I had rejected her, ashamed of her birth. Aethyta never spoke to her about it either.

"It was Samantha….who tried to make Liara see a lighter side by saying that perhaps I did want to come forward and claim her as my offspring but something happened to me and therefore could not. Of course she might as well have said that about Aethyta, neither of them new of the trinity. It was Samantha's own mother who helped to open the door to Liara's life yet she is still very hesitant around me. It does not surprise me she has not spoken of her pregnancy with me."

"I understand. I respect you and your daughter's privacy I will not pry. However there is no denying Liara is with daughter and that Shepard is the sire. I highly suspect the gestalt influenced many of the changes in both of them including Liara's ability to bear a daughter so very young."

Both matriarchs knew to bear a child so very early in the maiden stage was far beyond risky. Maidens were typically unable to even become pregnant as their bodies simply were not ready to convert their own genetic code with the information taken from a partner and conceive a child. Only those who had experienced deep and regular melds were even able to tap into that area of a more mature brain typically awakened during their matron stage. Even with modern medicine the very young mother and daughter often died before or during child birth.

It took more than a Bond born of the Union for either to survive which was why it was never done outside the Bonding and even then it took more than marriage. A soul bond made all the difference. The stress of the pregnancy was shared between two bodies, two minds…two souls.

The soul was deep and eternal which was why it was only ever known amongst two asari. Such bonds if held allowed both asari to live well past two thousand years. Romantic Legend held that Matriarch Dilinga and her bondmate lived for seven millennia. But that was legend. The truth was no one knew for sure how long the Matriarch and her beloved had lived but it was well past three thousand years, her writings were proof of that.

Sha'ira knew her firstborn Racen had such a deep connection to Lidanya. It should not have come to a surprise that her first conceived daughter had the ability as well, given whom Liara's mother was. The gestalt…now that added new variables into the equation. It would not come to a surprise to the Consort to learn that Liara's daughter was conceived during the creation of the gestalt.

Even with such a bond between Racen and Lidanya they had not chanced Racen or their daughter's heath to such a connection. Once she was pregnant the embryo Racen carried had been surgically removed and implanted within Lidanya's womb for the remaining months of gestation. It was Lidanya who had given birth to Maysa. Such an option was not open for Liara and Samantha. While asari and humans shared many similar traits they were too many differences for embryonic transfer to be viable. Besides even if it were a valid avenue to consider Shepard's hectic Spectre lifestyle was not.

Sha'ira was too well schooled in concealing her emotions to allow them to play out upon her face or be betrayed by body language, knowing her as she did took her lover's hand into her own and squeezed it. No words were exchanged, there was no need. Both were far too old and had seen far too much for empty platitudes to be of any comfort. And such words never gave lasting comfort to a parent.

"For what it is worth, today's meeting is with Shepard alone." The Councilor said purposely omitting the fact Weareth'Bol was also to be present. "I'm sure if a message was sent to one Dr. T'Soni she may well be free for the day."

"How fortunate that today also coincidently happens to be a day when I am also free." The Consort allowed a smirk to tease the corners of her mouth.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Last night's baby-shower ambush derailed the Spectre. The jocularity of the evening had for a short time distracted her enough not to dwell on the fate of the true _Normandy_. Shepard did what she had done within the Council chamber she tucked away all of her emotions into a tightly sealed little box which allowed her to keep focused on the mission. It what she had done Elysium, on Eden Prime and on Virmire and the Citadel. When she was alone, she could afford the luxury of feeling those emotions. She allowed them to crush her, she allowed herself to feel. It was something she had learned in the Grief-Management therapy sessions she had taken.

Yes all hands on the true _Normandy _were strangers as she had taken all those who had served with her during the conflict with Saren with her to the _Victory_. But it didn't mean the loss of the ship affected her any less. The _Normandy_ had been her first command. Her first ship. In fact its loss rocked her to her core.

All those who had lost their lives on Elysium had died because she wasn't fast enough, she had failed them all. Kaiden died because she was forced into a difficult situation. She had to choose one life over another, in the end she chose the more efficient soldier. Thousands of humans had died because she chose the Council over humanity.

All those lives lost on the _Normandy_ were because of her. They were hunted down because Shepard and the _Normandy_ were synonymous. Fifty lives cut down because of her reputation. Her ship - and she would always think of the _Normandy,_ the true _Normandy,_ as her ship - destroyed…

Shepard supported her weight with her hands resting against the large bay window over looking the Serpent Nebula. Off in the distance there was a flash indicating the Citadel relay was opening. Another ship coming in or leaving from this distance it was difficult to discern. It crushed her thinking never again would it be the _SSV Normandy_ coming back home to roost.

Liara watched from the shadows. She knew Samantha needed moments of silence to come to grips with the tormenting guilt eating away at her. Liara knew her bondmate accepted the name _Normandy_ for the _Victory _for more than to get an armada or keep the bridges open with the Council for her it was a penance: a constant reminder of yet another failure to protect. If Samantha had one true failing it was her great reverence for guilt.

Keen asari hearing picked up the barely audible whispered notes of a dirge. She knew it was Salish, the people of Samantha's mother. It was a song of spirits, a song for the spirit of the _Normandy_, and the lives lost aboard her. The young maiden waited for her beloved to finish knowing she needed this moment for herself and her forsaken ship. Liara knew the song was generally sung to the drums…the heartbeat of Mother Earth and the scent of smoldering sage. Samantha sang it to the heartbeat of Great Void; her beat was a softer sound.

Liara softly padded barefooted up to her bondmate pressing her nude body next to Samantha's. "You are a good woman Samantha, even if you sometimes have a hard time believing it."

Sam said nothing. What was there to say? Nothing would ever change her mind.

"Do not give power to the enemy by giving them your guilt, instead destroy them. Obliterate their existence from this galaxy. Do not let them win, do not succumb. Right now my love, grieve for the loss, let it overcome you then let it give you power to destroy them."

"Destroy them?" Shepard whirled around on her wife. "You make it sound so easy. Whoever this enemy is wiped out the most advanced ship in the Alliance Fleet., fuck in the Council's fleet, even more advanced than their flagship. The _Destiny Ascension_ has main guns powerful enough to rip though the barriers of any other Alliance ship but it took a light frigate to save her ass!

"The _Normandy_ wasn't cut down by any pirate ship. Those fifty lives are on my head! They were obliterated because of me, Liara. Isn't it obvious? The Reapers have other agents out there, agents that have their tech, their weaponry and they hunted down the _Normandy_ because they believed six month old Intel and thought I was on that fucking ship. That is all on me! All of it!"

"And do you think that makes it better, Samantha? That I want to believe because you were in command of that ship, that Joker was its pilot that we might have faired better? Shall we pretend then? Shall we make-believe Joker bought the crew a few more moments to escape. Then what? You damn well know he would have never abandoned the helm, just as you would never abandon the crew or me.

"Pretend for a moment the evacuation went as you desire and all hands or at least almost all hands escaped. Joker still doesn't leave his post. What do you do? I know exactly what you would do. You would do what my sire did to my mother! You would force me aboard an escape pod and jettison it, making sure I was safe and our unborn child was safe. Then you would go to the bridge, force Joker into a pod and if it took breaking every bone in his body do to so that is what you would do. I know you. You would never leave the ship until all hands were either off or dead.

"But what if you couldn't make it to an escape pod even if you got Joker into one? You get spaced. I lose my bondmate and our daughter loses her Arda! And we all lose the best hope, the best chance we have to stopping the Reapers! Is that what you want? Is that a future you would have? Yes those lives on the true _Normandy _were lost; they were lost because of a reputation, your reputation. Now either you can make that loss be in vain or you can retaliate. We gather information. We start asking questions. We hunt. We pursue and we neutralize those that did this. Right now all I want you to do is to mourn, grieve and heal. But do not allow them to destroy you, my love. Save your anger for the enemy, take none for yourself."

Liara placed a gentling azure hand upon lightly tanned flesh of Samantha's cheek. The bond wasn't needed to feel rage the burning within the human's heart. Generally when such rage built within her whilst on ship Sam would take to the gym to run laps, perform hardcore calisthenics, lift weights or hit the punching bag until sheer exhaustion took her. While the hotel had a fully equipped workout room which was also purposely constructed to accommodate biotics it offered little to no privacy. Sam was in no mood to deal with the outside world at the present moment. If someone like Conrad Verner came up to her, the Spectre would likely blast him with a singularity.

Despite the need to train with her biotics it was equally important to meditate. They sat tailor style though this time they did not raise their hands palm to palm but instead to a small sphere of dark energy about the size of a pea. To an outside observer it might look as if they were each playing cat's cradle only with the ball of yarn still attached to the strand of wool. In this case it was tendrils of white-blue energy latticing between fingers and the orb which was increasing steadily in girth: from pea to walnut to orange to its final grapefruit sized sphere.

Liara's eyes became a solid white oddly similar to the fully aroused black of the Union. Sam's eyes became distant, unfocused reflecting the azure glow of biotic power. Together their breathing became as one. Even their heartbeats became synchronized rhythm: four-two-four-two…

Another beat joined the staccato rhythm-faster than the more dominating thumping. Neither woman shifted their inward gaze though their lips curled into a warm smile as Secura…their little Sparrow had linked with them. And they were three.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Tali had been given a room in the Ambassador hotel on the same floor as Shepard and Liara. And despite the coup for all quarians in being given such lavishly decadent accommodations the young woman decided to return to the Vic…to the _Normandy._

She was loath to leave the engines for long. She tended to them as a new mother her first child. She need not tend to them as she might have if they were aboard a ship within the Flotilla but the desire…the need was still there. This was her ship regardless of her name. She was Tali's.

Last night had ended in the wee hours of the morning and with Tali going directly to Engineering and checked upon her babies. She carefully inspsected each one of the sublight engines and her biggest baby of all the Tantalus core drive to make sure they were in peak performance.

"The girls are fine _Mom,_ you can stop worrying over them." Adams said as he entered drive core alcove.

"Greg! You gave me a start." Tali lightly scolded.

Adams held his hands up in surrender. "Sorry kiddo." He came up and patted the young woman on the back. "Didn't mean to. But you don't have to worry, I tucked them all in for you." He winked.

"I…I know it's just that…"

"You're a good engineer and you're doing what good engineers do making sure the old lady is up to snuff. And you can't sleep unless you hear those girls purr." Adams pointed his thumb towards the massive drive core. "Right?"

Tali gave a small embarrassed laugh. "Right." she answered back.

Adams nodded and walked with her as she inspected the drive core, the calibrations on the FBA couplings, and the day's maintenance diagnostics. That's what the chief liked about the girl. She was a true engineer's engineer.

Whilst they were making their rounds the thick Scottish brogue of Kenneth Donnelly could be heard as he gossiped with his partner in crime Gabrielle (Gabby to most of the Engineering crew) Danilles about the fact Shepard had decided to change the name of the ship from _Victory_ to _Normandy_.

.."…I wonder why she didn't say anything to us." Donnelly said.

"Probably because she didn't know if her request was going to be granted." Danilles retorted shaking her head. "Think about it Kenny. She didn't want to raise anyone expectations. The name _Normandy_ is now a legend along with Shepard. She probably didn't want to get her hopes up."

"Yes but everyone on the station seems to have already known long before we found out. Seems a bit fishy to me." Donnelly looked up to see Adams and Tali approach and waved them over. "Boss, what do you think of all of this?" he asked of Tali. "You're close to our Commander; did she say anything about changing the IDC?"

Everyone in Engineering had come to appreciate and recognize Tali's expertise as a technical guru. They all, including Adams, had started to call her boss-lady because she was the true undisputed authority of the grease monkey crew. In fact it was Adams who had started it.

"I don't think it was Shepard's idea, Keneth." Tali said honestly. "Though I can see some attachment to her first command ship and what the name now represents to her and the rest of the galaxy. I have very good reason to believe she was ordered into this."

"What about you chief?" Danilles asked turning the attention back to Adams. "What do you think?"

"I think the boss-lady's right." he said. "And I also think you two need to get back to work rather than spreading the scuttlebutt."

Both snapped a salute. "Yes sir!"

Adams led the Tali away from the two techs, directing her towards the exit. "Remember kiddo a good chief knows when to crack the whip and when to allow things to slide. Have any doubts when that is take a look at Shepard's leadership. She's one of the best damn commanders I ever served under. When the crew spend more time chowing the scuttlebutt then work its time to step in. If they are working and talking then it's a judgment call. Unsubstantiated rumors you don't want that spreading. Things that already happened that's something else."

"I seem to remember the scuttlebutt surrounding Shepard and Dr. T'Soni and their interest in each other before they became an official couple. That was a bit unsubstantiated." Tali pointed out.

"Like I said judgment call. The whole ship was whispering about that. The commander and the daughter of Saren's second in command having a romantic interest in each other is news. One not easily silenced. This news about the IDC is also big news. But until we get word from the Commander we keep a lid on the rumor mongers. She'll tell us what we need to know." He turned a parental eye on the young woman. "And now I'm telling what you needed to know, kiddo. Go hit the rack and get some shuteye. You'll need to be five by five if Shepard gives the word to bug out."

"Aye, aye chief." Tali said with a mock salute of two fingers touching her temple. "See you in four."

"Make it six, Tali."

"Six. Very well."

"Don't you worry I'll keep the babies well looked after." he patted her on the back. "Now off with you."

Adams watched Tali leave with a smile upon his lips. He was damn proud of the kid. In many ways he looked upon her as a daughter. Her father surely was proud of the girl's achievements, of who she was, of what she had done and who she was becoming. He sure was. If he had a daughter Adams had wished her to be just as Tali was: smart, talented, kind of heart and sharp of mind and virtue. Part of him responded to her as a superior officer, a stronger part of him responded to her as a father figure. And as such he designated himself the duty to look after her. Times like now she needed someone like a Dad so she didn't go and do something foolish like neglect herself. Sometimes he felt the girl was worse than Shepard when it came to looking after herself.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

With the ending of yesterday's conference the Council had advised that the next day's meeting was with the Spectre alone together with the ambassador of the beings of light. While Samantha was going to be tied up for the day, Liara was free. She had thought to spend time with Ashley but she had gone with her sister for the day. She had contemplated simply going back to the ship she still had a great deal of work to finish. The catalogued Prothean finds still needed extensive testing. The tech had to be ready for application especially if they were going in hot in an unknown territory and conditions.

What ever engaged and neutralized the _Normandy SR1 _had incredible power. It was Reaper tech the only way the _Normandy SR2_ had any hope of surviving the encounter was if they had the upgrades. To engage the enemy without them was folly.

Liara paused in thought as she stared out of the porthole of the hotel room. 'When did I start thinking like such a soldier?' She snorted softly amused at herself. It had begun shortly after she had met the intriguing human. It started first with the ground missions with the mako on various worlds, the missions to the planets targeted by Saren. She recalled the first time she had called out to the Spectre that all targets were down. Later it had changed to all targets neutralized. The more time she spent with the human warriors the more she picked up on their military-speak, even answering aye, aye from time to time.

She placed a hand upon the swell of her belly, her smile deepened. "It was difficult growing up as a matriarch's daughter, you my Little Sparrow will grow up with the legacy of the first human Spectre twice honored with the Star of Terra as your Arda. I can think the only thing perhaps as difficult is to be a daughter of a Justicar." after a pause she added coyly "and Benezia's daughter. Much will be expected of you my dear one. But I will see no pressure is given before it can be taken. My mother taught as a youngling play is just as important as studies and I intend to carry on those lessons with you, my daughter." Her hand continued to rub her belly in soothing circular motions. Somehow it helped soothe the restless movements of the child.

Taking slow deep breaths Liara concentrated on the ebb and flow of life growing within her, sending the fetus the love and joy she felt. Vicariously she sent Samantha's love as well despite the fact her bondmate had already done so before she left for the conference with the Council.

The Prothean Expert thought of the woman who was her own sire. She didn't know if she could ever utter the word Arda to Sha'ira but she was willing to allow the door of possibility to remain open. Then there was Aethyta who was there during her conception as well. She still didn't know what to make of that. But Samantha was right, did it matter her mother's bondmate hadn't stepped forward when Sha'ira had?

Now perhaps an opportunity had presented itself and Liara thought to take advantage of it and seek out the wisdom of the matriarch concerning the pregnancy. She shared Samantha's concern over Sparrow or rather Secura. A name chosen for Samantha's middle name and given by none other than the unborn's human godmother: Ashley during the impromptu baby-shower. After all Sparrow was a familiar pet name not one to be born centuries later by a matriarch. They had agreed Secura was a beautifully acceptable name and it gave a connection to Samantha as well as the human's maternal heritage. Secura was a name given to Samantha for her own grandmother Shepard.

Liara had every intention of ensuring Secura knew and appreciated her Arda's heritage. She may not truly have Samantha's DNA, but the link to genetic memory was there or at least conventional wisdom held. Secura would know of the Salish, of the druids, she would know what it was to be a Shepard.

The young mother wanted Secura to share a very strong connection to her Arda, an unshakable ever strong link that would forever keep the bond even after the inevitable passing of her beloved bondmate. When Secura grew to become a Matriarch she would carry a part of Samantha with her, a link she would share with her own daughters.

'Perhaps it is time to strengthen other connections.' Liara thought more to herself than her womb and child within.

She left the hotel room, her destination the Consort's chambers. She truly didn't know what to expect from her sire: shock probably, words of warning how dangerous it was for her to be with daughter and not to take undue risks. What the young asari truly needed were not warnings she had already heard but true advice on how to ensure the safety and health of Secura. She didn't feel comfortable enough to speak to her…'sister' Racen on the subject. Besides the _Destiny Ascension_ was on a goodwill tour and reaching Racen was going to be difficult and besides Liara was here now on the Citadel and Sha'ira was close at hand.

She snaked her way though the light crowd in the Presidium, her emotions and thoughts overtaking mind and thus her concentration was not fully on her surroundings. She dismissed the expensively dressed debutants, dilettantes and diplomats. Ambassadors, philanthropists and corporate executives were equally ignored along with the well armed C-Sec officers patrolling the streets and the few members of various military personnel.

She didn't give a second thought to a turian C-Sec officer shadowing her though she did turn slightly to acknowledge his looming presence. She shifted to the side thinking the man wanted to overtake her on his ambling patrol as her gate was rather slower so lost in her mind as she was. When his steps fell in line with hers Liara paused for a moment thinking he wanted to speak with her, but silence greeted her. He wasn't even looking at her, his eyes fixed on the path before them. In that silence she dismissed him without a second thought.

She crossed over the bridge that stretched over the sapphire lake and here she paused to take in the scent of juniper, lilacs, roses and a dozen other flowers. She always enjoyed this part of the Presidium. The park was a spectacular sight, housing grasses, tress, flowers, even birds and insects all fully reengineered to coexist in a vibrant paradise. The light of the holographic sun shown on the crystalline lake adding a sense of serenity designed to erode the stresses and pressures of ambassadors and diplomats.

Thirsty for a taste of that serenity Liara diverted her path to the Consort's Chambers for the glade of the park. She stopped near a bench and removed her boots and socks enjoying the feel of soft grass upon the soles of her bare feet: strange how this simple pleasure was now an exotic delight. She clenched her toes then unclenched them and wiggled them upon the emerald blades. She padded towards the lake's edge, sat down and dipped her feet into the temperature-controlled water. She leaned back on her arms to support her weight and let out a long soft sigh. How she longed to dive into the water but swimming or even wading in the Presidium Lake was strictly forbidden. She was skirting the laws as it was with her just her feet daggling in the water.

And yes the hotel had a pool as did the hundreds of fitness centers scattered throughout the Citadel, but Liara hated the treated water. It made her eyes sting and the smell always gave her a headache. Other asari had similar reactions; the smell of chlorine was cloying to them. Considering their aquatic ancestry it wasn't all that strange, nor was it strange that they preferred to swim in waters of oceans and seas or even lakes and rivers. It was why asari carriers and dreadnoughts had specially treated 'ponds' within the gymnasiums. It was their technology that was used with the Presidium Lake to make it seem more natural. Biologicals were removed by special equipment on the ships, here on the Citadel the keepers took care of the details.

Closing her eyes Liara listened to the chirping of the birds in lazy bliss. It seemed to her that even Sparrow was listening to the sounds of her namesakes. She giggled softly at the frivolous thought. The giggling swiftly stopped as she sensed the presence of another approaching from behind.

"Oh!" she gave a slight gasp of surprise. "Officer, excuse me, I didn't see any signs proclaiming dangling ones feet in the pound to be an offence."

It was the same turian officer that had shadowed her earlier. "There are far more offences that need be answered than a maiden playing as a youngling in the water."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

It had been an excruciatingly long meeting even if they were only seventy-nine minutes into it. The exchange between Weareth'Bol and the Council had been strife with odd questions about their concept of the beginning of time and how long they had been in wait for the synthetic machine devils. One thing was certain the beings of light did indeed predate the Protheans by fifty-thousand years but if only for the fact of the Ee-Zo event on Klencory. But their 'awareness' was relevant to when they awoke and became enlightened.

The Council had asked for a representative of the beings of light to be left behind to speak with them in the end it was decided that the Device was to be left in the hands of Councilor Tevos as the rest of the hives were reluctant to abandon their mission or the 'Shepard Spectre' who led them to their destiny. When they had gone back into the safe confines of their Hive the attention of the Council turned to the Spectre.

"It seems you are cultivating allies by the score with or without the approval of the Council." the turian councilor said.

Shepard had just about had it with the man. Apparently he still blamed her for the fate of Saren - for the desiccation of his spirit at the hands of the Reapers, of Sovereign. She spun on the male pinning him with one of her more commanding and baleful glares. The malicious intensity of her gaze caused Sparatus to flinch, actually physically flinch under its influence.

"You have a couple of choices Councilors: kill me, discharge me or let me do my job." Shepard hissed. It wasn't exactly ringing the bell but it was skirting the edge of acceptable insubordination and simple stupidity. "You want me to find ways to neutralize the Geth and their 'Reaper' class dreadnoughts then some of you have the audacity to bitch about how I go about doing it?"

"Spectre Shepard, the Council has no issue of you finding allies and making connections with …new or rather lost races. This is a momentous occasion" the asari quickly intervened. "Understand we have no doubts as to your abilities, skills or dedication to the code you swore to when you became a Spectre. You have our gratitude and appreciation for your unique ability to uncover the lost and hidden secrets those of life and of technology."

"The Council as you know does not wish to become mired in the methods of a Spectre in their line of duty." Velarn proclaimed. "We will not interfere in your line of duties to Council Space."

"Carry out your duties as ordered, Commander." Anderson added leaving the turian open for repercussions. Anderson knew that Shepard was a full patriot of Council Space just as she was to the Alliance.

To undermine her now was out of pure spite and the turian knew it. "It is as my counterparts proclaim Shepard." he said. It wasn't exactly a proclamation of glowing support but neither was it a baleful condemnation as was typical of the man.

Before the Spectre could form a reply she spun a hundred and eighty degree angle and sprinted for the elevator that led from the Citadel Tower to the Podium the only word the Council heard was:

"**Liara!"**

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

(*) AN 1: For context and continuity it is suggested to read Chapter 2: Recalling Childhood from Stories of the Citadel.


	35. Primal Instinct

Chapter 35: Primal Instinct

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEME

This was no cop. As Samantha would say she could feel it in her gut. Something was off, way off. Then it hit her; his stance, his words, his entire demeanour was not of the police but of a stalker…the enemy. This was a turian bounty hunter just like those on Elysium dressed up as a member of the security force to seamlessly blend in with the populace. After all even if you knew they were there police tended to be unseen after a fashion. It was a perfect camouflage.

Pure primal instinct took over.

Without a hardsuit and kinetic barriers to offer protection internal damage from a gunshot would be lethal and even if she did survive her daughter would surely die. This flashed in her mind in a fraction of a second. Liara was unarmored but not without protection. She flung up a barrier around her body with nearly all the strength she could summon, sparing little for offensive attacks.

The turian raised his Striker hand cannon aimed at Liara's head but before he could pull the trigger he was swept off his feet with rapidly shifting mass effect fields that enveloped his body. Like Samantha had with the shark Liara caused the dark energy to shift warping the very fabric of the time-space continuum, the powerful warp singularity twisted with opposing forces shredding the bounty hunter's flesh causing him to scream out in pain. Just like the firaxon shark every cell in his body ruptured causing him to haemorrhage, his internal organs liquefied. Liara's reserves were taxed keeping up the barrier, striking out she had to flee.

Battle hardened coupled with a mother's rage, Liara spun on her heel to assess the ground she saw five more uniformed men descending the walkways into the park proper. She could not take them all not without putting Secura at risk, she needed to find cover fast. Had she not been pregnant defeating them would not have been an issue.

Sprinting away from the dead turian she made for the lake's edge. She took three swift settling breaths before exhaling, oxygenating her blood before she dove into the water. Like all marine mammals asari were capable of holding their breath for incredible long periods of time upwards of ten minutes. She'd need that time to find sanctuary. Like an Olympian swimmer Liara pushed her body to swim faster and deeper, she needed to create as much distance between herself and the bounty hunters.

"The bitch got Xioafang!" one of the turians cried out spraying the surface of the water with rapid fire from his assault rifle. Small fountains of spray erupted where each bullet struck. "Go around! Go around! The squid-head has taken to the water. Don't lose her!"

"I can't see her. Where the hell is she?" another turian snapped.

"She went deep," said the first. Assault rifle practically useless he slapped it back onto the weapons rack strapped to his back and withdrew his sniper rifle, flicked a switch near the scope activating its infrared capabilities, aimed low and pulled the trigger.

Sam could feel her heart fluttering erratically. Worry took her mind, seizing it, commanding her actions. She could feel Liara's rage, the surge of adrenaline fuelling her body from a battle she might easily have won if not for the pregnancy. "Come on you fucking thing move faster!" the Spectre slammed her Omni tool into the control panel of the elevator commanding the gearbox to disengage the safety parameters to move faster.

'_Liara! Liara! Where the hell are you_?' she sent frantic for an answer. _'Are you hurt? Are you both okay?'_

Several moments passed before an answer came.

Sam felt the pit of her stomach drop. "LIARA!" She felt as if her body as if it had been slammed into bulkhead by a concussion grenade.

'_I'm in the lake, making my way to the Consort's quarters they can't see me this deep under the water for now. I'm out of range though it is close. Samantha, five bounty hunters in C-Sec armour most are turian but I saw one human male with them. There are probably more. I killed one of them by the embassy park entrance.'_

'_You didn't answer my question. Are you hurt?'_

'_I am…fine.'_

'_I…I can't come to you, they will follow me to you…they…they will count on it.'_

'_I know.'_

Shepard cursed again as the doors to the lift had opened up onto the Presidium proper she could just make out the ruined plinth of where the small scale mass relay had once been. It had been removed after the attack on the Citadel and placed in some highly secure bunker in an undisclosed location, no doubt for study on how to reproduce the technology. This at least had been Prothean made (though no one but the Council knew or rather more accurately acknowledged that the Reapers had been responsible for the construction of the Mass Relays and the Citadel).

Shepard instinctively searched the lake's undisturbed surface for any sign of Liara but she found nothing, no hint of the asari. She knew her beloved was heading for Sha'ira's but she couldn't tell were Liara was at the very moment. That meant the hunters didn't know either. She half expected alarms and pandemonium throughout the Presidium but there was so much foot traffic where she was there was no outward clue anything was amiss.

The Spectre needed to contain the situation; she had to waylay those mother-fuckers that had gone after her beloved Liara. She needed to think clearly. She needed help. Going on automatic pilot her hand activated the ear piece of her suit's radio: "Williams, S'thasa, Garrus. Call in!"

A moment later she heard Williams respond. *Skipper, I read you what's going on?* the lieutenant could not have mistaken the edge to the Spectre's voice.

A beat later: *S'thasa here. So is Shiala*

*Garrus.* the turian responded a half a second after the asari.

"Bounty hunters have attacked Liara; they are in C-Sec uniforms. Repeat they are in C-Sec uniforms. She's five by five for the moment. Williams, S'thasa, Shiala get to Sha'ira's on the double. Cover Liara. Do not use lethal force. Garrus get to Pallin tell him what's really going on."

She switched off the radio trusting in her people to do as ordered. Clear thought was becoming quickly consumed by rage. She couldn't allow it full access into her mind, to cloud her judgement. She knew Liara was safe ... for the moment. She could not give into the seething rage encircling her heart, urging her to vengeance. There were too many innocents in the way. She was a servant of justice, sworn to protect and defend the galaxy. If people she was sworn to protect came to harm because of her actions she was no better than a terrorist with a badge. No better than Saren. This battle had to be fought on a different ground.

She had to find a way to clear the area without causing a panic. The Spectre's gaze fell on Avina the fully interactive avatar of the Citadel. The VI could if needed order an area wide evacuation. She swiftly approached it.

"Avina, activate the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance emergency response code under the order of Agent Samantha Shepard. There is a possible terrorist attack on the Presidium order a fire evacuation immediately. Notify Emergency First Response teams of the threat that the enemy agents are dressed as C-Sec officers."

"Agent Shepard, Spectre authorization accepted. Evacuation of local area commencing." the avatar said. Shepard knew giving the order would alert any other Spectre on the Citadel to the upcoming confrontation as well.

The Spectre sprinted towards the location where Liara said she had encountered the assassin; pushing past people as she did. All around her the luminous purple avatars were telling people to evacuate the district. Many civilians obeyed swiftly many more lingered morbidly waiting to see the actual smoke perhaps even a few bodies before they complied with the mandate. Even if they all had not all left there were fewer of them to come between the Spectre and her prey.

Shepard had gone into the Council Chambers dressed in her heavy armour but armed only with her sidearm and her biotics. She never thought she'd be facing a squad of troopers bent on snuffing out the life of her wife and unborn daughter.

"What the hell is going on?" A human male C-Sec officer demanded rushing up to her.

Shepard's answer was to fling a stasis field around him, disarming him of his stunner baton and slammed it into his gut, dropping him. She made quick work of disarming him, depriving him of his radio and taking his unity belt filled with crowd-controlling low yield concussion, flash and adhesive grenades as well as zip-ties and adjustable wrist binders. She locked the man's ankles together with one of the zip-ties then placed his binders around his wrists which she then looped a second zip-tie and connected it to the one binding his ankles in a frontal hog-tie.

He was coming to when Shepard was back on her feet. "I don't know if you're the real deal or the mother-fucker trying to kill my bondmate. I hope for your sake you're the former." she left the rest unsaid allowing fear to write the 'or else' bit.

She hurried across the bridge leading away from the downed man and Avina towards C-Sec Academy HQ. She vaulted the wall separating the thoroughfare and the park proper gaining strange looks from the civilians milling about making their way for the exits out of the Presidium. They must have assumed she was in pursuit of the fire hazard along with the First Response teams.

Pain slammed into her lancing through her body. By force of sheer willpower Liara did not cry out in pain and drown herself or break the surface. She hadn't been hit by the spray of bullets but by a ricocheted stone from the lake's bottom. It had caught her in the thigh making each stroke more and more difficult. She had blocked most of the pain receptors in her nervous system allowing her to ignore the ache for a short time, but she knew Samantha had felt some of it. She knew also Samantha bottled her rage as not to endanger the hundreds of innocent lives the enemy were using as shields. She pushed her body to swim as close to the bottom of the lake as she could. Liara had swum north of her goal instead of going straight across to her sire's. She couldn't risk leading the enemy to her retreat. It was bad enough they were probably already tracking the small trail of blood.

Fighting both the effects of her injury and attempting to keep her blood and major organs oxygenating was taxing the young asari's reserves. She was losing the battle. Liara dug deep into herself using her biotics to propel her through the water. It was something her mother had once taught her as a youngling while swimming in the ocean surrounding the family bastion. Using most of her upper body strength Liara torqued a sharp forty-five degree turn when she thought it safe enough to head for Sha'ira's. Something was happening on the surface. She knew the familiar flood of adrenalin pumping through Samantha's heart as if it were her own. Her bondmate was in the thick of battle.

Shepard scuttled down to the lawn, tossing adhesive and concussion grenades at anyone in a C-Sec uniform. Those that she could she bound their hands and feet, unwilling to risk them as an enemy or misguided ally to rise up and shoot her in the back. For the moment she had the drop on her targets but it was not to last long once word had gotten out either amongst the bounty hunters or C-Sec or both that a Spectre was targeting anyone in a police uniform. They were all using lethal force. It forced Shepard to take refuge behind a formation of piled rocks and a small thicket of trees.

Executor Pallin's computer flashed the hazard warning. Tapping into the emergency response system he connected to the Citadel's VI.

"Avina give me SitRap." he barked.

"Spectre Agent Shepard issued a fire hazard warning to remove civilian population from the immediate area. She has issued the warning to all C-Sec and Spectre personnel be alerted to a terrorist threat." came the lyrical artificial voice.

He slammed his hand down on the desk. "Son of a bitch!" Opening a concealed compartment on his desk, Pallin withdrew a heavy pistol. He rushed from his office at the first notice of an incident in the park entrance near the embassy. He was never one to delegate a high security risk so close to the embassies he needed to be hands on.

Serving thirty years in C-Sec, his eyes were trained to pick out hot spots, he searched for his people. Some he spotted overseeing the evacuation others…

….bound and unconscious. At a time like this? What the hell? What was the Spectre playing at? Had he waited in his office only a minute later he would have discovered the answer to his question. Garrus had arrived to find an empty chamber.

Pallin spotted his quarry dug in behind some stones and trees. "Shepard, have you lost your mind?" If she issued the terrorists alert why the hell was she targeting his people? Spectres. You can never trust them. They should all be spaced.

"Pallin, get down! Your forces have been infiltrated." she snapped.

The turian was going to argue when shots rang out near the stones further pinning Shepard in place. Pallin hit his hardsuit's radio. "Executor Pallin here, stand down all units stand down. I have Shepard."

A shot was fired at his head.

Pallin fell behind the barricade of the wall of the walkway. Another hit stuck the stones spraying masonry everywhere. "I said stand down!"

*Sir it isn't us!* someone an asari by the sound of it answered over the radio.

"I told you the truth, Pallin." Shepard hissed.

Another shot struck closer to the turian. He rolled over the wall landed with a woof of air from his lungs onto the green carpet of grass and stomach crawled to where Shepard was bunkered down.

"What the hell is going on, Spectre?" he demanded.

"I told you your people have been infiltrated. Bounty hunters. Their target is my bondmate Liara T'Soni…."

"To get to you." he said accusingly.

"Obviously." She took a breath and looked to the man now at her side waiting for the enemy fire to let up. "I don't know what merc group they belong to. I only know they have C-Sec uniforms."

"That's why I found my people unconscious and bound." Pallin said understanding her tactics. She wasn't about to risk killing an officer just to kill the enemy. Giving his people one hell of a headache he could forgive if it saved their lives. It also explained why Avina was issuing the fire alarm, Shepard was trying to evacuate as many people as possible to minimise the possibilities of casualties. Once more a solid plan.

Pallin risked a look over the rock pile which would not hold out against the barrage of bullets for much longer. He spotted one of the shooters near a small thicket of five cherry trees close to the Emporium. Lifting his sniper rifle he peeked through the scope and snarled. What struck him was the face markings, his mandibles flared in rage. He didn't even hesitate when he pulled the trigger hitting the man square in the chest. The other turian fell a heartbeat later.

"Here take a look." he handed Shepard his rifle.

She looked through the scope and saw the jack-o-lantern facial tattooing on the dead man and frowned. They matched the ones belonging to the turian assassins Saren had sent after her and Tali a little more than year ago. "You know what clan he's from I take it."

"Not a clan, that's the tattoo of a mercenary company. The Talons to be exact. So you _were_ telling the truth." Pallin said.

"I do that quite often, yet you turians always seem surprised when I do so."

Pallin snorted almost jovially, "Not a turian/human thing Shepard, it's a cop/Spectre thing. We just don't trust you Spectres much."

"Then what's Sparatus' excuse?"

"He's good at his job."

This time Shepard snorted and it did not have a joking air about it.

"Even if he is an ass," Pallin added.

Shepard smirked. "You know I may actually be starting to like you, Pallin."

Pallin activated his radio once more telling his officers it was the Talons masquerading as C-Sec. He further explained rather quickly why the first human Spectre had attacked as she had and they were to free anyone she had restrained if they were not bearing the Talon markings.

Ricocheting spitfire near the rock made both Shepard and Pallin slip further into the earth. Behind them water ahead of them the wall of the walkway and above them a bridge leading to the Consort's chambers. Shepard glanced up spotting the shooter. He had the advantage of height. If they broke cover they were as good as dead. Two others had flanked them from the south at the Embassies' promenade just over the executor's shoulder and a third behind Shepard. They were effectively pinned down.

"I know they are there." he said without the Spectre pointing it out.

"The third's got me in his sights if I move." Shepard concluded. She looked over her shoulder scanning the terrain for any movement. There were still some civilian stragglers but for the most part the area was evacuated. But still civilians were in the crossfire. If either the Spectre or Pallin shot at anything that moved a lot of innocents would die.

"I hate situations like this." grumbled Shepard.

"Being pinned down? I thought you'd be used to that Spectre."

"No not that." Shepard shook her head. "I meant civilian shields."

"Indeed." Pallin looked to the young human and for the first time saw something other than human or Spectre. "Your bondmate still lives, Shepard."

"I know." she said softly trying to conceal the dread she felt for her beloved and unborn daughter being targets.

"Here take this." he handed her what looked to be a small disk.

"You have a stealth generator?" Shepard was agog. "I didn't think they were standard issue. And I sure as hell didn't think _you'd_ go for anything like this."

"I once was told in order to protect the innocent sometimes rules had to be bent. Stealth-gens are not strictly prohibited, only discouraged. I'll cause a distraction you take them out."

"Roger that. Going dark" answered Shepard. She attached the device to the utility belt she had earlier confiscated and activated it. Originally stealth-gens were invented by the salarians for use by the STGs but now other Special Ops corps of both human and asari and even a few Spectres who desired the more clandestine approach than one of bravado, reputation and even fear made ready use of them. Not to mention their high popularity with the thieving community. Some of the best thieves though not the most famous used them with unsurprising regularity. To Shepard they were simply practical and right about now perfect.

She lay low in grass just out of the direct line of sight from the Talon mercs, activated the stealth-gen and began to negotiate her way to her first target. Their attention was drawn away by Pallin's promised distraction. Several concussion grenades went off all at once in the opposite direction she had darted off in.

Just as she was coming up behind the turians who had been trying to target her, her radio crackled to life in familiar reverberating tones: *Shepard…*

Shit it was Garrus. She had completely forgotten about him! The noise was enough to alert the bounty hunter. He spun around taking an immediate pot shot in the Spectre's general direction out of sheer instinct. Out playing the odds hitting something he couldn't see he actually managed to wing her. Fortunately her hardsuit's kinetic barriers held and the bullet bounced off harmlessly.

Pistol already raised she hit her target in the head at point blank range, even his suit's shields were not enough to stop the inevitable, without his helmet he was even more vulnerable. His head exploded in fine blue mist.

"Garrus…" she hissed as she ducked behind a pillar for cover now that her position had been compromised. "SitRep."

*Commander, Pallin wasn't in his office though I did run into some of my old squad mates and gave them a heads up. They said Pallin was on the ground looking…*

"We met up. Coordinate with other C-Sec officers on the civilian evacuation. I need radio silence." She all but snapped.

*Copy that.* and as ordered he cut off communications.

Unaccustomed to wearing a stealth-gen, Shepard was still ducked behind one of the pillars trying to find a firing solution on the bounty hunters. She couldn't hear what they were saying but she could guess they were calling in reinforcements.

Pure instinct drove her. Exhilarating energy filled her, surrounding her body in brilliant cyan. She didn't even think about it as she stormed the bounty hunter. Her body propelled by biotics she leapt the six meter distance between her and her prey and slammed into the turian with a full on biotic tackle. They tumbled to the ground, rolled thrice with Shepard coming out on top. But she didn't have the advantage the turian had superior reach despite her superior flexibility. He grabbed a handful of her black hair yanked her head back trying to get her off of him.

She gave a sharp yelp as she felt her body torque backwards. Going with the momentum, she grabbed hold of his hand keeping it in position effectively trapping it there on top of her head. Long years of marine martial arts kicked in, her body moved on muscle memory alone. With her free hand she slammed her fist into his mandibles. The biotic blow cracked his jaw with a rewarding wet bone crunching pop. Blue blood spurted out of his mouth covering the front of Shepard's armour and face.

Liara rose to the surface finding that she was five meters off from her target. Sighing she turned and headed back for Sha'ira's.

"THERE!" It was Williams. She pointed to the ripples of water disturbance and the blue head cresting the surface. "Liara here!" She waded into the water followed closely by Shiala. Both wrapped their arms around the wounded asari, half carrying half dragging her out of the lake. Only when they got her out of the water did they notice all the blood.

"By the Goddess, you were hit." Shiala gasped. Even as she spoke purple blood dribbled down her leg pooling at Liara's feet.

Liara grunted. The pain was testing the limits of her reserves. The loss of blood, blocking the bond, stilling her pain; all of it was hitting her hard. "Not bullet wounds ….debris from the cement bottom of the lake."

"Come we need to secure her." Aleena said her eyes never leaving the promenade of the presidium. "Williams, Sha'ira secure T'Soni. I'll take point." the huntress took position at the door. Her body flaring in the glow of biotics her assault rifle pulled ready to lock on to any target.

"Belay that!" Williams said. "You need to go with her, Aleena. You're an assassin but you're also a medic. Liara needs you; I'll take position. Get your asses in there now!" She pulled her own assault rifle.

"Liara…?" Shiala managed before the younger asari toppled into her arms.

"Give her to me." Aleena said swooping in taking Liara's weight. Positioning her into a fireman's carry the bounty hunter swiftly rushed into the Consort's chambers with Shiala tailing.

Given the evacuation alarm they fully expected the chambers to be emptied but Sha'ira greeted them as soon as they walked through the door. When she saw her daughter slung over the back of another huntress she gasped.

"Quickly bring her into my private chambers." She turned escorting the trio into the back client rooms. She fluidly moved towards the wall near the bar opposite the pleasure pod and pushed a concealed panel near a painting of Thessia from orbit. Disengaging the lock caused the wall supporting the painting to recede and slide away revealing her private rooms.

No one had the time to take in the tastefully opulent décor: the golden silk linens on the ebony four poster bed, or the deep green plush carpeting under their feet. Nor did they see the rest of the room their entire focus was on the young woman in the arms of one who once was to be her assassin.

"Here, lay her on the bed." Sha'ira gave a look to her daughter seeing how pale she was. Schooled in masking her true emotions and thoughts the Consort's blue eyes betrayed the concern she felt soul deep. "I have medi-gel supplies and a small first aid station…"

Aleena nodded and did as told laying Liara down as gingerly as possible upon the soft mattress. She gave a small gasp of pain, her eyes fluttering open. But she didn't seem to be looking at anything.

"Saamm…" Liara's voice was so weary, so desperate it hurt the soul to hear it.

"She'll be here, Liara." Shiala said gently taking the maiden's hand squeezing it. "You taxed your body. You must concentrate on yourself Little Wing. Sparrow needs her mother to be strong."

Aleena stooped down to her left boot and withdrew a small dagger concealed within. She went to work swiftly cutting through the sodden layers of material, a far easier way to strip Liara than it was to peel them off of her. Aleena handed the dagger over to Shiala almost absentmindedly, concentrating all her attention on investigating Liara's wounds. She saw the younger asari's right leg was riddled with small pockmarks of shrapnel wounds as well as a larger laceration which was more directly the cause of all the blood loss. It would have been cleaner if Liara had been shot with a bullet.

Sha'ira came back in carrying a small red medical case with a white cross embossed on its side. In a fluid movement the Consort opened it, withdrew medi-gel epis assuming the role of a nurse handing them to Aleena without being asked to do so.

The medi-gel was injected causing the wound to seal quickly staunching the flow of blood, stabilizing Liara though it did little to stop her from shivering.

"I need to get her to the _Normandy_. She's going into shock and there are other concerns." Aleena said cleansing the wound sites and bandaging them. "She's lost a great deal of blood, not life threatening but I have concerns. I've done what I can for her here."

"The child?" Shiala questioned. "Is she in danger?" She looked down at the trembling maiden the concern in her eyes ever evident, as it was still lingering in the eyes of the Consort.

"Yes," was all Aleena offered wrapping Liara snugly in the down-filled comforter.

Liara's whole world seemed to swirl around her making her nauseous. "Samantha…"

"Be at peace, she will be here." Sha'ira said reassuringly yet firmly. She sat down upon the bed her hand stroking the round soft cheek of her child. She pressed her forehead to Liara's, her voice a soothing whisper. "You must focus your energy Liara. Focus your mind, go deep into yourself. Connect to your child's soul. Keep your pain, your fear from her my daughter and give them to me."

Liara stared up at her sire parent. Blue eyes to blue eyes. "Okay." she uttered in her softest voice.

"Take slow deep breaths. Reach out and grasp the threads that bind us one to another, let go of your physical shell. We are all connected, united in a single glorious whole. Embrace Eternity!" Sha'ira recited the oh so familiar words of melding.

Four blue eyes became black.

Sha'ira gasped when she felt the flood of pain, exhaustion and fear flow into her. The fear struck the Consort the hardest, it wasn't Liara's fear for herself but for Samantha, for what might happen to her, and for what she might do knowing Liara and their child were in danger. Through the connection of the bond the Consort felt the Spectre's rage, the surge of adrenaline and her own fear for Liara and Secura. Underlining the powerful emotions was a strange serenity. Sha'ira had touched the essence of the Spectre's battle-mind. It was clear thought, meticulous and contrariwise impulsive and spontaneous, adaptive and exploitative.

The Matriarch drew it all into herself strengthening Liara's mental shields to protect both Shepard and Secura from what young mother was experiencing. She withdrew from the meld as gently as possible as if laying a sleeping child down upon a bed without waking them. It had been centuries since the matriarch felt a draining sensation when touching another mind even playing the role as the assertive one. Linking with Liara she felt the bond holding her daughter and the Spectre together. She was amazed how phenomenally powerful it was. She highly doubted they even understood the depth of it. The maidens had only touched the cusp of its true potential, what that potential was only the Goddess knew.

There was a blue flash as the reflexive system of kinetic barrier fields reacted to the impact shot of a shotgun blast the Spectre took to the chest, deflecting , most of the rounds harmlessly away. A few tore through the shields only to ricochet off the ablative plates of her hardsuit or became embedded in the thick padding underlay. Her biotic barrier stopped the rest.

The force of the blast knocked her off her feet but she rolled backwards over her shoulder recovering swiftly. Drawing back her fist as if to give the turian a solid right hook (nevermind the fact she was four meters away) Shepard sent a powerful biotic shockwave into him. A second later she sent a second dark energy pulse into him this time throwing the male several yards away up over the bridge and down into the park nearly two storeys below her position. He landed with a metallic dull meaty thump.

"Shit I lost my shields." she said to no one. Another hit and only the ablative plating of her armour and biotic barriers would protect her. Not only that her thermoclip was nearly out and she had used all the grenades. It necessitated the Spectre to rely solely on her biotics for both offensive and defensive countermeasures.

How many was that now? Hadn't Liara said there were five turians and one human? Though she had admitted that perhaps there were more of them. It was unrealistic to suppose that Liara had accounted for all of them in her flight for safety. The Spectre had lost count. She knew Pallin had downed two of the bastards including the one who tried to cap her just after she had biotically slammed his partner into the ground. She had seen a salarian C-Sec officer take down another, Garrus had three she took out four…and there were still the sounds of shots being fired. Damn it how many more of them were there?

Shepard shifted her position scanning the local area so far no one tried to put a bullet in her head. She tapped her suit's radio three times signalling Garrus it was okay to break radio silence.

"Garrus what's your status?"

*Bunkered down east of your position, Shepard. I saw Pallin's people take in three prisoners and they downed four more. Shepard, it seems there is a whole damn platoon out here. How T'Soni escaped…I don't know. They could have easily had her.*

Shepard closed her eyes. This didn't make any sense. If there were that many out there they should have easily had Liara, just like Garrus speculated. Unless…unless they let her go. Why let her go? It was more than just bait to call the Spectre out… "I know. Something's off. Way off. I need answers, I'm coming in…"

*Wait! My visor's tracking movement near you. Three bogies. Shit Shepard…they're closing in on your position. Get out of there! Shepard do you copy get the hell out of there!*

The Spectre unaccustomed to using the stealth generator it hadn't occurred to her to activate once more after the last conflict. Instead she shifted from her poor cover on the bridge making a dash for the Emporium when it hit her square in the chest—a flash bang. It flung her back so hard the wind was kicked out of her lungs. White light flared before her cloaking everything, blinding her. For a moment she was completely stunned, her ears ringing making her a very easy target.

Over a decade of combat training took over in the Spectre's mind. Rolling onto her belly she shimmied her way on elbows and shifting the weight of her hips one side to the other. Her eyes were watering badly trying to focus but she was still blinded, all she made out were blobs of various shades of white. Shaking her head she tried to clear the ringing from her ears, mostly she made out garbled static from her radio. It was dangerous but she cut the channel if only to clear out some of the white noise in her head.

"You're done Spectre!" a turian voice called out. "You're finished."

"Keep talking varren shit for brains." Shepard snapped back deliberately trying to goad the bounty hunter at the same time enhancing her biotic barrier around her body.

Just as she knew he would the hunter fired at her. Most of the bullets hit around her, her barrier and armour took the rest.

More fire came from the left flank.

Two shooters.

She couldn't pinpoint their locations, too much commotion, too much background noise and she couldn't see.

Then the sounds stopped in the voice of memory flooded her mind.

_Concentrate on the single sound that matters, shut all else out, all thoughts, all distractions, concentrate only on the target, on your goal. Use finesse, stealth; bind the raw power coursing in you into a subtle strike. Sometimes the smallest cut can cause greater damage than the mightiest of blows._

The echo game! One of the training exorcises for young asari commandos to sharpen their biotic skills. Dried beans were thrown at large kodo drums while the blindfolded huntress was to strike the same drum with a light biotic pulse wave. Each successful hit meant more beans and more drums were added and continued to add up until either the bowl was emptied or the huntress missed a target. It was not an easy game to master or even attempt. But it was extremely useful to learn control not only over biotics but over one's self. It taught the huntress how to remove all distractions and concentrate on the target. In order to keep up with the echoes on the drums one had to flip, twist, jump and leap from one martial form to the next moving fluidly as water

Liara had shown her how it was done, and then it was Shepard's turn. Liara had emptied the bowl and had not missed a single drum or succession of echoes. Sam had only reached twenty-five beans but it was still an impressive display, especially for a late-trained human.

Blinded by the flash bang, Shepard pulled on that lesson, ignoring all background noises concentrating on the only thing that was important, the sound of her enemies' movements - where the gunfire was coming from.

Her body glowing with biotic power Shepard rose up assuming the near same position Liara had those months ago an aikido/viper-style battle stance: her right arm stretched out before her, her hand forming a knife's edge. Her left arm was bent and raised to the level of her jaw parallel to her chest and again the hand was in a knife's edge though palm side up. All her weight was placed on her bent left leg while her right was nearly parallel with her right arm albeit at a slight angle.

It left her open for attack but her biotic barrier would last long enough for her countermeasure. Just as she predicted the Talons shifted their positions, the Spectre zeroed in on the metallic sounds of armor and guns.

"Get her! Shoot her! Shoot her!" snarled the turian who had mocked her earlier.

Shepard slung a biotic pulse after the sound. She couldn't see the effect of her attack but she heard it. Her mark was true just as it was with her second attempt of the game. However instead of gently striking a drumhead she poured all her strength into the attack. She heard a scream and a thud.

The Spectre flipped into a butterfly spin avoiding the majority of the spitfire blasts of enemy rifles. Once again a few bullets hit their mark, she cried out as she was hit, her barrier strength was decreasing and her armor was taking too much damage to cope for long. She flung a singularity sphere at the target. She only just made out the location of her enemy - confident the mass effect pull of a singularly flung towards the sound would take him out. She heard two screams as dark energy pulled apart the two remaining Talons.

Falling to her knees drawing in greedy gulps of air, Shepard studied herself. She felt the white-hot points of pain where some of the rounds had made it through every layer of her armour connecting with the flexible but vulnerable mesh underneath.

Fortunately her hardsuit's onboard computer registered her medical distress and injected medi-gel into various areas of her body. In addition the new cybernetic implants and bio-synthetic fusion therapy she underwent under Dr. Chakwas's care after the attack on the Citadel caused her body to regenerate nearly as swiftly as that of a krogan or vorcha.

Sounds came from behind her she tucked into a right backwards shoulder roll and flung a shockwave at her assailants she heard two turian male voices and one human-ish female cry out in shock pain and anger. She rose up on her feet, her body shimmering prepared to attack again. She heard the sounds of where they landed. It would not be too difficult to pinpoint them, even if she was still blinded.

"Shepard! Stand down. Friendly fire!" It was Garrus.

"Shit Garrus! I'm sorry."

"By the spirits Shepard didn't you see it was us?" the second turian was obviously Executor Pallin.

"Actually no. Took a flashbang to the chest, I can't see a damn thing."

"Then how in the hell did you target those snipers?" the Executor pressed.

"A question I am also interested in." the female stated.

"Echo game." Shepard said matter-of-factly.

"Wait you learned the echo game?" the still unidentified female sounded unconvinced as well as astonished.

"Still learning actually. Matron Shiala is my mentor." She turned slightly too where the female was standing. If she knew of the echo game she was probably not human but rather an asari. "And you are?"

"My apologies Spectre. I am Spectre Tela Vasir. The warning of the terrorist attack you issued alerted me to what was happening down here on the Presidium. I was on site as soon as I was able. It seems however my assistance was hardly needed for our Order's most famous agent."

"I didn't do it alone. Executor Pallin, C-Sec officers and my crewmates gave me backup." she rubbed her eyes, irritably. They continued to water but it only seemed to worsen the condition. "Damn it…"

"Let me see." Tela said her voice more warm than it was a moment ago.

Shepard felt her chin being grasped by gloved hands and lifted up. "Minor damage but it will heal. Do not rub them or you will aggravate the condition. Tell me Spectre what do you see if anything?"

"Mostly grey blobby silhouettes against white."

"If you know the echo game then you know how to truly harness your biotics. Use it to see." Tela commented almost nonchalantly.

"Use biotics to see…How?"

"Tell me when you were blindfolded during the game you heard the sounds of the first few beans hitting the drumheads yes?" at Shepard's nod Tela continued. "When the number of beans and ricochets increased you 'saw' the soundwaves and struck with biotics. It was the same when you attacked your enemies only moments ago. It was how you were able to strike the source of the sound of battle rather than where the bullets hit. Tell me what did you see?"

"I don't know I wasn't trying to see anything." Shepard shrugged. "I sorta felt where they were."

"Good, that is a start. Now do it once more. Close your mind to all outside distractions and focus on what is before you."

Shepard closed her eyes and did as she was bade, blocking out all noise and distractions. She focused on what was before her summoning the inner strength of her biotics. If she _felt _where the Talons were and _saw_ soundwaves, she imagined seeing the auras of those before her. It was worth a shot anyway.

Opening her eyes once more she gasped. Before her she saw the blue-white silhouettes of both Garrus and Pallin and the slightly purple hue of Tela Vasir. As she suspected she was an asari. Around her the Presidium appeared as grey featureless contours. But she could make out the details of the bridge, the Emporium behind her, even the white silhouette of a keeper.

"Whoa!" the human Spectre exclaimed. "That's incredible."

"Impressive." Tela said. "I wasn't positive a human could do such a thing. In my experience only asari have ever been capable to use biotics to see when blinded, even temporarily as you have been. Even with the most powerful amps others have never managed such a feat, they must rely on prosthetics to recover their eyesight."

"Shepard always has a few surprises up her sleeve." Garrus answered for his Commander.

"So I see." the asari commented dryly. What intrigued her most that the human Spectre's eyes including the sclera were solidly blue not unlike the solid white asari eyes while in deep meditation or the solid black of melds and Joinings. 'This human is far, far more than she seems. This is….fascinating. Just what the hell is Shepard? She is less than asari but far more than human.'

"While this has been fascinating," Pallin almost echoed the asari Spectre's thoughts, "we have prisoners ready for interrogation. Spectres, if you will follow me."

"Actually Garrus will go in my stead. I needed to see to…." Shepard gave a look to her counterpart then back the turians. "I need to see the terrorists' intended victim. I need to see to Liara."

"Your bondmate can wait, Spectre. Your concern should be with the mercenaries. They are your priority." Pallin's voice took on a commanding tone. Shepard heard the underlining disapproval of setting personal affairs above those of what he considered duty.

"Liara T'Soni is my priority, _Executor!_ Garrus is perfectly capable of interrogation. Besides I am not the only Spectre present. Garrus tell Spectre Vasir every thing that is relevant to the case."

"Yes Ma'am." the former C-Sec offer gave his Commander the taloned salute of a turian soldier. "I won't let you down."

Shepard turned to her colleague. "Spectre thank you for your aid and …' she gestured to her eyes. "For this. You're more than welcome aboard the _Normandy_; I'll answer any questions you may have right now I need to go."

"Of course. I shall inform you what I learn. And as for your eyes I should not worry, the effects of the flashbang will wear off soon enough. However be mindful not to rely on biotic vision for too long Spectre, it can have some drawbacks. What they entail for a non asari I can not say. As I said I wasn't entirely certain a human could even do such a thing."

Shepard turned and sped down the thoroughfare towards the Consort's chambers. All three watched her go with varying degree of thoughts and emotions.

"She is very…tenacious." Tela said once she had passed.

"You have no idea," Garrus almost smirked as much as his avian face allowed.

"Humph. Unprofessional is what she is. No officer should place personal affairs above their duty." Pallin snorted.

"Right. Executor if assassins went after your mate you're telling me you wouldn't be concerned for her?" Garrus practically growled.

"Of course I would be concerned. I am not heartless but I never place duty secondary even to my family."

"Yes… isn't that why you're on wife number three?" the younger turian shot back. "Or is it four. I forget."

"Five and it's none of your concern, Vakarian. Come then if you are to interrogate in Shepard's stead we better get to it. No doubt you wish to be present for this as well Spectre Vasir or do you have some lackey to work in your stead as well?"

Garrus snarled but held his tongue. He was no lackey but there was no point in pissing about it. Garrus knew the truth of whom and what he was. He was a trusted crewmate of Shepard's that was enough for him.

"I have never used another in my stead, Executor. I have never needed to."

"So you're a true Spectre then."

The asari smiled ever so slightly.

"Commander Shepard _is_ a real Spectre!" Garrus snarled he could take personal insults but hand them out to his …hero and that was a dire mistake. "If it wasn't for her actions Saren, Sovereign and the geth would have overrun this place killing you and wife number five and everyone else including the Council! She deserves your respect and a lot more than that! And so do you Spectre Vasir. Everyone on the Citadel owes her."

"She had my respect Vakarian up until she sent you do to her work for her." Pallin shot back.

"She's a goddamn hero and if she wants me to jump I ask how high. If she wants me to kiss a krogan on the cheek I'll ask which cheek. She wants me to interrogate in her stead then I will do as she orders without question and no hesitation. She doesn't need to be set to task by you or anyone, even another Spectre!"

"I am sure the Executor meant no true disrespect for Spectre Shepard nor her accomplishments and what she has done for the Citadel. However personal affairs can muddy the judgement of an officer be they Spectre or C-Sec or in the military. It can become very shaky ground to tread." Tela said sounding a little more cold than diplomatic. "But….I can understand her reasons to see to her bondmate. If I were stood before those who attempted to kill the one I cared for I might actually snap their necks without asking a single question. Distancing herself from her bondmate's would be killers, is a solid tactical move on her part."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Shepard wasted no more time. Danger dealt with she needed to be at Liara's side with a desperation she had never knew existed. She opened herself fully to the bond but felt only a soft flutter between her and her beloved. She knew Liara was keeping her own connection muted.

"Skipper!" None other but Ashley called her thus.

Sam turned to heralding and witnessed her Trusted in her true colours: a brilliant white-blue. The hue of valiance? Both the turians were blue, Vasir was more purple than blue and Ash had more white around the edges of her aura. She didn't know what it meant was very much Ashley Williams. Loyalty or love perhaps?

"Skipper, Liara's inside being treated. She…oh my God your eyes! What…what happened?"

"Nothing… don't worry about it."

"To hell with that Sam! What the fuck happened to you?" Ash demanded of her friend.

"An asari Spectre showed me how to see using biotics."

"To see? Why."

Shepard quickly retold the events leading up to her having to use her talents as a biotic to not only to take out her enemies as if playing the echo game but also in how to see.

"What did Vasir mean it had consequences?" Ash demanded.

"I don't know and right now I don't care. Liara. I need to be with her." The Spectre made to move past Williams but was stopped when the younger woman grabbed her around the arm.

"I'm your Trusted, so you will listen Sam. Go to her but stop using the biotics to see. If she sees you like that…" Ash shook her head. "She'll be worried. And she can't afford that right now. Skipper she's been wounded. Not bad but she's lost blood, enough for Aleena to be concerned for little Sparrow. The last thing your wife needs right now is to be worried about you and losing yourself to CS. So go in there blind if you have to but don't….not like that."

The Spectre closed her eyes. When she opened them again they were their normal clear blue of an azure sky. She blinked a few times but resisted the deep urge to rub them. "Ugh." came a grumble. "It's like using night-vision on your visor and someone flares a flashlight in your face."

"Can you make anything out?" Ash stared at her Skipper. Shepard's' pupils were highly dilated but there didn't seem to be any lasting damage. Having taken a flash bang near the face a few times herself, Williams knew what hell it was to lose your sight for a few scary hours. With bio-synthetic enhancements it may not take that long for the Skipper, God willing or so Williams prayed.

"Yeah bit. Instead of grey blobs against a great white blur I see white blobs against grey. I'd say things are clearing up."

"Sorta like the day after first day of shore leave." Williams jibbed. "Or after you cracked your skull headbutting Wrex."

"A little something like that yeah." despite the worry for her bondmate, Shepard couldn't help but smile at the jest. "I can see well enough to make my way to Liara."


	36. Grave Matters

Chapter 36: Grave Matters

As predicted the effects of the flashbang were steadily wearing off. Of course the medi-gel dispensed by the hardsuits' onboard computer as well as the Spectre's bio-synthetic enhancements aided a great deal. Both contributed to her actual ability to continue to function despite being wounded.

Learning how to dampen the soul-bond allowed both Liara and Samantha to shield the majority of their pain from each other. However continuously doing so also taxed the mind not to mention it begat the oncoming of migraines, dizziness and listlessness. Neither woman could keep it up for much longer.

Seeing Liara so pale amongst the gold sheets and comforter whisked the breath from Shepard's lungs. Seeing her so frail was more of a blow to her body than any of the stray bullets that had made it past barriers and shields.

Samantha took up her beloved's hand into own and brought it to her lips kissing it. She felt the coolness of the blue flesh against her mouth. Concern reflected in her eyes that mirrored that which was already burning in her mind.

"Hey Angel Eyes." The Spectre greeted softly when blue eyes fluttered open. "Sleeping on the job are we?" the levity in the comment never reached her voice. The smile touching her mouth was out of sheer relief that Liara was whole and relatively well or at the very least stable.

"Why is it we can not simply go to a place where people are not constantly trying to kill us?" Liara asked dryly. "It would be such a nice change for once."

Sam pressed her forehead against her bondmate's, "Liara…" tears fell from her eyes, overwhelmed by all the pent up emotions of relief, worry, anger for those who had the audacity to attack her beloved overcame the floodgates of the Spectre's heart. To come so close to losing all she held dear in this galaxy to be whisked away…

And for what?! Some man's grievance over losing the Council seat to a better man, a military man? It was time to turn the tables on Ambassador Donnel Udina, on Cerberus. And Shepard needed to do it sooner rather than later. When you ask for trouble, you should not be surprised when it finds you. Nor should you be surprised when it stalks those you love. Sam held Liara's hand to her face once more, she would move against those who sought to take that which she held dearest.

"S'thasa what's her condition?" though speaking to the bounty hunter her gaze never dropped from Liara's. Her touch never ceased.

"Stabilized with medi-gel for now. The wounds were fairly deep and it caused her to lose a lot of blood, which sent her into shock. That's the concern; it has placed your daughter in distress."

"Distress?" Shepard spun around staring at the other asari. The words smacked into the stillness like lead. "You're going to elaborate on that." her voice broadcasting apprehension.

"I will but on the _Normandy_. Here and now isn't place for it." Aleena said in a hushed tone.

Shepard recognized that particular tone. It meant that bad news was on the huntress's mind and she was wondering how to shape it to fit the available not-going-totally-ape-shit space in Shepard's head.

The Spectre turned her attention back to Liara who was once more drifting in and out of consciousness. She sat upon the bed, her gauntleted hand gingerly stroking the soft velvet crest. "Ready to go home, Babe?"

"You are always coming to my rescue." Liara lamented, ignoring the question. "I cowered on Therum and fled here…"

"It's in my nature. Besides we're pretty even on that score. That nice little trick you did for me that kept me alive on the operating table and then of course what you did for me on Quana. Besides on Therum you were taken by surprise not to mention exhausted. And you retreated from the field here for the sake of our child's life. Liara that's not cowardliness, it's necessity. If you want to talk about this we will later right now I want you back on the ship."

"Shepard." An eloquent voice called her name drawing the Spectre's attention. "I wish to accompany you, if I may." the speaker was of course Sha'ira. What concern the others held in their eyes was evidently clear on the Consort's refined features. She might not have had an active role in Liara's past but Sha'ira was quickly assuming the role of a parent now.

"Of course." Shepard wasn't about to deny this woman the right to be at her daughter's side especially at a time like this.

"Good. Then I say we move out now. Liara isn't the only one in need of medical attention, am I right Spectre?" Aleena's voice firm broke no argument from the human.

"I took a couple of shots. Medi-gel helped but yeah I can use a bit of aid."

"Not to mention taking a flashbang square in the chest. Skipper the docs should really take a look at your eyes to make sure you're five-by-five." Williams added making sure Aleena was well aware of the damage their Commander had sustained.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEEMME

Liara was shifted into the medbay's emergency center by Aleena and Sha'ira as soon as they disembarked from the evac-car to be treated or more accurately so the baby could be treated for medical distress. The mother was still stable thanks in no small part to Aleena and Sha'ira's intervention: one with medicine the other with melding. The concern was not only of for Liara's medical condition but her mental and emotional stability. Her fear and panic was going to be more detrimental to the fetus than having gone into shock because of the loss of blood.

Shepard still in her armour stayed at Liara's side every step of the way. Just before she was to enter the surgical bay she was stopped by Ashley.

"Skipper, no you need medical attention. You won't do her any favours going in there in your state."

"Get out of my way Williams." Shepard all but snarled shoving past the lieutenant. "She needs me!"

"No Ma'am you need help. I've counted at least seven make that ten bullet holes in your armour. How many made it past the mesh I don't know but medi-gel and the fancy upgrades Chakwas put in you can only do so much." Ash grabbed the older woman by the arm stopping her.

"I gave you an order, lieutenant."

"And I'm disobeying it. You need…" Ash insisted.

"She needs me. I need to be there. I can feel it." Shepard hissed. "I. Have. To."

"Listen to reason, Samantha." Sha'ira said soothingly stepping in on the young human's attempt at persuasion "I shall accompany Liara, she will not be alone. You can help her by helping yourself. If you are not at peace you will cause harm to your child. Your body must be tended to." She said the words as if speaking to the same Shepard she first encountered a year ago.

"I said no. Now get out of my way or get off my ship." The Spectre growled egregiously. Once more pushing past them.

"Oh for crying out loud you'll have more success trying to nail jello to a bulkhead; than talking her out of abandoning her wife simply to patch up bullet wounds." Chakwas said as she came up behind the Spectre, nonchalantly raised her hand to Shepard's neck then deftly stuck her with an epi filled with high powered sedatives specially designed for biotics.

"Oh damn." Samantha mumbled with a thick tongue even as the world spun topsy-turvy around her. The tranquilizer worked quickly: her eyes rolled backwards into her head just as she toppled forward into Ashley's awaiting arms.

Ash slipped her arms under her Commander's, lifting her up into a more manageable position.

"And that ladies is how you handle her." Chakwas said with an air of superior knowledge. She stooped over grabbed Shepard's legs to help Ash manhandle their Commander. They had to turn her over before laying her down as gently as possible.

"She's going to be so pissed once she wakes up." Ash said. She shifted Shepard's paralysed body to a more comfortable position then added: "I disobeyed orders and you drugged her."

"When that time comes I will deal with the fallout. Aleena you have more experience with pregnant asari than I, you start with Liara and I'll see to Shepard." The elder woman looked to Ash, "This is becoming quite habit between the three of us, you helping me strip our Commander of her armour."

"At least this time she's not dying."

"No, there is at least that." Chakwas was dry and utterly professional.

"You may want to check her eyes Doc. She took a flashbang to the chest and it blinded her for a while." Williams pointed out.

Chakwas peeled back Shepard's eyelids checking the dilation of the pupils. What she did take note of was a slight cyan halo around the blue iris. "That is…interesting."

Ash knowing the truth of how Shepard used biotics to see shifted nervously on her feet, absentmindedly fidgeting with her fingers. "Um what's interesting? It's not CS is it?"

"I have never seen this effect in sufferers of CS, before." The physician answered. "Not that CS affects everyone in exactly the same way but this is quite new. At least in my experience." Chakwas activated the holographic medical interface, turned back to her patient on the bed and took a picture of the iris.

"Maybe it has something to do with the Skipper having to use her biotics to see."

"She what!" Chakwas demanded. "Did I hear you correctly? She used her biotics to see?"

Even the consort seemed taken by surprise. "I wasn't aware humans were capable of such use of biotics," Sha'ira uttered softly completely astonished.

"We can't." Chakwas answered.

"Evidence proves to the contrary." Sha'ira looked at the young woman on the bed then looked to the projection of Shepard's eye on the monitor.

She had felt the power of Liara and Samantha during their wedding when they were projecting their desire for one another. At that time it was incredibly strong, one might have assumed it was a bond between two asari. So consumed with the what she had learned about the young woman, Sha'ira hadn't fixated on what the other two humans were discussing she only watched them undress her. There were many layers of armour just as there were many layers and depths to this enigmatic woman.

The cuirass despite the fact it was severely dented, scathed and pockmarked with bullet holes was still serviceable. It would take a bit of omni-gel to repair and careful craftsmanship but Williams was confident she could restore it to full functionality. The paladins and greaves were followed by gauntlets and boots. Next came the malleable underlay which bore a distinct look as if it had contemplated suicide via a cheese grater.

Regardless of the fact Sha'ira read Shepard's aura—her spirit she had not until now seen the fullness of the woman, now she was more curious than ever. Samantha Shepard was indeed just as Sha'ira had read her. Born to wear the uniform, a soldier through and through, a natural leader. Others followed her without hesitation, without question right into the jaws of oblivion. Yes there was the part of her that contained the essence that made her alone, aloof and apart from others. But there was another part of her that called others to her and they would do anything for her even if went against her wishes if only to protect her. There were times when Shepard needed to be protected not from outside forces but from herself. Sha'ira had to know…why was her daughter and Samantha so comprehensively obsessed with each other?

"When it comes to Liara she does not submit to another's voice easily." the consort said as she watched them work. She touched the dark locks of silky hair. Since coming into contact with humans it was one of the things she enjoyed: the uniqueness of their manes…their hair. Shepard's hair was thick and yet soft to the touch.

Feathering the forelock back once more the consort touched the flesh of Samantha's brow and allowed her mind to slip into her unconscious mind. What she felt caused her to gasp. She turned to see of the other humans noticed her outburst but they apparently were oblivious to her reaction. '_You have changed…my gift of words still applies but you are so much more…'_

"You have no idea." Chakwas answered. "Actually they can both be that way. I believe it has something to do with the bond that connects them. Before the gestalt they were not so… passionately interconnected. Now when a threat comes to the one the other becomes empathically frenetic."

Sha'ira turned her back to the humans focusing her attention towards the bay with her daughter. The matriarch drew in a breath as she saw her daughter resting there. She looked so young. She looked barely two decades old never mind being just over a century.

Sha'ira reached down and touched the swell of Liara's belly. She closed her eyes and took slow deep breaths, stilling the chaos around her and embraced eternity.

Under her hand, within her mind she felt life stir and shift to frantic dance of unrest and fear. "Be at peace little one. Be still. You are safe now. Embrace the memory of your naneth…of your arda. Embrace their love. Be at peace."

Aleena busily working over the young Prothean expert glanced at the monitors then back to the elder asari. "Keep up the connection, it is bringing Liara out of shock. Her respiration is still shallow but her pulse is becoming stronger no longer weak and erratic. She's responding to the atropine. Liara will be fine."

"And the child?"

"I'm doing a diagnostic now." Aleena switched on a secondary medical scanner and began an ultrasound examination.

The holographic monitor shifted from showcasing Liara's heart rate, breathing, dark energy readings, and body temperature as well brain activity to those of the fetus. At first the readings seemed impossibly erratic as they registered the new target. Aleena hissed at what she saw.

"Oh Goddess." The bounty hunter's eyes shifted from the monitors to Liara.

Even if she wasn't medically minded Sha'ira knew the readings were dire. "Can anything be done?"

The answer came in a look that transmitted she prayed it was so, but it was not voiced. "I have to consult with Dr. Chakwas more than likely we'll both have to find a specialist. Pediatrics is a little out of my element. I'm more general medicine and battle medic and my colleague only has experience with human pregnancies."

"Then I shall find the very best." Sha'ira's hand stroked her daughter's cheek. "I thought I lost you, my first child over a century ago. I won't stand by and allow you to lose yours."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Good Evening. I am Robin Lasky standing in for Khalisah Al-Jilani correspondent of Westerland News. We have just learned the highly decorated former Alliance officer and humanity's first Spectre has gone rogue. It appears Spectre Agent Samantha Shepard has made good on a promise that should anything happen to her lover the asari archeologist Dr. Liara T'Soni, she would go rogue. For those who need a reminder T'Soni is none other than the daughter of the traitor and alleged lover of the rogue turian Spectre Saren Arterius, Matriarch Benezia T'Soni.

"An insider gave us a direct quote from the supposed great hero of the Citadel, just after her recovery from the battle."

There was a click and a static garbled but it was very clearly Shepard speaking. "They aren't getting their hands on Liara… I will go rogue if only to protect her from them."

"You heard it here first folks. And it seems Shepard made good on that vow. During a routine stop by a C-Sec officer to reprimand T'Soni for wading in the Presidium Lake she viciously attacked the officer killing him with her biotics. She then fled the scene of the crime but not before calling in her Spectre lover to apparently rescue her. It is unknown where T'Soni fled no doubt she managed somehow to get back to the _Normandy_. A name of the vessel once called _Victory. _ Apparently getting a ship from the Council wasn't good enough for Shepard. The famed Citadel hero further demanded the Council allow her to change the name of the ship.

"Once Shepard appeared on the scene she drove the public into a panic by using her Spectre authority to issue a false fire alarm evacuation apparently so her worshiping civilians could not witness the atrocities she was about to commit. We issue a warning that some scenes will be very disturbing for some viewers."

The image of the dirty blonde reporter whitewashed into video-feed of Shepard's battle with the false C-Sec officers. The cameras seemed to focus on the most visceral moments of the battle: bodies ripped apart by dark energy, or crushed by biotic martial arts, heads exploded by gunfire.

The correspondent waited a few moments of silence, blew out a long suffering sigh before she spoke in a near reverent voice. "This news agency wishes to convey our deepest sympathies for the good men and women of C-Sec who gave their lives in the attempt to apprehend this rogue. We have heard word that Spectre Tela Vasir famed for single-handedly arresting two hundred slavers as well as stopping a notorious hacker ring was quickly on the scene. If she has been assigned the case we are confident she will quickly put an end to Shepard's reign of terror."

"I'm Robin Lasky standing in for Khalisah Al-Jilani correspondent of Westerland News.

"That's bullshit! Pure bullshit!" David Anderson roared at the screen before knocking the monitor to the floor of his office in a small eruption of duroplastic, glass and sparks.

The door to his inner office opened revealing Cerise Chambers, a young woman who was as sharp as a varren's bite. Nothing escaped her notice, which was why Anderson wanted her as his assistant.

"Sir?" Cerise looked at the debris on the floor then back to glowering man behind the desk. Her brown eyes harvested all the details before her.

It was plainly obvious her boss was beyond angry, and just as clearly it was most probable the private communiqué he had received and not the dozen of reports on his desk or the Council meeting he had returned from only an hour before.

"Did you hear what that bitch Robin said about Shepard? What they're doing to her? They sent this over as some preemptive strike to blackmail humanity's only Spectre. The god-damn hero of the Citadel"

'Ah.' thought Cerise, 'that explains much.' "By bitch sir can I safely assume that you are referring to Khalisah Al-Jilani? No sir, I didn't see the report it was sent directly to your inbox. I can tell you sir there are rumors that there was no fire but a terrorist attack that was stopped by Spectres Shepard, Vasir and Executor Pallin."

"Yes, we got the report in the Council. Terrorists disguised as C-Sec officers. We had another Spectre sent to aid, she confirmed the attack. How the hell that Al-Jilani's people got footage that quickly…."

"Quite likely they were tipped off by the terrorist's cell. I'd imagine before the battle took place they set up monitoring devices or hacked into the security cameras or had someone do it."

"But some of that footage wasn't from security cameras or hovering monitors. Some of it was from hardsuit helmet-cams. They were tipped off alright, it goes deeper than that." Anderson's voice got dangerously low.

"Shepard was clearly set up then, but for what reason? And why would Khalisah Al-Jilani or her people want to do this?" Cerise said. "What could she possibly gain? And quite frankly I think it is a little out of her depth sir."

Anderson's expression grew darker. "She tried to smear Shepard a few times before, now she's gone and done it. It might be Lasky reporting but that bitch Al-Jilani has her hands all over this. You're right though she and Lasky are just the faces; someone else pulled all the strings. Al-Jilani and Udina… want to destroy Shepard." He hit his fist on the desk, causing data-Padds to skitter and topple to the floor to join the corpse of the monitor. "If this leaks out it's going to be a political shit storm. I want both Al-Jilani and Lasky pulled in and held indefinitely. I want all their computers, documents and OSDs seized. I want you to set a meeting with that news anchorwoman from Citadel Newnet: Emily Wong. If the media is going to play games with my Shepard's life then we will use fire to fight fire." he drew in a breath. "Do we know the status on Dr. T'Soni or Shepard?"

"_Normandy's_ Executive Officer Shiala issued a report. Both Spectre Shepard and Dr. T'Soni were wounded. T'Soni took shrapnel; Shepard apparently took three bullets as well as a flashbang directly to the chest which for a short time rendered her blind. Both are recovering. XO Shiala says their child is in critical condition."

Anderson scrubbed his balding head with his hands. "Oh good God." he sighed. "Send a message of sympathy…no scratch that. I'll do it in person. But notify Shepard that she will need to be present to give testimony before the Council. Its terrible timing but it has to be done." he paused for a several heartbeats before speaking again. "Shit…how bad is their baby?"

"I believe it is as bad as bad gets sir."

"If they need anything, I mean anything Cerise, make sure they get it. They need some kind of specialist make sure they get it. Actually look for specialists and send them directly to the _Normandy_. I'll fit the bill personally."

"Yes sir."

Cerise watched him leave before going to the floor to recover the fallen data-padds it suddenly struck her, something Anderson had said. 'My Shepard?' It carried the tone of voice far more beyond a former commanding officer speaking about a crew member, even a favored one. It had the overtones of a father's voice.

Anderson popped his head back into his office. "Oh…that specialist - make sure it's someone specializing in high risk asari pregnancies."

"Yes sir."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEMEMEMEM E

The Illusive Man sat in his chair, staring out of the viewing window that was the entire rear wall of his private domain. A wreath of smoke encircled his head like a sinister halo.

His steely blue cybernetic gaze fixed upon a giant M-class star fluctuating between the spectrums of blue and red. He enjoyed the idea of orbiting the star that was in the last phase of its six-billion-year life span. To him it was the epitome of what was to come, of the true birth of humanity's possibilities and the end of alien domination. His lips curled slightly that it was also a visualization of what was occurring to humanity's first Spectre.

The grand finally of the star's existence was to collapses in upon itself, and leaving a black hole which would devour the entire system. A perfect metaphor for what was becoming Shepard's life. Her whole universe was collapsing in upon itself. The news report was only the beginning. All those who supported her, believed in her, trusted in her would become the black hole and swallow Shepard's spirit. In a sense she would die.

Cerberus would be there to pick up the pieces; they would put her back together like modern day Lazarus. The Illusive Man knew the only hope to defeat the Reapers ultimately lay in this one woman's hands. Of course she'd need a new crew, a new team, one that was if not devoted to the Cerberus message, then to humanity. He'd of course allow her a few of her alien disciples but not all of them. He could be generous when he needed to be, he'd give her a handful of other aliens to take the places of her present collection. The one alien that had to be rid of was the asari lover. Not that he begrudged Shepard's tastes, he himself partook of such indulgences from time to time. But T'Soni was a distraction he could never afford Shepard to possess.

Udina already laid the ground work for the Spectre alienation from the Alliance. While he didn't agree with the crudity of the Ambassador's news report and its obvious character assassination which would most definitely lead the Shepard directly into attacking the ambassador. But he couldn't argue with results. The fallout would have to be carefully managed for it to go as he desired, or they would lose Shepard.

He snuffed out a cigarette, swiveled his chair around giving his attention to the many holoscreens before him. Many held scrolling data streams, other images of various individuals, one of which was an image of Ambassador Donnel Udina. He tapped in a few more commands into the arm-rest's keyboard causing the screen to split with the image of the ambassador on one side and the other showing Samantha Shepard in her N7 armour.

'You fulfilled your role dutifully Ambassador now however you have become rather redundant. I believe it is time for you to retire.'

A secondary screen flashed that his email transmissions had been successfully sent.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEME

Ash fell in a seat behind the table in the mess hall, shaking her head. Around the table were Shiala, Tali, Wrex and Garrus. All of them attempting to get something in their empty bellies but none had the stomach to even take so much as a bite.

"How did this attack happen? How could it happen?" She stared into her plate of food, shifting the contents around with a metal spork.

"Because, we trusted too much," came Garrus's reply. "We made assumptions. We did not ask the right questions, at the right time, of the right people."

Ash dragged her bleak stare away from her increasingly unappetizing dinner. "We knew we were being betrayed from within. We even have the suspects. We should have moved faster. And this bitch Al-Jilani and her lackey what they did…" Ash shoved her plate away from her so hard it skittered across the table landing with a wet splat on the floor. The food scattered in all directions. "God damn it that woman needs to fucking die!"

Shiala released a heavy sigh ignoring the projectile mashed potatoes and roast beef that had been flung past her head. "I think we must consider that the betrayal goes deeper, far deeper. This was orchestrated purposely to destroy Shepard from within. That was why Liara was let go so easily. They wanted Shepard there to take out the mercenaries just to film her confronting them."

"Confront?! Confront? Good God woman they made her look like a psychotic lunatic massacring the police." Williams howled. "If this airs, people are going to be calling for her blood. I'm fucking surprised they haven't started banging on the hull carrying pitchforks and burning torches."

"They don't need this." Tali shook her head as she stared at her folded hands. "With all they have been through…now this…their baby in danger… What if they lose her? Oh Keelah. What can we do?"

"Kill that cunt Al-Jilani." Ash snapped. "Pull her spine out through her gut."

"I say we go for that Lasky female." Wrex barked. "We should have never let her out of prison. Tuchanka should have been her grave. We had her for espionage; she was in for life, hell they were going to execute her until the ransom was paid. I say the clan should have just cacked her."

"Whatever occurred at Ghurst is not relevant here. Ruzad Drau Sorze deemed that after a two-hour trial and forty minutes of deliberation Lasky's reporting was no threat to the state." Shiala commented.

"Whose side are you on anyway?" Williams accused. "She's a threat to the Skipper, to Liara! I don't care if she wasn't guilty on some backwater world…."

"Hey that's my world you are talking about." Wrex snarled.

"Yes and it likes to blow itself to bits every other decade. My point is Lasky's bad news, she was then and she is now. She needs to be deep spaced. Tonight."

Garrus pointed out. "That won't solve anything; in fact it will cause far more problems. We need to be proactive. First here then on the Citadel. Place both Normandy's suspects in the brig and…"

"And what…Garrus and then what? This won't solve anything with all the damage that report did. The Council is going to jump all over this, we all know it. That turian Councilor is just looking for an excuse to discharge the Skipper. He absolutely despises her. He'll go for her throat." By this time Ash was pacing the room mindful not to slide into the tossed mash potatoes where they were slowly congealing into the corners between the bulkhead and floor.

"He will be in the minority if he does. The Council will not abandon Shepard. They will investigate this." Shiala kept her tone even and reserved. Attempting to restore calm to the table but failing spectacularly. "Shepard followed procedures in evacuating the Presidium and neutralizing possible threats. Spectre Vasir and the C-Sec Executor were on the scene they will back up her testimony. They will not abandon her." the asari repeated. "They won't."

"Oh come on, you really believe that? They will declare her too toxic and space her without looking back. Just like they did when she told them about Sovereign and the coming of the Reapers. That turian bastard had Udina ground her. They will cut her loose and we all know it." Ash said, her anger ever increasing.

"She's right. That bird boned fuck will slice Shepard up and feed her as chum for a thresher maw." Wrex rumbled. "And when he's done the others save for Anderson will follow."

"Not with my, Executor Pallin and Spectre Vasir's testimonies they won't." Garrus insisted. "And besides Pallin has four of those Talon bastards in custody."

"But that will do little for the public at large when this gets out." Tali said. "What we need to do is prove our Commander and Liara were set up before that happens. Get a hold of the film footage and we can prove it. We saw it and anyone knowing anything about hardsuit helmets know they record battlefield data. That's all we really saw. We prove that and we prove it was all a set up and we win."

"Yeah that's right." For the first time Williams sounded far less angry and more optimistic. "Tali, you can hack into the C-Sec security footage and into Westerland news. If we can get any sort of proof of correspondence between Lasky and the mercenaries that will go a long way to prove the Skipper is innocent. Can you do that Tali, right?"

"Yes, I can. But I also think we need more help. We need someone who can get it out there to everyone when the time comes," the quarian stated.

Garrus turned to the young woman his mandibles flapping into a turian grin. "You're thinking of The Wizard."

"Exactly. But we need more than to simply log on to his or her website. We need to personally speak with them." Tali laid out their strategy.

"That's going to be tricky but not impossible." Garrus said. "But there maybe a way. There is a Duct Rat the name's Mouse, you recall Roach and Varren talking about him, Tali?" At the quarian's nod he continued. "He runs VIs, some of them legit some of them not so much. There is whispering amongst the Rats that one of them can connect to The Wizard. We find that VI we get The Wizard."

"Then let's go." Tali pushed away from the table as she rose from her chair. When Garrus didn't rise Tali frowned behind her faceplate. "What is the problem?"

"I have to give testimony to the Council, I can't go. You'll have to do it Tali. You know where to go and how to place the call. And you know what you need to start the negotiations. You'll be fine."

"You're not going alone." Williams said "You'll need an escort."

"Yeah no kidding. I step one foot into that warehouse and I'll get arrested on the charges of being quarian." Tali delivered deadpan. "So who's going?"

"You're too recognized Williams you can not go. Even if this doesn't break what happened on the Presidium will be news. You'll be mobbed by the public either demanded answers to questions you don't want to hear or they will lynch you." Garrus said cutting off the lieutenant before she uttered a syllable. "Someone else needs to play escort."

"My sister. No one knows her face; she won't be recognized as anyone being on the flagship ground team even if they recognize you Tali." Ash responded, reluctantly agreeing with the former C-Sec officer about her being there. "She may not like them but Abby's good with pistols if it comes to that. And your new drone Chikkitika can kick some ass, not to mention what you can do. You should be fairly safe."

No one said that Liara should have been safe in the Presidium's park but all were thinking it. The stillness settled heavily upon all shoulders - nesting like parasites in their minds and hearts.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

Sam lay with her forehead pressed against Liara's temple her hand possessively holding her pregnant belly gently stroking the small swell.

"Come back to us little one. Mommy and I love you so much." the soft words floated into Liara's mind making her slowly aware she was awake. She remained silent simply listening to her bondmate speaking so tenderly to their child. "You see we have this whole life planned out, marriage, old age and a bunch of little blue children. You're our first born. But to do that Secura you have to be born. So here are your orders. Get better so Mommy and I can see you born. Pretty simple."

A blue hand came to rest upon a dark head, fingers lacing through the black locks. "She knows my Love."

Sam shifted upon onto her elbow so she could meet her bondmate's eyes. She felt Liara's mind link so closely to hers, absorb the happenings of the last few hours. Liara turned her head slowly, her hand reaching to keep contact with Samantha's cheek. Weariness still held her in a warm, comfortable blanket, drawing the strength from her, robbing her of any will.

The Spectre looked down at beloved, seeing the paleness of her skin and the dark shadows that surrounded her eyes. She was so small, so fragile looking. Careful of her healing body, Samantha gathered her close. She was nearly killed only a few hours ago—she was still afraid of losing her.

"I was wondering how long you were going to sleep," she said. "You must be hungry. I'll get you something."

"I couldn't possibility eat anything. " Liara shook her head.

"Angel Eyes, you have to try. You lost so much blood. You have to rebuild it; you need regain your strength." Sam's hand touched the pregnant belly. "Please… give it a try. Some broth perhaps. Maybe some juice."

"Okay." came a soft answer.

"Okay." Sam eased herself away from her bondmate's side. Just as she moved away from the bed, her wrist was snatched by Liara's grasp. "Babe?"

"How badly were you wounded?" Liara's gaze held Samantha in place.

"Nothing major."

"Samantha…do not lie to me."

"I wasn't lying. I was redirecting the truth. I took some bullets, my armour took most. My underlay was shredded. Chakwas patched me up."

"How bad?"

"Liara…"

"Samantha."

"Same as you, blood loss, a little shock, biotic exhaustion." She explained everything that had happened. All the way from ordering the evacuation to how she was shown by Spectre Vasir to see using biotics.

"I didn't think humans were capable of that." Liara said a little more than astonished.

"We both know my biotics have evolved because of our gestalt. Hell that's why we have to go to Illium."

"I know perfectly well why we have to divert to Illium. And I know you did what you had to do on the Presidium despite the dangers of over-extending your biotics. What did Chakwas and Aleena have to say about it?"

"I didn't ask. I had bigger more important things on my mind." she touched Liara's rounded freckled cheek then touched the pregnant belly. "Plus she knocked me out."

"She knocked you out?" Liara's azure eyes opened wide. "Dr. Chakwas _had_ to knock you out?"

Sam shrugged helplessly. "Apparently I wasn't listening to reason."

"Imagine that." Liara flashed a sardonic look behind a well hidden smile of endearment.

"What?" again the Spectre shrugged. "You and Sparrow were in trouble, you truthfully expect me to stop to get a band-aid?"

"I truthfully expect you to care for yourself if not for my sake than for Secura's."

"Liara…I…"

The asari folded her arms and gave her bondmate a _look_. Being bedridden the expression was in danger of looking like a petulant child but the perturbed wife expression was the one Shepard read.

"You're right. Of course you're right."

"I am more than right my bondmate. Do you truthfully expect me let something like that pass? Do you truthfully believe you are any less important to me than I am to you - that your life has less value? That I do not value the health and welfare of my beloved as you do yours? Do you believe for one moment that your concern for me is more important than mine is for you? If you do than you are imbecile. I know for certain I did not Bond to someone like that. So apparently somewhere between being shot and waking up in sickbay a doppelganger took your place." the comment carried less venom than hurt.

Samantha ducked her head hiding the blush creeping up on her cheeks. "Liara, I am so sorry. I never meant to give you that impression."

"Then why did you?"

"Because from time to time your bondmate can be an imbecile." She looked up and met a pair of hard staring blue eyes that gradually softened.

"Fortunately for you, I love you. You are my soul's ease Samantha. Don't you ever forget that!"

The Spectre leaned in and kissed her love. "I won't. I promise you that. I promise I won't give ever give you that impression again." Gently touching the blue cheek once more, the Spectre added, "I'm going to get you something to eat."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

Shepard walked into the mess hall to find a crewman cleaning mashed potatoes and what looked like pot roast off the floor. "Oh don't tell me another fight broke out." She sighed with exasperation.

Upon seeing her the young man stood up almost spraining his spine as he snapped to attention. "No Ma'am, no fight."

"Rupert get rioters over dinner?"

"No Ma'am."

"And yet food is all over the place." she quirked an eyebrow

"Yes Ma'am."

"What happened?"

The lad looked decisively uncomfortable; he shifted from foot to foot. "I….I couldn't really say Ma'am."

"Can't say or won't say?"

"Ma'am?"

"Right. Which one of my hot-headed senior officers went off the handle: Williams, Wrex or Garrus?" She looked at the food again then turned back to the young corporal. "Okay not Garrus, then." Shepard folded her arms over her chest attempting to remain cool and collective in the face of a blatantly obvious attempt by the young man to obfuscate what truly happened.

"Ma'am. I… don't know what happened. XO Shiala received a classified transmission. I believe she shared that transmission with the flagship ground team. They came down here for a meal. Shortly after I was ordered by Chef Rupert to clean the mess."

"Clean the mess from the mess?" Shepard's mouth teased into a small smile.

"Yes Ma'am." he tried to smile back though it looked more like he was trying not to be sick on his CO's boots.

"Right. So why the hell wasn't I told about this classified transmission?"

"Ma'am?" the lad's voice actually squeaked.

"Nevermind corporal, it was a rhetorical question. I didn't expect you to answer."

"Yes Ma'am. "

Shepard nodded her head. "As you were."

"Ma'am, yes Ma'am." the kid snapped a crisp salute then scurried with all due haste back to his scrub brush and the floor.

For a moment all Shepard did was to stand and watch the clean-up her mind a hamster's wheel running: in circles. She knew why her officers were upset, hell she was pissed off. Her wife was targeted just to smoke her out. Her child was on the losing end of an up-hill battle for her life, a life that hadn't even begun. She rubbed the back of her neck trying to still the wheels from turning or rather a more apt metaphor perhaps would be from grinding.

"Anything I can get you Commander or you just down here for another midnight raid?" A weathered voice snapped the Spectre out of her head and back into reality with a small start.

"Rupert?"

"That would be me, Ma'am."

"What did you say?" she frowned looking at her mess officer.

"I asked if you were on a raid run of my kitchen stores." he graced his commanding officer with a chiding expression. "In case you are Commander, I have relocated my reserves of jalapeño peppers. But I'll be happy to crack open a jar if that is what you're after."

Shepard grinned. "Actually yeah open one up. And while you're at it put some orange juice, cookies on the tray. I also need some soup or maybe just broth, something that's good for replenishing lost blood supplies and bolstering lost energy reserves."

"You don't want much do you Commander?" the cook cheerfully began the preparations for the meal. "Is this dinner for two or one Ma'am?"

"One." Shepard paused, frowned then sighed. "Better make it two, well two point five if you want to get technical."

Rupert chuckled. "Soup for two point five, coming right up Ma'am. Actually I gotta really good asari recipe Commander Shiala gave a few months back for _fkio_ hen soup. It's a little like our chicken noodle soup. Except it's a different bird…and no noodles. Other than that it's practically the same oh and they seem to put more sage, rosemary, basil and onion in it. I can whip up a batch in no time. The commander said it was good for what ails you and if nothing ails you it's good for you anyway."

The odd half smirk grin reappeared on the Spectre's face. "Sounds like just what the doctor ordered. Make it happen."

Rupert offered a lazy salute before turning his attention to the task of preparing the offered dish. He already had a head start with some vegetable stock left over from lunch. "Speaking of doctors, may I ask how Dr. T'Soni is doing Ma'am?"

A mask of command slid over Shepard's face. With a professional tone she said. "She's recovering. Thank you for asking." It was code of course for: 'Don't ask further, I have no desire to speak about it or answer any more questions.'

"Good to hear, Ma'am. My best wishes, I hope she and your little one get better soon." Well you had to say something in situations like this didn't you? What the mess officer said was what every single member of _Normandy's_ crew would say and think.

"Thank you." And that really was going to be the end of it. "The _fkio_ are native to Thessia aren't they?"

"Yes Ma'am. They are a little like Earth flamingos, only they are purple, flightless and have two tails and four wings. Other than that they are pretty much the same."

"Just like _fkio_ hen soup is just like chicken noodle soup with no noodles?" Shepard quirked an eyebrow as she folded her arms over her chest.

"A little like that yes Ma'am."

"Just make the soup, Rupert."

"Yes Ma'am."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEEMMEMEMEME EME

Rupert turned to see the young man watching their Commander disappear down the corridor towards the med-bay. "Staring at her like that son can get you into shit load of trouble."

"I…I wasn't …I mean…."the kid stumbled. "I…"

"First time you came face to face with the legend?"

The kid nodded. "Never spoke to her in person before. She's…she's…"

"Yep." Rupert nodded, "but you aint allowed to fawn over your CO."

"Yeah I know that." the kid looked at the empty corridor then back to the head chef. "I never knew she had cybernetic eyes. She get 'em after the Skillian Blitz?"

"Naw they aren't cybernetic. She's a biotic; it's a thing with them. It's all that element zero stuff in their blood. Their whole nervous system is riddled with little nodules of dark energy. It changes them."

"Ee-Zo makes their eyes glow like cats do in the dark?" the kid asked a little astonished.

"Yep. Hell I seen some L-Twos and the whites of their eyes is all glowy blue like the energy they summon. Course them that have blue sclera go crazy. It's why you hear about all those L-Two going loony-bins and taking hostages and shit like that. L-Threes and L-Fours are a bit different. But still the dark energy affects them all. It sorta makes them empathic, all aware of other people's emotions and junk."

"How come you know all this stuff, Chef?"

"My step-brother's boy Nick…I guess he's nephew… is in the Ascension Program back on Grissom Station. He's an L-Four. But from what I've seen of our Commander she's a damn bit more powerful than that. I'd say she's not an L-Three but like something like an L-Five."

"So she's an N-Seven and an L-Five?" the boy was clearly in awe.

"Just like them asari commandos I reckon." Rupert added. "Makes you damn proud to know she's one of us. That we have someone just as good as those commandos and she's a Spectre on top of it all."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Armed with a tray of Rupert's well nourishing food the Spectre tiptoed into medical-bay. "Hey Hon, Rupert made this especially for you…" she paused in mid sentence once she discovered the room was vacant. "Babe?" she called out. She set the tray down on the bedside table without a second thought and headed for the bay's lavatory. "Liara, you in there?"

She pushed open the door of the lavatory to see her beloved gripping the edge of the sink basin attempting to hold herself up, her body trembling. Almost instantly Sam rushed to Liara's side. Her arm wrapped around her waist donating her strength to the asari both physically and mentally.

"Liara?" the single word was a whisper. She was appalled how fragile Liara appeared. She was so pale; her body covered in sweat, dark shadows surrounded her eyes. She was so frail, so small. "Come on baby let's get you back to bed."

Liara leaned on Sam having no strength of her own. "Oh…Samantha something is very wrong." her voice quivered as she spoke.

A chill swept across the human's heart. In that instant she knew deep in her gut down to the marrow of her soul their child's life was ending. She held Liara to her, trying to move her to the bay but she only managed two steps before asari's feet crumbled beneath her in a cry of anguish. Liara clutched her belly as a second quake of pain ripped into her.

"S…s…am…"

"I'm here, right here." She stoked the curves of Liara's crest. "Right here, Baby." Her eyes became glassy with tears welling up, falling gently down her cheeks. "I'm right here." She cradled her love close to her chest. An icy wash of fear ran through her that was not her own.

The bond flared to life surging through both of them. Sam realized this time that Liara wasn't controlling it, wasn't blocking. She reached out, using it to stave of the shock to Liara's system in vain hopes save her, to save their child.

Her eyes grew wide at the sight of purple blood pooling between Liara's legs. "Oh God!" Shepard croaked. She hit her radio. "Chakwas, get in here! She's bleeding."

Liara whimpered, curling up in the fetal position unaware of her bondmate picking her up into her arms. Pain made her deaf to the frantic call Samantha made to summon Chakwas to the med bay. Liara was losing too much blood and the Spectre couldn't stop it. Dazed, the Sam lifted her head and looked around, "Help me."

As if in a dream, the figures around her suddenly began to move. Chakwas was the first over, followed closely by Aleena and two nurses Shepard couldn't put a name to. Chakwas was barking out orders she didn't half understand. She watched helplessly as they started cutting away her clothing, medicating procedures, placing a drip setup into Liara's arm to transfuse much needed blood back into her veins, on top of it all the doctor was fighting the source of the hemorrhage. The maiden's pressure was dangerously low.

Chakwas spared a look to the monitors before administering yet another dose of drugs into Liara. "She's going into shock and she's starting to abort."

"Can't you stop it?" Shepard demanded.

The share of grim faces became her answer.

Liara began to move, trying to curl up as her abdominal muscles started to contract.

"Commander, I need you to keep up the link. Block her pain. You two have done it before; I need you to do it now." Chakwas

Shepard needed no other prompting. She sat on Liara's left, keeping out of Chakwas's way, holding her hand. She entered her bondmate's mind taking in the pain keeping Liara free of it. She felt their spirits merge becoming one. Now that she was unconscious any block Liara had in play diminished allowing Sam to monitor her, keeping her from slipping away.

"She's fading." said Sam. Her voice was full of fear as she felt Liara's presence getting weaker and weaker.

"Then hang on to her, pull her back!" Aleena said savagely. "Cause that gestalt to surge if you have to."

"How?" her fear was mounting.

"Follow the link, use it. Keep your fear a way from her, she doesn't need that on top of everything else. Don't let her feel your sense of loss. You hang on to her."

Sam reached deep into the link binding them one to the other, followed the spark of the bond and felt it course and pulse to life. She poured all she had into the link, surrounding Liara in all that she was, begging her to come back from the ethereal fade. Liara once used her own nervous system to keep Sam alive; she now used her own soul to keep her beloved grounded in the metaphysical world.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEME

Ash was in the CIC when Skipper's frantic call came in to Dr. Chakwas who was there giving both she and Shiala a medical update on her two patients.

As soon as the word was out Chakwas rushed for the med bay, pausing long enough only to issue an order for Aleena to meet her there.

Ash paused for only a heartbeat before she was hot on the doctor's heels. She was Sam's Trusted, she almost entered into a Bonded Trinity with these two women, she'd be damned if she wasn't going to be there for them now. She didn't know what she could do, what aid she could offer but she'd be there even if she was just a warm body for her Skipper to fall on, yell at or …cry with. She'd be there. Fighting side by side was easy...this was the hard stuff. The way of life stuff and you don't fail your family with not being there when they need you, even if all you're doing is being a warm body.

She moved for the door but a young corporal barred her way. He looked nervous and deeply wishing to be any where but where he was. She knew why he was there, someone ordered him not to allow anyone in. She gave the blonde haired lad a hard look, as he shifted from foot to foot, swallowed hard waiting for the biting words to issue from his superior officer.

They never came. There was only the look.

Ash turned from him ignoring the kid, pacing back and forth. Two hours passed before the med bay opened. The sight to welcome Williams was that of her skipper covered in purple blood. Her face blank, her eyes unseeing. There was nothing there; it was if her soul had been sucked completely away.

Ash took a step forward reaching to steady the ghost of a woman before her. "Skipper?" there was no answer, no acknowledgement she had even heard her. "Sam?"

"I felt her fade." The voice was distant a merest slip of sound vibrations striking the eardrum. "I felt her slip away… I was linked to her soul and I felt it wink out. It just…winked out."

"Oh God, Sam…" Ash swallowed. She reached for her skipper but there was no response, no acknowledgement she had even been touched.

The world had gone numb.

"Sam…"

The Spectre said nothing. Her body moved as if it was an animated corpse and perhaps in a way it was. Her spirit, her energy evaporated.

Ashley had no words to say. What could she say? The loss of someone you loved dearly was a pain she knew well. It was a pain that couldn't be fixed with words, there had to be time to time to process.

She was the Trusted. She failed her Skipper in her duty to protect her family. Now Ash had the bitter duty before her. Closing her eyes she entered the medical bay. The first thing that hit her was the metallic tang of blood.

Bile rose in her throat stinging it with bitter aftertaste. Forcing the gag response away Ash stepped into the darkened bay. The first thing she saw wasn't what she had expected. Monitors bleeped stable life-signs.

Life-signs!

Life-signs! There were life-signs. Liara was alive…

Almost reverently she approached the bed. Liara looked so pale against the white bed sheets: her blue skin ashen grey. Ashley felt her eyes brim with tears that fell freely down her cheeks. She reached out to touch the young asari as if to make sure she was truly alive. Ash hissed in a shocked breath as she realized her skin was so cold.

Movement of shadows against the bulkhead caught Williams's attention. Automatically she turned to see what caused the distraction. Her breath gasped as she saw the bed Liara must have been in. It was covered in blood, only now being cleaned up by a nurse. There almost no white left on the sheets, so much of it was stained an increasingly darkening purple.

The movement she saw wasn't the nurse she was too far inside the bay and isolated by privacy screens. The movement came from Dr. Chakwas. In her arms was a very small bundle.

The life Sam felt fade, the soul she had been connected to that had slipped away was her daughter's.


	37. Blood

Chapter 37: Blood

Faces turned in the corridors of the _Normandy_. Voices became murmurs, whispers, and unconcealed gasps of astonishment. The crew knew well their Commander and her bondmate had been attacked. They knew it was bloody, but to see that much asari blood on Shepard's scrub tunic froze them in their tracks. It was something they were not prepared to see it, not prepared for it to become a true reality.

Shepard spoke to no one, met the eye of none, it was if there were no other life aboard her ship save for her intended target. Her stride deliberate, purposeful unwavering. Crewmembers got out her way before she had to push them aside in order to pass. It was the blood. All the blood. It was the murder in her eyes. Death lived there, reflecting cold black loathing and burning rage.

Each step took her closer, each step was faster than the last by the time she reached the brig, Shepard was in a full scale sprint. As soon as she entered the brig the first snarled words out of her mouth were: "Someone give me a side arm."

When no one complied the snarl became a roar. "Someone give me a fucking gun. NOW!"

A tall blonde marine snapped to the holster on her hip, disengaged the lock and surrendered her Hahne-Kedar Kessler pistol and slapped it into the enraged Commander's waiting hand. Shepard unlocked the safety in one fluid motion, even as she raised it pointing at the skull of the inmates.

"Which one of you two fuck-ups helped kill my child!?"

Joker and Merkson looked up, their faces ashen. The words, the gun…all the blood. It was the blood that froze them. The gun caused their hearts to race. The words…the words terrified them.

Twenty-four hours earlier, Joker felt the world fall from underneath his crippled feet when Wrex stormed the bridge. "Traitors need to be crushed. You will be made to suffer. If you did this, I'll make sure of it personally," was all he said before snatching the pilot by the scruff of the neck, not caring that he broke the human's legs when he was yanked out of his pilot's chair, or the cry of pain that followed it. "That's just the start human."

Joker too numb from the pain of his shattered femurs barely felt the jarring landing as he was dropped unceremoniously into the tank along with Requisitions Officer Corporal Joss Merkson flung there by Garrus only moments earlier.

His legs were treated by a medic using only medi-gel, Joker waited, dreading what was to come. No one spoke to him; no one gave a clear answer to the accusations of treason. All he knew was that the corporal was accused of the same thing. There was no action in the brig, not even by the marines guarding them, not until it was stormed by Shepard.

Sweat dripped freely from his forehead, beaded upon his upper lip. Blood, a child's blood coated a mother's shirt. He looked down at his crippled legs. All he could think of was the blood. A baby's innocent blood.

"Commander…Commander." Joker swallowed the bile burning his throat forcing him to clear it. "I had no idea it would be like this. I never meant…"He sighed, shuddering in his fear. "Oh God, Commander, I never thought this would happen! Please believe me, I meant to help you. The files we collected a year ago on Cerberus, I sent them to the Shadow Broker under your name."

He swallowed hard again. Daring to look his Commander in the eye, he saw fire burning there, the question 'YOU WHAT?!' was on her lips but never uttered. The blood on her shirt begged him to continue. "I didn't want the Shadow Broker sending bounty hunters after you like he did to Fist and Saren because he felt you betrayed him because you went back on Rear Admiral Kohoku's deal. I told the agent he used your rank instead of salutation, which was why you refused to make the deal. I said that he should have addressed you as Spectre Shepard, not Commander and all agents had to remember that in the future if they wanted anything or had anything for you. Oh God, Commander I never meant…for …for Dr. T'Soni to be hurt. That…" his words were lost when the gun fired.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEM EMME

Knowing Liara was safe, eased Williams a little. She had to find her skipper, she was in pain. From personal experience the lieutenant knew this soul deep pain. She knew it never went away, it lessened it hold over time. A lot of time had to pass for that to occur, but it did lessen. Then it hit her.

'Oh Ash you are such an idiot! You know jack-shit. She was connected to her baby when she died. Oh god…she was linked to her, her baby girl-she was linked to her. This isn't a parent dying, it's her baby girl and she was telepathically linked to her. They both were. Williams you are a fucking fool.'

She knew her skipper; she knew where she was headed. After Shiala showed them the video-feed Williams had ordered the arrest of Joker and Merkson and had sent Wrex and Garrus to do it. She chose those two deliberately knowing neither were going to be gentle in their arrest. She told herself it wasn't police brutality that it was an 'incident during transport.' Besides she had a field medic standing by but only with the offering of medi-gel to patch them up.

Williams heard the gun go off as soon as she stepped into the brig. She shoved past two marines and two asari commandos expecting to see a dead body in the cell. Perhaps two. She hadn't expected to see two living souls. One with a bleeding ear.

Williams looked at Merkson clutching the side of his head, rocking back and forth moaning. Mechanically Shepard placed the sidearm into the stunned lieutenant's hand. "I missed." was the only thing she said before turning and leaving.

Stunned, it took Williams a moment or two to gather her wits. "Someone want to put a cap on that before this traitor bleeds out? And get Monroe out of the tank. Oh and until further notice you're confined to quarters, _Lieutenant_."

Joker gave a weak nod. He had no voice, no other thought but all the blood. The purple blood on Shepard's scrub top, the red splattered on his BDUs. "Ash…I…." Joker started. "I'd never betray her. Never. She's everything. She holds us together. Without her everything falls apart and we lose to the Reapers. I only wanted to help her."

"There's a saying for what you did. It paves the way to Hell. Whether or not you meant no harm, harm happened. Bounty hunters were sent maybe not by your actions," Williams allowed for her attention to be lifted from the crippled pilot to the man now being seen to by the same medic that had dispensed medi-gel to Joker earlier, "but they were sent. And they killed the Commander's and Liara's baby." Her gaze remained fixed upon Merkson. "She was linked to her child's spirit when she died." A sneer appeared on the young woman's face, "She was connected to her! Shepard felt her die. If it was me, if I felt my baby die I wouldn't have missed. I would never have given clemency. Not ever. I don't how she did. I don't know what stayed her hand. I don't know how she managed it. But the gun is in my hand now…"

Merkson looked up panicked. Everyone knew Williams had a hot head. Everyone in the room knew Shepard was a crack shot. She had a medal for marksmanship for crying out loud! She never missed. They knew the missed shot was done deliberately. Everyone knew it. Williams had no heart for forgiveness for those who had wronged her team, her squad, her family…her skipper. She would not miss by mistake or deliberately. Her sense of justice wasn't due process as was the Spectre's but the eye for an eye, life for a life brand of frontier justice.

"LT…" Merkson whimpered, "Please…"

"You going to beg me to spare your pathetic life you feculent maggot? Don't bother. I'm not going to betray the Commander by taking a life she spared. You're damaged goods Merkson. I will tell you what _is_ going to happen. You will be court-martialed, charged with treason, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit infanticide. Aiding and abetting in the attempted murder of Dr. T'Soni, aiding and abetting infanticide.

"I don't have to put a bullet in your head, Merkson, you're already dead." She leaned close to the cell glowering at the traitor. "I will tell you this. I'm going to request to be placed on the firing squad because I _really_ do want to put a fucking bullet in your brain. I highly suspect I'm not the only one. The only reason you're still alive, traitor is because _my_ Commander _missed_ the shot." That said she followed her skipper's footsteps out of the brig.

MMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEME MEMEM

Williams always seemed to be one step behind her skipper. She chided herself for not being there in sickbay for her and Liara, for not being faster in recovering Liara back on the Citadel, for not bringing her straight back to the _Normandy_ and not the Consort's. Back in the brig, the lieutenant gave herself a bit of reprieve, Grateful to the All-Mighty that Liara still lived that Sam hadn't lost her beloved on top of her daughter.

She didn't have to ask any of the crew if they had seen the Commander, it was easy enough to read their faces, to see in their eyes the astonished numb-dumbness that follows in the wake of tragedy. By now the entire ship had heard that the Commander and Liara lost their daughter. You could read it in their expressions few knew what to say, what to think. It was all too real for the mythic figure such as the Savior of the Citadel, Hero of the Skillian Blitz and Eden Prime to have to face such horrors as the murder of her only child.

Passing by various crewmembers: human, asari, turian, salarian and volus there were murmurs, whispers about the blood on Shepard's tunic. Some speculated that Liara would not live the day while others defied this unwilling to entertain the possibility. Had time been more of an ally Williams would have stopped and debased such rumor mongering and speculations. As it stood, Ash continued her guileless trek to be where she was needed the most - at her skipper's side. Besides she reasoned Shiala was now the XO - let her stem the floodgates of crew scuttlebutt.

Following her first instincts Williams took the elevator up to the loft. There she hesitated before the closed inner door taking a moment to ponder her next move. She should she enter without announcing herself or knock or tag the buzzer? In the end she went with her gut. So far it hadn't let her down. She let herself in. It was taking liberties with a superior officer but Ash justified it to herself that this was her skipper, her friend, Sam was family. And sometimes you had to forget military protocol, sometimes you had to be the person and not the rank. Right now they were just Sam and Ash, not the Spectre, not the Commander, not the lieutenant.

Ash entered just in time to see the skipper fling a biotic wave at the wall separating the upper tier office area from the rest of the room. The pulse hit and shattered a dozen model starships into small bits of duroplastic. The cry of rage and anguish that followed it broke Williams's heart in as many pieces.

Sam crumpled to the floor bonelessly, like a slinky dropped from a hundred storey building. Life expelled from her lungs and drew it in but any who saw it can testify that life was absent from this woman's spirit. She was only a shadow of what she was, of who she was, of what she as represented; tonight she was a mother who lost her child.

Williams broke no hesitation when she took Sam into her arms and held her. She said nothing when she felt her skipper's tears dribble down her neck and into the collar of her BDUs. Sam's whole body shuddered in weeping for her stillborn daughter. Ash continued to hold the woman in her arms, her hand gently stroking the long back.

After what seemed like hours the sobbing subsided leaving both women utterly drained.

"I couldn't save her." Sam uttered through a constricted throat.

"I know," Ash whispered softly. "I know. Sometimes you can't. All you can do is let this pain crush you and you have to let it. I know it hurts, Sam. You're going to feel a lot of things: resentment, anger, rage beyond anything you've ever felt before. And the guilt feeling you should have been faster, stronger, wiser. But it is not your fault. It isn't Liara's. It isn't the fault of Chakwas or Aleena's. It's those who sent the hunters after you. I know it isn't exactly the same, I felt all this when my Dad died. I had only the strength enough to cling to my family, so I wouldn't go mad. You have family here Sam. Me, Tali the rest of the gang, even Chakwas and Shiala. And you have your love. You have Liara. Hang on to her, on to that love between you. Don't ever let go if it. Right now you don't what to hear this but, you two still have a future, and there will be other daughters."

Sam blinked her eyes red and puffy from crying. Ashley was right. Liara was fading from this. If she slipped too far away Sam would lose her too.

"I have to go to her." she tried to get to her felt but felt them nearly buckle under her. The grief had robbed her of physical strength.

Ash helped her up onto unsteady feet. "Then go to her, but first, take a shower and put on new BDUs. You don't want your wife to see you like that."

"Huh?"

The younger woman only tilted her head indicating the scrub top. Shepard looked down to see her tunic stained a dark purplish brown. She hadn't realized how much blood she had been wearing.

"Oh God!" she darted past Ash into the ensuite, barely making it to the toilet before she vomited. A soldier was used to seeing blood; it came with being a marine. But to see your child's blood coating you was something that you were never prepared for.

Ash moved in beside her holding Shepard by the waist as another constriction emptied her stomach. Carefully she guided the Spectre to the sink took one of the disposable cups filled it with water and handed it over to the shaking hand. Without saying a word she took toilet tissue dabbed it with sanitizer and wiped the seat of debris. She looked over her shoulder to see Sam rinsing out her mouth but doing it so slowly she might have been in slow-motion pantomime. Once more without uttering a syllable Ash took charge. She negotiated her way around the small bathroom to the shower stall, activated it making sure it was quite warm before turning her attention once again back to her skipper.

Sam's hands had gone white from hanging onto the sink for fear of falling over. No words were exchanged as Ash started to strip the woman before her then removed her own clothing as well. Placing Sam's hands onto her shoulders, Ash walked backwards into to stall making sure the spray of water hit the stunned Spectre. It took some careful doing but Ash managed to scrub off all the blood from Shepard's body. Purple became lavender as the child's blood swirled around their feet heading as a tiny whirlpool about the drain. Sam only stared at it.

If asked she could not testify to the fact Ash not only scrubbed her body but also washed her hair; or how she came to be dry. Hell she didn't even know how she came to be dressed or for that matter why Ash was borrowing a set of her casual uniform, until it happened.

Her black hair combed, teeth brushed her clothing fresh and clean, she was at last presentable.

"Skipper, I'm going to take you to see Liara, then I'm going to get you some food. You have to eat it. I'll get something for Liara as well, if it's okay with Chakwas. And you are going to make sure she eats it when she wakes up. Okay?"

"Aye, aye." came a very weak answer.

That simple word broke Ash's heart more than seeing her Skipper on the shattered floor mourning for her lost child. Swallowing down her own tears, Williams guided her skipper back down to the med-bay back to the woman Sam belonged to.

Chakwas watched as young Williams delivered a broken shell of a warrior into sickbay, then disappear only to reappear twenty minutes later with a tray laden with Thessian purple flamingo soup (which Mess Sergeant Rupert clamed was just like chicken noodle soup), sandwiches, coffee, and a protein drink as well as a glass of cranberry juice.

The physician watched as Williams ensured her skipper ate even if she had tear small pieces of the roast beef sandwich into bite size hunks and hand them over watching to see they were eaten before nudging her to take sips from the glass of juice. When Shepard became lost in motion Williams was there to encourage her to lift the spoon to her lips. Chakwas highly doubted Shepard even tasted the soup or sandwich.

When everything was eaten to the lieutenant's satisfaction, she guided her skipper to lay down in a bed closest to Liara. Had the bed been large enough no doubt Williams would have placed her in the same bed as her bondmate.

"You're good with that." the doctor said once Williams left her Spectre-watching-duty. "Want to consider switching vocations from the infantry to the infirmary?"

"Comes with being the big sister. I helped my sisters through a fair bit of things, everything from illness, to broken hearts over some boy or a girlfriend. This is a little different, but I know how to take care of people I….I care about."

"It's okay to say love you know." Chakwas whispered touching the younger woman on the arm and giving it a gentle squeeze. "The three of you make one hell of a team. They're your family."

Williams looked over to the beds, for a moment she was quite silent. The concern in her eyes so very clear to see, she didn't even try to disguise it. "Yes they are." She said at last. "And I have to take care of a few things, because I am their family." A heavy sigh escaped her lips.

"You do what you have to do, Williams. I'll take care of them, don't worry."

"I don't think I know how to do that, Doc."

Ash returned to the Commander's quarters or what was euphemistically dubbed as 'The Loft.' Here she took on the monumental task of cleaning up the mess Sam had left in a biotic tantrum. Real paper books were replaced upon shelves, broken starship models recovered and all parts put upon the desk, shattered glass vacuumed up, bed sheets and coverlets turned out. It took a bit of time but in the end all that needed be replaced had been, all that remained was the gifts from the surprise baby shower, somehow to Williams it was a sacrilege to rid the quarters of the child's belongings. It was something the parents had to do together, maybe with Tali and Ash to help but mostly it was for Sam and Liara to handle it was their right as well as their burden.

The model ships, Ash knew could easily be replaced with new kits and no doubt in time they would. Once asked about the collection, the Spectre had said it was a 'Zen thing to put the models together. Yeah I know it's was a geeky- sci-fi thing to do, but I enjoy it. I have ever since I was little. Guess it goes with being a spacer kid.' Williams resolved to buy new kits for the skipper to replace those she had destroyed with the biotic pulse she had sent into the collection, if only to help the therapy process of her skipper.

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Sam felt a hand upon her shoulder shaking her. Her eyes creaked open after the third attempt to see Chakwas hovering over her bed. She felt she had only been a sleep for a few minutes where in fact it had been nearly eight hours. The longest she had slept in quite some time under her own will. Stress had a way evaporating all strength from a soul.

"I'm sorry Commander to have to wake you, but…."

Shepard practically bolted from the bed with one word on her lips. "Liara?" she moved for the bedside noticing the IV drips one a saline solution for nourishment, the other a blood transfusion. Sam reached out stroking Liara's pale blue cheek. At least she wasn't as cold to the touch as she had been.

"She's fine. Healing. Aleena and I thought it best to place her in a medical coma. Her body needs to recover. It will only be for the next day or so. Her physiology allows her to heal at a greater rate than humans, but she still needs time. The miscarriage…." Chakwas saw the pained look in the Spectre's face at the very mention of the word, she didn't want to continue with the prognosis but the young woman needed to know the details of her wife's condition. "The loss of blood before the miscarriage was an issue of concern, it is now even more so."

Shepard heard the words but gave no acknowledgement of them. Her whole concentration was on the asari laying comatose in the bed. She leaned down pressed her forehead to Liara's, her pink lips brushed softly against the pale purple.

"I told Secura….that….that I saw a future for us. We already have the marriage, but we will live long lives together and we will have a lot of little blue children. Don't leave me Liara. I love you." Before she turned she placed another kiss on the woman she held so dear to her heart. Wiping the tears from her eyes with a brisk sweep of her hand she focused on the doctor. "What's going on, why did you wake me?"

"Lieutenant Williams needs to have a word with you. As I said I wouldn't have complied with the request but this…is important and despite your own medical needs this can't wait."

"What does Ash want?"

"She didn't say but I highly suspect it has a great deal to do with the Council's request for your debriefing of what happened on the Presidium. And there is another matter, one I'm leaving for Williams to tell you."

Sam returned her attention to Liara, giving her wife one last kiss upon her lips as if she were some princess in a fairy-tale.

It took the Spectre less than two minutes to get fully dressed, groomed and out the door. Once she reached the CIC she found Williams at her station to the left of the galaxy map, near Shepard's private terminal.

"Skipper," Williams greeted formally though her eyes betrayed her worry. "I wish I didn't have…"

"Leave it, Ash. You're doing your duty. I have to do mine. I assume the Council has exasperated their patience waiting for me at the inquest?"

"Commander Shiala has gone to give them a SitRap as to the delay."

A dry humorless laughed barked from the Spectre's lips causing marines and officers to turn their attention to her though they quickly averted their eyes in embarrassment from them and for their Commander. "Do you really think I will be granted a reprieve from duty in their eyes because of this attack? An attack they said if and when it happened is my fault because I didn't send Liara away? They will point at me and say 'We told you so.' And they are right!"

Officers tried to move away from their stations in vain attempts to give the furious Spectre more privacy. Williams took the incentive and guided the irate woman into the briefing room. There in the confines of the room Shepard started pacing like a caged predator.

"Udina is to blame Sam not you, not Liara. God they set you up."

"You don't think I know that?" Shepard shot back angrily though her rage was not truly directed at the lieutenant.

"No, I don't think you do. At least not as much as you should."

Sam's pacing stopped. She pinned the other woman with her cold blue eyes and demanded. "Clarify that Lieutenant."

Williams only nodded and obeyed the command. As they were conveniently in the comm-room it wasn't difficult to load up the video-feed that had been sent to Shiala.

Shepard's face was as blank as stone. Williams had assumed she would have gone ballistic as she had in her quarters. No such reaction imitated from her, there was nothing but chilling malevolent silence. That terrified the lieutenant more than outright rage.

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'Again she sends a minion to fulfill her obligations.' Spectre Tela Vasir thought bitterly when she saw Commander Shiala, _Normandy's_ Executive Officer enter the Council Chambers. 'Too much military delegation not enough independent thought.'

"Commander," Sparatus growled as soon as he saw the asari stride up along the audience gangway, "what is Shepard's excuse this time that she can not fulfill her duties?"

Shiala looked up meeting each Councilor gaze in turn before she spoke. "Spectre Shepard and Dr. T'Soni just lost their child due to complication arising during the assassination attempt on Dr. T'Soni's life. Spectre Shepard apologizes if this has created an inconvenience for the Council."

Councilor Tevos, first to recover from the shocking and deadpan delivery of the news took a half a step forward. "I feel confident that I can speak for the whole of the Council when I wish to convey our condolences on the death of their child. We of course understand if the Spectre needs time to recover. Unfortunate as the timing maybe we still need to consult with Spectre Shepard on the incident on the Presidium. There are issues that need to be dissected and discussed."

"If you're talking about the blackmailing news broadcast the senior officers are well aware of it. We will take measures. If you think for one moment that Spectre Shepard went on a killing-spree…"

"You would be gravely mistaken." Shepard's voice interrupted. She came up to Shiala's said touched her arm in silent signal of dismissal. "My crew is protective of their Commander, as I am of them." she took a small step further forward until she was at the very lip of the walkway. "Obviously you think that protection equates to murderous rampages."

"We realize how angry you must be with this attack on your bondmate…" the salarian councilor started but stopped with the petulant snort from the human Spectre. "It is reasonable to assume your anger will beget vengeance."

"Angry? I'm not angry, Councilor. I've moved well beyond angry. My rage is biblical! You think I want vengeance? Yes by the Goddess I want vengeance. I crave it, I hunger for it, I drink it in, until it's all that is left." she closed her eyes, drawing in small deep breaths. "If I said asari had blue skin I have no doubt this Council would dismiss my words as false and mentally unstable and as readily as they have dismiss everything else I said. You want answers to what happened on the Presidium, I'm not going to waste my breath defending my actions, telling you the truth. Just proclaim your verdict and get it over with." her tone was deflated and numb.

Tevos opened her mouth to refute the Spectre but it was David Anderson who spoke first. He put a hand up. "We know the video-feed came from hardsuit helmet-cams and planted cameras. We know it's a set up, I'll tell you now we will not leave you Shepard to fight this on your own, nor will we distance ourselves from you."

Shepard gave each Councilor a candid disbelieving look waiting perhaps for one of the others to make contrary remarks. When none came, Shepard spoke. "Are all of you in consensus or is this just placation?"

"You mistrust us." the turian accused.

Shepard gave no outward expression that this was indeed exactly what she believed.

"It is your actions Shepard that we are here to discuss not ours." Sparatus said in an almost petulant tone. "You will do well to remember your place."

"My place?" Shepard's anger rose. "My place, Counselor is at my bondmate's side, but I'm here performing my duty as I have always done."

Without preamble Shepard began to describe all that had happened on the Presidium two days ago. She outlined the regulatory obligations to clear the immediate area of innocents, of pacifying uniformed C-Sec officers because the terrorists were clad in their uniforms. She further spoke of the battle between the mercs admitting that after she and Pallin separated ways she had no idea what he had done, nor at the time was she aware another Spectre was on the scene until they came face to face with Vasir in the aftermath. She even described the unique ability to use biotic powers in order to see and why it had to be done.

"And you didn't feel it necessary to interrogate the fugitives." Sparatus said.

"No." was all Shepard said. Privately she reminded herself not to ring the bell. She wasn't going to allow Sparatus to goad her into attacking with words engorged with her rage. She showed a countenance of uncanny chilled command. Her mouth contained the taste of ash. The haunting of her wife bleeding in the medical bay's bathroom floor lingered in her mind. Shadows of her daughter's death cloaked her heart, its grips still ironclad on her soul. She wished only to return to her beloved Liara. The contempt she held for those before her must die if the Spectre had any hope doing so.

"Do you wish to elaborate on your reasons?" came the salarian.

"No."

Anderson acutely aware of Shepard's shrewdness in her game play of military protocol took up the reigns of the inquest. Privately he applauded her machinations of politics. At last she was learning how to play with politicians "Spectre Shepard, you are so ordered to give reason as to your decisions."

"Former C-Sec investigator Vakarian is quite capable of interrogations. I trust my crew." she repeated her earlier opening comment. "I trusted in the abilities of my counterparts both in the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance division as well as C-Sec. Tell me am I mistaken in placing such trust?" she gently needled them.

She had turned tables on the Council yet again and once more Anderson silently applauded her skills and he was not the only one.

Far too skilled in the arts of negotiations, Tevos gave no outward sign of her true thoughts or reactions. She hadn't survived over a thousand years to give herself away by such pedestrian reactions. Her expressions were confusing mélange of false signals and intentional misinformation.

"Your actions betray your dedication to duty to those of personal matters." the words were expected to have come from the turian but they came from Velarn. "While we can sympathize with the plight of your family, you have forsaken your duty."

Shepard's entire body shuddered in attempting to control her outright fury. Personal matters…personal matters! The assassination attempt on her beloved's life…the miscarriage of her daughter was only a personal matter? Her mind roared at such blatant dismissal of the lives of those she held dearest of all. Her mind quaked wanting to lash out and strike the male before her into a puddle of carbonized goo.

She struggled against the desire crush them all. To make them burn. She tasted the acrid bitterness in her mouth and realized it was blood. Ruby gems appeared on her lower lip from the brutality her teeth visited upon it.

"There are those in the Alliance in and out of the military who believe I have forsaken humanity to save your lives. Some call me a race-traitor. But I did what I felt was right and sacrificed hundreds of my people's lives for you. Personally talking to the men who were sent by Udina to kill my wife would not give me any more information than I already have. And you're forgetting those assassins were sent after my _personal matter_." Shepard hissed.

This drew silence from the Councilors. Finally Tevos said. "We do not impugn your dedication to your station only that your personal life has motivated others into actions that may not have been issued had you heeded the words of the Council. We bade you take in the wisdom of our experiences and set aside your connection to Dr. T'Soni if only for her safety. Had this been done this attack might have been completely averted and she would still be with child. This is why we discourage our Spectres in such bondings. Your enemies will always use your personal life against you. Now through this tragedy you have unfortunately come to understand this."

Wincing at the blow to her spirit Shepard's eyes dropped to the floor. Her mind flashed on Liara lying in the bathroom. On all the blood. There had been so much blood.

"Those who have prestigious stations possess the great danger of having those they care for used against them. It is a common practice amongst terrorists to do so. It can cause erroneous misjudgments. Though one can be hardly blamed for wishing to protect their loved ones it does jeopardize loyalties." Velarn said.

Shepard bore the words in quiet distain; she looked to Anderson for some sort of support some defense, but her former captain averted his gaze just enough to inform the Spectre that he agreed with the salarian's assessment. Hell it was why fraternization in the military was discouraged. Shepard knew this. Until Liara came into her life she had followed those regulations without much of a second thought. But Shepard justified her involvement with the asari that she wasn't military even if Liara was a part of the crew.

Anger boiled in Shepard's heart and mind she was on the brink of snapping. It was becoming increasingly difficult to use restriction to hold back her rage. If Udina's goons were hell bent on disgracing her in the public eye by forcing Shepard to lash out without thought, the Council was well on the way of doing the same. It took all her willpower not sling a singularity into the collective Council's asses.

She had been betrayed by them, more so by Anderson. It hurt Shepard to think he had agreed with the others so fully he didn't even offer the most minute defense in her favor. She clutched her fists at the side of her body so hard the nails bit into her palms. Blood dripped hitting the transparent floor at her feet in ruby rainfall.

'_Do not ring the bell_.' a small voice said in her mind that sounded remarkably like Liara. Though she knew it could not be, her beloved was in a medical induced coma. Five small words became a sutra of calm; it was the only thing that kept the torrential fury at bay. She would not be tested and found wanting.

"We seem to be in accord." Shepard said at long last. "You do not listen to my words of warning and I'm deaf to yours. You refuse to see the dangers of the Reapers and accuse me of being mentally unstable and being deluded by the prothean technology and some of you assume I was charmed by the very man who tried to assassinate me, and slaughter all of you.

"And I refuse to be parted from my bondmate because of your words. Whatever Machiavellian schemes Udina and Cerberus want to do to me by targeting Liara would have happened irregardless of where she was or if she was with me or not. Let's not be stupid about that. If the four of you want to blame me for the attack on the Presidium then do it! I admit it, it was _my_ fault, my bondmate was viciously attacked. Udina despises me. He blames me for my recommendation to the Prime Minister and to you who should have the human seat on the Council. He blames me for his political impotency. So let's move on shall we? I have my child's funeral to arrange."

"Do not believe we are insensitive to your loss, Commander. There are simply a lot of questions that need be answered." Velarn said.

"For instance the quote used in the video feed about you proclaiming to go rogue. Council tech-staffers have analyzed the tape and deemed the recording of your words to be genuine and not an amalgamation. Explain this." Sparatus ordered.

"That was taken completely out of context." Shepard became defensive. "I said that in confidence in the medical bay and only to Dr. Chakwas and Liara. It was only later discovered that we were not entirely alone. One of the nursing staff lingered in the back lab and recorded all that had been said. She was working with Udina. He wanted something to use against me."

"Apparently he has succeeded." Sparatus said in cool and haughty voice.

"It was taken out of context," Shepard repeated. Drawing in a calming breath the Spectre spoke once more. She made no attempt to disguise the open contempt upon her face. "It was just after my surgery. Dr. Chakwas told me that my beta waves had changed again; they were shifting to match those of Liara's. You were given my medical reports you know precisely what has happened to me due to the gestalt. The cipher and prothean beacons opened dormant areas in my mind. I have the genetic memory of the protheans so does Liara. It's changed both of us. My biotics now match those of an asari commando and the protheans. Liara's are close to a seasoned matron perhaps even a matriarch's.

"And you know equally why I am concerned that people like ExoGeni, Binary Helix, or Cerberus might get a hold of this information. What ExoGeni did with the people of Zhu's Hope is unforgivable." she turned her cold blue eyes to the turian. "Yes they were a human colony but I would have done the same for any other race. Binary Helix experimented on the rachni causing the Queen's children to go mad. And the things Cerberus did and are doing….are monstrous. They are utterly evil, beyond redemption. Do you think for one moment I will allow Cerberus to get their hands on Liara. Or me?

"Yes I said I would go rogue before I allowed anyone to get their hands on Liara. And do you think Cerberus would have stopped with her? They would have hunted down and harvested young maidens forcing them to generate a gestalt with some human biotic or cut them open in some cruel mockery of science. The news is filled with reports of Erzesherr Vidmer and her gruesome harvesting of asari telomerase in attempts to find a youth elixir.

"What do you think will happen if they want to adapt human biotics to match those of the asari matriarchs? So yes said I will go rogue if I have to protect Liara, the asari and those of the Alliance from doing something monumentally stupid. I won't be the catalyst for such an appalling travesty. Because of Udina you can bet Cerberus already knows what happened between me and Liara."

"If you believe Cerberus wants to harvest asari maidens to make more powerful human biotics then why send bounty hunters after Dr. T'Soni?" Anderson asked. "We saw in the video they want to alienate you from the Council, the Spectres and the Alliance. Do you think this is to drive you into joining Cerberus?"

"That's my guess. Make me resign from the Spectres or force you by blackmail into doing so because I am too toxic to continue an affiliation. 'Exile Shepard or we show this and you'll be forced to do so anyway'."

"That will not happen." Sparatus said. "We will not be moved by such tactics."

Shepard stared in astonishment at the turian. Of all things spoken today she had not expected a defense from him.

"Do you think you are the first Spectre someone attempted to manipulate into egregious action?" Tevos asked. "Or force the Council to remove them from their position. Why do you think we demanded irrefutable proof on Saren's actions? The Alliance wasn't the first to complain of his actions in the line of duty. Nor was he the only Spectre to have collected charges against.

"Spectre Nihlus attracted the wrath of an asari Justicar. If they were to ever have crossed paths again I have no doubt in my mind Justicar Samara would have killed him for his actions. Justicars do not hunt without cause. She gave a report to this Council and her vow she would end him if he came into asari space once more and learned of it. Spectre Vasir is highly hated amongst the bartarians. The Hegemony has made many attempts to force this Council into removing her from her position. And she has had more than a few assassination attempts upon her life. As all of our Spectres have."

"Bearing that in mind, do you think we will allow a lone man's machinations to control us or guide our decisions?" Sparatus asked.

During the whole inquest Shepard admitted that yes in fact she had believed the Council would revoke her status. In fact she feared it. She feared her tenuous hold on her temper, her sanity was quickly waning. Being a Spectre gave her purpose, guided all she did just was being an N-Seven marine had. Right now it was all that grounding her.

"Spectre Shepard." Anderson addressed his protégée using her rightful rank. Perhaps he knew, somehow read it in her face her fears of revocation. Was she that easy to read now? "We are not advising you to abandon your wife. But you know these attacks on her will continue as long as she is in your company."

"Or as long as Udina is active. Neutralize him, you neutralize his bank accounts: the bounty hunters will lose interest. They are not the altruistic sort." 'Normally' she added to herself silently, thinking of Aleena and Wrex.

"And what of Cerberus, the avowed enemy of the Citadel?" asked Tevos. "Their interests will not fade with Udina gone. Indeed it will more likely intensify. They will pursue you relentlessly."

"I'm counting on it." Shepard growled out. "Let them come. As you said they are the avowed enemy of the Citadel. An abomination of all human kind. I will hunt them as they hunt me. They are far too cagey to completely neutralize, but I can wound them so deeply it will take decades for them to recover."

The pro-human terrorist group was the main reason many opposed humanity's addition to the Council. It was ever a heated topic. Many feared that Cerberus agents had already infiltrated human ranks in the Council chambers. It was known that Cerberus had agents within the military already, the names were unknown but their presence was not.

There was not a Spectre that didn't want to put a bullet into the Illusive Man's skull. He was the lifeblood, soul, the mind and heart of Cerberus. Impossible to find he was as elusive as illusive. A master of obfuscation and manipulation he had many servants to do his bidding. His public face were his minions of Terra Firma, his hands were his clandestine agents in positions of authority and influence.

"Shepard, you have leave to hunt Cerberus. We have no jurisdiction in the Terminus Systems; this is the core reason why Cerberus chooses to maintain their most important installations there. There they are free to engage in unethical and illegal research without reprisals from the Council. If you venture there we will disavow any action on your part. You may well be seen as going rogue." Sparatus said.

"Do not forget your prime objective is to find geth outposts and neutralize them and any attempts they have in the construction of more of their Sovereign class dreadnoughts." Velarn reminded the Spectre of her true mission.

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Miranda Lawson hated Omega. It was such a piss hole. The dregs of alien life clotted the byways and alleys; it reeked of hedonistic destitution, piracy and filth. She avoided drawing the attention of the stations pirate queen as much as possible, wearing her usual tight fitting outfits emblazoned with the Cerberus logo was sure not only to gain the ire of Aria T'Loak but any number of alien mercenary scum and scavengers.

While she respected the asari as a race and their ingenuity those that chose to live on Omega versus someplace like Illium were no better than the vorcha in Lawson's perspective. Still T'Loak had held her position as tyrant of the station for well over four centuries, which was saying something. The woman was dangerous and it was folly to underestimate her simply on her choice of address.

Lawson didn't get where she was by ignoring, dismissing or misreading people. In fact it was one of her many skill sets that made her invaluable to Cerberus…to the Illusive Man.

She had never questioned her loyalty to the Illusive Man and what he had done for her. She never forgot that. Nor would she. But in the smallest shaded corner of her mind she started to question the motivations of her mentor and leader.

She knew the necessity of shock troops. It was why they had used the already dead husks, the mindless creepers and once they came to understand the rachni were actually sentient and frankly could not be enslaved without the Queen who would never succumb to the clumsy indoctrination of humans. It would take the power of the Reapers to do so. And so all subjects were abandoned. That left programmed clones. The Illusive man claimed because they were all clones of a single man they were not in a sense true humans. They were only copies.

Miranda tired to accept that, but in her mind she couldn't help but think of her father. She wasn't his first daughter, only the first one he kept. She was the perfection of genetic engineering. To her father she wasn't a human she was a dynasty. For the first time in her servitude to Cerberus she started to compare the Illusive Man's actions to those of her father.

As suddenly as the thought entered her mind, Miranda expelled it. It was treasonous to even allow those thoughts to have slipped in. Then she thought of the reports she had heard from incoming merchant sailors, merc bands and even more than a few pirates. Their chatter spoke of a band of human pirates who had descended upon a small agrarian bartarian colony.

They did not raid in as much as attack. They didn't hit the strong men or women but hit the very young and the very old. The pirates didn't kill them, but amputated limbs…without anesthetic. Then they left. Their only goal it seemed was to spread horror.

It had worked.

Horror was spread. And so was the hate. But the pirate that hit were so armored, so cloaked they could not be distinguished between the males of human, drell or bartarian. And that was more terrifying than any butchery and brutality.

What the Illusive Man meant to glean from this Miranda could not fathom. And it made her sick. It was one thing to insure humanity was not left behind, that it had a strong place amongst the aliens who had been active together for centuries. Humans needed to be strong, but need they become monsters to do so?

Miranda's mind flashed on the image of little screaming children and old aged who had their arms sliced from their bodies by machetes. How can this strengthen humanity? It was a vicious act, a heinous crime and she did not see why the Illusive Man believed it to be a necessity. He must have seen something beyond her perception; Miranda forced herself to accept this. She felt horror.

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Shepard had one more thing to do before returning to her ship, to her bondmate. She didn't add duty in that list but it was duty that motivated her now. Of course she was lying to herself, she wasn't here in the line of duty but for vengeance. She wanted to make them pay. Make them all pay, she wanted them to burn.

She needed information.

She took the lift from the tower back to the Presidium. In far contrast to what had happened two days ago it seemed life had simply gone on. For a moment Shepard was resentful. Did they not know the countless pains Liara had suffered that she had suffered?

For a moment an expression of profound anger washed over the Spectre's face. These…these coin-mongers…these dignitaries…these well-to-doers were ready to herald her hero but would they stand behind her? No. Shepard thought bitterly the white collar and blue the plebs would believe the reports of that hideous deceptive news report. All these people who saw her hero would turn on her in an instant. They will whisper behind her back, more so than they did now. Only the context would change. They would call her delusional, blood-fiend, despot. The proliferation of well-wishing and acclamation would turn instantly sour.

Shepard's mind became more embittered. None of these people would have ever lifted a finger to save Liara, to save Secura. But they expect Shepard to save them. They expected her to be the custodian of their safety. They relied on her to stop the great destruction coming from Dark Space. They all refused to listen to reason, to what the Spectre knew to be true. In that instant she hated them all: human, asari, turian, salarian and all the other dozen of races that called the Citadel home. She despised them.

Secura died. Liara nearly had. And not one soul here gave a damn. The very idea raged through Shepard's heart like a wounded bear. She closed her eyes tight until they hurt in their sockets. Her breathing once harshly raged was becoming calm once more. Tears burned anew in her eyes. A hard core of determination coalesced in her belly. Her enemy was not the ignorance of the people under her oath of protection, but the Reapers and their minions. Her enemy was Udina, his lackeys. Her enemy was Cerberus and their agents. That had to be her focus. In an instant, Shepard's anger melted away and was replaced by a cold, hard and brutally practical mindset.

Her footsteps took her directly to the one person she knew on the Presidium who was capable of pointing the way. Barla Von, an agent of the Shadow Broker.

Had not the volus been wearing his environmental suit the Spectre would have seen him blanch.

"Oh no! Every time you show up something monumentally terrible happens. I don't think I have the stomach for it."

Shepard laughed softly. "No drama this time Barla Von"

"You are persistent, crossing the entire galaxy to simply to talk to me. Still waiting for that prophesized moment when the galaxy is torn asunder by those things from dark space?"

"I'm biding my time. I'm not the author of this doom, nor its harbinger or prophet. I see only that which the Protheans allow me to see. I don't seek to be an iterant. I know Cerberus is marshaling their forces because they believe me a detriment to their goals."

"Yes I have heard as much. They have been assimilating many bounty hunters with demands to put you to your demise. I don't think they know how to put to end to you Spectre. That little drama which played out here recently with the attack on your bondmate is proof of that."

"I do not fear them, nor do I underestimate them. They are conspirators who don't know what their right hand is doing from their left. The leader of Cerberus seems to be caught out at every turn."

"The Illusive Man is a pawn, Shepard haven't you figured that out yet? The great manipulator is their play thing. The one pulling the strings is yet to reveal themselves."

"And just who are these diabolical '_They_' you speak of?"

"Now that is the true question." Von smirked behind his mask. "They certainly don't like you uncoiling their carefully choreographed machinations. Understand every action you make may instead be those they are trying to provoke. You must tread carefully."

"_They_ already tried to provoke me into attacking C-Sec in some blind blood rage whilst surreptitiously filming me doing so." the words were growled.

"Yes …interesting." the volus said. "Fortunately that attempt to use smear campaign against you back-fired. The Shadow Broker was quite keen on how such events played out."

"If I were a suspicious sort I might believe he had a hand in this, one way or the other. Perhaps he is a part of this 'They' we speak of. He is part of the reason I came to see you."

"I imagine your visit had more to do with my other brokerage obligations than the financial ones. Though I will add your stock investments are going well if not simply steady. Now what can I do for you?"

"I want a name and a location. I want Cerberus."

"The Illusive Man…" Von shook his head. "Now…that…"

"No not TIM. I want one of his agents. One of his best lap dogs."

Von checked his computer terminal scanning tariquads of date rather quickly. "There are quite a few I can give. Can you be a little more precise? You want a military target? I've got a soldier by the name of Jacob…"

"No. Not a gun for hire. I want a scientist or someone in that department. Someone with actual intelligence, not some point and shoot boy."

"And why would you want someone like that?" Von pressed. It was impossible to see the curious expression he was giving the Spectre behind his environmental suit's helmet

"Not something you need to know." Shepard crossed her arms. "Name and location, please."

"Very well Spectre. Operative Miranda Lawson, I'd try Omega, if not there then try Illium."

"Omega? The cesspool capital of the Terminus Systems? Wonderful. So is Cerberus making inroads on Omega, with the Pirate Queen? It's a little difficult to imagine those Machiavellian xenophobes branching out."

"You wanted a name and a location not a reason why." Von reminded Shepard. "Shepard you may wish to ask yourself a question. What game is this that every player on the board claims the same pawn?"

"I am no mere pawn."

"Are you not? Then why move as though you are?" Von challenged.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME M

"Samantha!" She shouted and opened her eyes. Liara's face was soaking wet; she could feel the hot tears.

"Hush," said Ashley. "Liara, hush. Keep still. You've been badly hurt."

As if she didn't know that. As if she couldn't feel the gaping hole in her chest where her heart had been ripped out, where an ocean of acid turned her world to pain. A single word came forth. "Samantha?"

"The Council summoned her. She put it off as long as possible but she finally had to submit to them. She'll be back."

"My baby is dead."

"I'm so sorry," Ash felt dumb for saying words that must sound flat and petty.

Sickened, trembling on the brink of losing self-control completely Liara fell into Ashley's arms, her sobs wracked her body. There was nothing left but heart aching despair. Just as she did with Sam, Ash held the woman in her arms tightly offering the only thing she could - her strength and her love.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEM EMEMEMEME

Fire met each step as Shepard neared the dock where the _Normandy_ was birthed. It wasn't until she entered the airlock that a new wave of emotion spun into the Spectre's heart. She was aware in an instant that Liara was now awake.

Liara was still in pain, it was difficult to discern whether the emotional or physical were greater. No matter. Samantha was going to be at her side.

She skidded to a halt as she came into the sickbay and saw an asari she did not know. She was of turquoise skin, with dark brown eyes. Her crest and cheeks were adorned with dark purple symmetrical arcs and curves. A single strip of purple ran the length of the asari's lower lip to her chin.

"Who are you?" the Spectre demanded.

It was Chakwas who answered. "This is Dr. Morzan Volkhavaar a specialist in asari neonatal care."

Scorn flashed in the human's eyes for a moment. "It's a little late for that don't you think?"

Having seen several families through the tragedy of stillbirth, premature birthing and many a complication with asari pregnancies Dr. Volkhavaar was accustomed to the cold anger of mothers.

She watched as the young human went to her bondmate's side. They exchanged no words but clearly they were communicating. Their foreheads were pressed together their hands touching, holding onto each other with quiet desperation.

"Spectre, I was only recently made aware of your need of me. I received calls not only from the Consort, but from one of the Councilors as well. I came as swiftly as I was able. I fear however even if I was involved long before this attack the prognosis would have still been grim."

Shepard glowered, but it was Liara who put voice to any thought between them. "What do you mean?"

"The gestalt…all Joinings are gestalts, as are all Unions. The asari create a physical, biological, psychological, and even a symbolic configuration of elements so unified as a whole that its properties cannot be derived from a simple summation of its parts. This is the gestalt. Unions to create a daughter are precisely the same. However the gestalt that bonded the two of you lasted longer than any Union or any Joining of an asari and her partner. In this it is wholly unique.

"I have studied this bond as well as those medical records Dr. Chakwas has permitted me to see. Your daughter was the creation of this unique gestalt. As it bound the two of you to the soul it bound her as well. Dr. T'Soni you are quite young but you are not the first maiden to become pregnant nor are you the youngest. There are always difficulties with such pregnancies. The first of course is the hurdle of actually becoming pregnant as a maidens' body simply isn't fully ready for the maternal aspects. Though with a great deal of bonding with strong minds this can occur."

"We know all of this." snapped Shepard. The stress of the last two days was eating away at any niceties she might have otherwise shown. "Why don't you actually tell us something we don't already know?"

As for the asari she seemed to take no offense in the glibness of the young human. She saw the strain in the maiden's' eyes.

"You said that even if you were here before that the outcome would be the same. Are you saying I would have lost my daughter irregardless of the attack? What was wrong with my baby?" Liara demanded. "Why couldn't you fix it?"

Chakwas looked decidedly uncomfortable, unable to meet the accusatory glares of either parent. Liara's condemning, Samantha's broken.

"She suffered from cardiac dysrhythmia which is an abnormal electrical activity in the heart. There were palpitations in the heartbeat, it was too fast. It's caused arterial ventricular fibrillation. This created complications that included blood clotting within the heart and insufficient blood being transported to the heart because of weak heartbeat. When arrhythmia resulted in a heartbeat that is too slow, too weak or in this case too fast to supply the body's needs, it manifested as a lower blood pressure." Volkhavaar explained.

"A heart condition?" Shepard breathed out, her hand clutching Liara's tightly. "It couldn't have been fixed? In-utero gene therapy?" She frowned trying to remember something she had heard of a while ago. She snapped her fingers as if the action helped her recall lost memories. "Oh! Yes. There was this woman named Rebecca Petrovsky and her brother-in-law Michael arguing over her baby's heart condition, the same condition that killed her husband Jacob. She got the therapy. Couldn't we have done the same? What of other children…will this happen to them, too?"

Volkhavaar, Aleena and Chakwas exchanged a look.

"There is a possibility of that future children may have this condition but it is not likely. Secura was a special case because of the nature of her conception. If you are asking if gene therapy can work, it will but there is no prior genetic preposition for heart conditions in the T'Soni bloodline." Chakwas said calmly as possible, grimacing at the bitter aftertaste of not being able to give any hand of hope or definitive positive answer.

"There are precedents we had not accounted for." Aleena spoke clinically and yet softly. "With normal asari pregnancies as you know the mother forms a bond with her daughter during her first trimester and it steadily grows stronger as the fetus grows. That bond grows when the _arda_ joins the connection. Of course typically it tends to be another asari, even if she isn't the siring donor. Commander, you formed a bond with the fetus, we believe it has everything to do with the gestalt and the nature of how Secura was conceived.

"We already know this." Liara's voice was flat carrying just a hint of cold fury burning just below the surface. "What are you telling us? Our bond…had something to do with Secura's condition?

"We treated the fetus assuming that the connection between mother and child was the only one to be concerned about, that your shock and blood loss, Liara, had the only effect. The uniqueness of this gestalt changed everything. We didn't account for your connection, Sam. During the incident on the Presidium you took some bullets and lost blood, you were teetering on a biotic flare up." Chakwas explained.

"What?" both parents said in unison.

"We treated Secura's condition concerned with only Liara's condition and didn't take in account yours, Sam. You were just as bonded to Secura as Liara is. If you hadn't been wounded…"

Shepard paled; she left go of Liara hand and backed away from the bed toppling over the chair her back slamming hard against the bulkhead separating the bay from the lab. "No. No…you're telling me I caused this?! If I hadn't engaged in battle, if I had retreated… my baby…she'd be fine. She'd still be alive?! I did this!?" She fell to her knees. "I did this. I did this. I…I…Oh Goddess…I did this!"


	38. Answers

Chapter 38: Answers

Shepard crouched against the bulkhead; her body quaked with remorse, with deep seated guilt. A great sadness settled upon her and could not even by Herculean effort be lifted. All she could hear were the words: bond, biotic flare up, hadn't been wounded. Secura died because of her, her arrogance, her carelessness whilst in the midst of battle. It. Was. Her. Fault.

Some shadow drifted over her yet the origin remained alien to the Spectre. She didn't dare lift her head. She felt Liara's presence hover within her consciousness, seeping into her heart. She tried to block her bondmate afraid to feel the accusations that surely must be with in the young maiden that should be a mother if not for her actions.

She felt a hand touch the bottom of her chin; she felt the gentle pressure of benign force lift her head. Liara looked deep into blue eyes. "Did you even want this child?"

Samantha sucked in a breath, she felt as if she took a quantum singularity directly into the gut.

"Of course I wanted Sparrow!" she all but snapped. Her head fell despite Liara holding up her chin. "I had these little fantasies. I day-dreamed little images of our life together. Of the three of us. I fantasized about dressing her in those warm onesies with the feet in them and zipping her up. I dreamed of wrapping a little blanket around her. The sort that's made of teddy bear fur, you know the real fuzzy and warm and cuddly type. I fantasised of waking up at oh-two-hundred hours and taking our daughter from her cradle and huddling her close whispering 'Hush Sparrow, Mommy needs her sleep. But I'm here. Mamma's here. Arda's here. And I'd feed her from a warm bottle.

"I dreamed of having Chakwas make me lactate so I could feed her properly like a mother not just with a bottle. I even thought about stinky dippers, and fussy teething. I dreamed of her teetering first steps and encouraging her to walk to Mamma even if Mommy was right there. I'm so sorry that was selfish but…but even together her first words would be of me. Mamma. It's so easy on the infant tongue. Ma ma ma. And I saw her sitting up in a highchair and tossing applesauce all over her head and giving her a warm bath… I…I wanted her Liara. I wanted our daughter. I...I had these little fantasies…"

Shepard gulped past the thick lump in her throat, her head resting upon folded arms over upraised knees. Over and over she whispered in hacked breaths. "I had these little fantasies."

Liara pressed her lips to her bondmate's; kissing her with such fierceness it stole Sam's breath from her lungs. "I had those fantasies too. I dreamed of spying you with our babe in your arms much like you held Maysa. Of seeing you cuddled together as you read her a story or you two having fallen asleep on the sofa doing just that. I fantasized of holding her in my arms of feeding her the milk from my breast, of explaining to her why Mamma has 'head fur' and not a crest. I dreamed of teaching her to walk, to talk. I dreamed of her tiny fingers wrapping around one of my own." Liara choked back a sob, "I wanted her so badly…"

Sam looked down to the blue hands resting upon her knees. "She's dead because of me Liara, how can you not hate me?"

At that instant, rage did fill the asari but it was not directed at Sam, though it was directed at humans. "She's dead because of human politics not because of you Samantha. Never you! She was created out of a bond that was necessary. A bond we still do not fully grasp. She is dead because of a weak heart. Am I to blame because in my eagerness to keep you alive I jumpstarted my reproductive process, because I could not let you go? My body wasn't fully ready to reproduce and yet it did. These are dangers of early asari pregnancies. I sink in my grief Samantha. I am lost to it. We are broken."

The Spectre looked up then, seeing her beloved's tear stained face. She took her into her arms. "…death shall have no dominion." she whispered almost to herself though keen asari ears picked it up.

"Not unless we allow it." Liara whispered back.

Sam only nodded. She had been beaten down before, lost lives before. All those on Elysium she could not save, Jenkins and others on Eden Prime, Kaiden and all those on the Citadel. They had died because she had failed to be fast enough, keen enough. She had to make hard choices and as a result those under her protection died, some needlessly, others sacrificed. Secura was now amongst those numbers.

"Not one more." Sam almost growled. "They will not take one more. I will find them, I will make them burn."

"Start with that male in the brig." Liara's anger was palpable. "Show him the meaning of anguish. Take from his mother that which was taken from us. Let her be childless and point to Udina and tell her it is because of his machinations her child had to die. If you do not, I will!"

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Khalisah Al-Jilani made her name famous or rather infamous due to her rough blunt-weapon style of in-your face reporting. It had gained her more than a few bruises and even broken bones from the humans, krogan and volus she interviewed. She had even been flung by a biotic wave from a very angry asari commando. To top that a hanar practically strangled her for suggesting their meek politeness was all for show and the only reason they saved the drell from complete annihilation was to turn them into slaves for the sole purpose of carrying out assassinations to order.

Now it seems her very name was going to earn her more than simple battery it was going to cost her her life. The ironic thing of it all was that it wasn't even she who had done the reporting but her colleague Robin Lasky. But she had done it in Khalisah's name!

"She's going to kill me!" Khalisah roared at the blonde woman sitting behind her desk in her office as soon as she stormed in. "You ever think of that? Shepard is going to tear me apart, bit by bit with her biotics. She is going to kill me!"

Robin looked up and gave her a smarmy grin. "Please. I did what you were afraid to do. You like to ambush her on camera. But she made you look the fool the first time and the second time you looked like some idiot that endorses the neglect and abuse of alien children at the hands of humans."

Khalisah snorted. "That story on Kyle Gou did no such thing. I was illustrating a point, that Shepard doesn't even think herself as human anymore. You think I wanted that little baby girl treated like that because she wasn't human? You're wrong. And in the first one I was exposing the Council shill Shepard is. I'm not anti-alien; I just don't think we should be dominated by them. And now….because of what you did…Shepard will think I helped set her up, that I wanted her pregnant bondmate hunted down like some rabid dog!"

"You're only pissed because I took over your witch hunt and won where you failed so abysmally. I burned the alien loving asari-wanna-be at the stake just as it was needed."

Perhaps for the first time Khalisah felt the quicksilver anger rise in her as it had so many of those she had previous interviewed. She reached out and slapped Robin in the face.

"You bitch!"

Robin's hand reached up tenderly stroking the burning flesh where the dark haired reporter had struck her. "I'll forget you did that you gutless cow. I did what was necessary. Humanity needs a real Spectre, not an alien sympathizer. You're right she is just a shill for the Council. I see it. As do many others. The love the Council had for her is waning thanks in no small part to her deluded rantings of some great evil coming from the deep shadows of dark space. She's mad with this 'Reaper' paranoia. She is…she isn't the person we need now."

"The person we need?" Khalisah ventured tentatively. "What does that mean?"

"We need people like Charles Sarancino; he is a voice for the human colonies. You saw what happened with Eden Prime and Zhu's Hope. The Council didn't want to become involved with what they think is a purely internal human problem. But Sarancino is a man who can be their voice. If not here then back home on Earth."

"Sarancino?" Khalisah scoffed. "He's the voice of a snake in a pack of jackals."

"That's not the impression you give on the air."

"My personal feelings have nothing to do with what I report. I think Shepard is a hero, but I also think that all heroes have to live up to a better standard than the rest of us."

"As do I, 'Lisah. Humanity placed their trust in her and she is failing us. She sacrificed hundreds of human lives for a very ungrateful Council - a Council that will never do anything for us but give empty platitudes and puppet representatives. Shepard is a shill and Anderson is figurehead.

"If Donnel Udina had been give the position as it should have been he would never allow the Council to railroad us. He would do what is necessary for humanity's progress even if it means sacrificing our only Spectre to do it. Anderson doesn't know a damn thing about politics. It's why the Council is running him in circles and will always do so. They have no respect for him or Shepard. And because of that those two have no power to help us. But there are those that have power and will do anything and everything to make sure humanity is safe. _If_ there isa greater danger out there than the geth then it will take something more than shills and puppets to face it."

"Something or someone? Udina has been dismissed as the Alliance's ambassadorship to the Citadel for impounding a Spectre ship; he can't do anything for the rise of human progress. Do you think the leader of the Terra Firma party is this person?" Al-Jilani scoffed.

"I said more than puppets, 'Lisah. No, I'm talking about Cerberus."

Brown eyes narrowed. "They are called a terrorist organization for a reason, Robin." Al-Jilani folded her arms over her chest. "I have no huge love for aliens…"

"That's bullshit. I know about you and your asari lover. Don't tell me you're not a fan."

"So what? I'm not the only one who enjoys their company. Udina your patron saint of politics loved going to Cora's Den when it was open and watching the strippers." Al-Jilani sighed. "But Cerberus, Robin? They go too far, they are extremists."

"Perhaps. But they are only called so by the aliens."

"And by Alliance military! And by a lot of other humans!"

"Cerberus is the only one who gives a damn about humanity! At least their motives concerning human progress are pure, unadulterated and genuine. The Alliance military…they will bow to whatever Steven Hackett tells them to do and Hackett does whatever Shepard tells him to do, and she does whatever the Council tells her to do, especially if it's Tevos doing the telling." Robin growled bitterly. "Shepard's love for aliens, especially of the asari will be the destruction of humanity. Mark my words."

Khalisah Al-Jilani took one long hard look at the woman who was perhaps her closest friend, one whom she had shared a dorm room with at university, who had shared all her journalistic classes with. There was a time when Lasky was a very integral person, one who did the hardcore war correspondence. But since her return from her imprisonment at the hands of clan Urdnot on Tuchanka, Robin had understandably changed. It didn't help that Urdnot Wrex was a member and trusted companion of Shepard's crew. Or course Robin automatically despised the Spectre for that alone. There was a time Lasky was bipartisan when dealing with other species now it seemed she was very firmly in the clutches of the most hated pro-human organization group in the galaxy.

"Even if you're right Robin, a pregnant woman didn't deserve that and neither did Shepard." With that Khalisah left her colleague's office, but before she disappeared all together she turned and added in a hushed tone. "Shepard, Dr. T'Soni and their baby had nothing to do with what happened to you on Tuchanka."

MEMEMEMEMEMEEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM MEME

Merkson had scarcely moved since they hauled Joker out a day ago. He sat hunched on his bunk his knees drawn up to his chest his mind a constant whirl of where it had all gone so horribly wrong.

Between the time Joker was released and now he had only one visitor, Dr. S'thasa who had come to see to his ear. After all he should be hale and hearty for his trial…_if_ he got a trial. He half expected to be killed within his cell before he was even granted his tribunal. He doubted he'd even get the informal hearing of a Commander's Mast.

He had been given proper fare for a military prisoner of course he'd wager that one or two of his human guards probably spat in food and it was what he would have done. He didn't blame them if they had. Still he hadn't been neglected. It was if the Commander was going out of her way to ensure everything was by-the-book. No doubt so he could have it thrown at him without any mistrial. He should at least be grateful for that.

When the doors to the brig slid open he tilted his head up curious to see who had come in at this late hour. When he registered who it was his brown eyes widened within their sockets, he lurched from his cot and stood at rigid attention before his Commander. Military prisoners didn't have the right to salute but they were expected to come to attention. That being said it was difficult not to salute after all the years of service and training. Shepard as was her due didn't even acknowledge it nor did she discipline him for the robotic action.

She didn't even look at him as she began speaking her tone terse and chilling. "Private Marina Stevenson has been arrested by Alliance MPs for conspiracy, breaking medical confidentiality clauses, aiding and abetting in the attempted murder of Dr. Liara T'Soni and the death of Secura Shepard T'Soni. She will be executed." Shepard said it so matter-of-factly it was if she had commented on the weather.

She continued in her dead voice: "Khalisah Al-Jilani was taken into custody by C-Sec as she was leaving the Westerland News studio and Robin Lasky was arrested within the same. The latter will probably be slated for execution just as your whore is, if not a very very long incarceration. This time however no news network will be there to bail her out." Shepard approached Merkson's cell. "I already know it was Udina that put you up to this. I suspect it was bribe of sorts, getting your hands on some exclusive licenses for the more elusive merchants. No doubt some of those licenses were for asari manufactures as well as perhaps turian or drell? Or was it perhaps a private kiosk on a station or planet."

When she spoke of this Merkson blanched. That was it exactly. "Yes." he answered in a torn voice. "A kiosk on Horizon. It was Robin Lasky not Ambassador Udina who gave me the offer; though she said she could pull strings because she knew the _right _people. She said she wanted something that was titillating. I told her Mari' had a recoding of you saying what everyone already knew…that…that…confirmed how protective you are of Dr. T'Soni." he was unable to resist the dire urge to drop his head at the tonnage of guilt that now lay upon his shoulders. "I'm due to end my tour in four months. I was going to go back to civilian life with Marina. We saved enough to buy a prefab. She wanted to move to Horizon to be closer to her father. We were going to get married. She's...she's pregnant." he visibly winced; the word was now ever bitter upon the tongue and tasted of ash. "We wanted to start a life together. It was just supposed to be tabloid hooey… sensationalistic junk. I never thought it was…this. Lasky just wanted a story."

He expected the Commander to yell: to start throwing accusations about his lack of honor, trust and duty. To seethe about his blood money. She did none of these things. He lifted his head just a little not to meet her gaze but to face her accusations. He could give her that at least. But she remained silent.

He watched with nervous apprehension as the Spectre paced back and forth in front of his cell. She reminded him of a great white shark he had once seen in a Sea World aquarium. It constantly circled the plate-glass viewing window as if attempting to find a way past the glass to devour him. The fear he held for the monster of the deep was the very same he held now for his Commander. The shark of course never reached him, but the Spectre could very well do so. He swallowed hard causing his Adams apple to bob almost comically.

After what seemed like ages her voice a dark whisper broke the stillness like waves crashing upon rocks. "The Council in their infinite wisdom decreed the Reaper threat is at best farcical, something created by Saren and his geth. They classified Sovereign as a new class of geth dreadnought and decreed we are at war with them. War. Merkson. You _know_ what that means. Under Alliance Military regulations the flag officer has broad authority aboard her vessel in a **time of war**. As a Spectre I have the same rights. In fact I am duty bound to do so.

"I have ever done my duty. A Spectre does what is right, not what is pleasant. Sometimes you break a few noses, a knee to the groin or shoot kneecaps and threaten to let them bleed out. Sometimes you throw people through windows. Sometimes you break their necks with a simple twist of the foot when they are at your mercy upon the ground. Sometimes you target moving shipping crates above your enemies' heads to crush them. Being a Spectre isn't about being nice, it's about doing what is right. What is Just! Justice is never pretty. Blind but not pretty and it is never ever nice."

She stopped pacing, turned facing him now a deadly predatory gleam in her eyes. "Shall I make an example of you, Merkson? Did you know in days past in ancient maritime law mutineer was keel hauled? Though in the dead of space I don't think it will be as effective as it was back then. Perhaps I should simply space you instead. As I understand it, it isn't a good way to die. Even if I were merciful enough to allow you a hardsuit, eventually the oxygen would become depleted; your lungs seize up, your major organs simultaneously fail. Your body freezing before the radiation burns you alive. They say you're aware of it the entire time, even if such a death only takes seconds the pain is immeasurable. Definitely not a good way to die. Personally I can think of a hundred different preferable deaths than being spaced. One of them includes being torn apart by a thresher maw."

"Commander…." Merkson swallowed hard, the stench of his fear radiating off him like that of feces.

"Did you know that I felt my daughter die? I was connected to her via a meld. The way she died…it was if she had been spaced just exactly as I described to you. I felt her soul fade into oblivion. The silence afterwards was so profound…it was if a void swallowed me whole."

"I'm so sorry!" the man in the cell cried out. "I'm so sorry…Oh God!" he wailed over and over. "It wasn't supposed to be like this. Oh God. It wasn't supposed to be like this!"

"What was it supposed to be like Merkson you and your girl: a cozy little family of traitors living the life on a colony world that has forsaken the Alliance? Did it never occur to you why Westerland News wanted this 'titillating tabloid hooey' in the first place? And why they were willing to pay so much for it?"

"Lasky said…she said it was off the books, it wasn't Westerland News it was just her. She wanted the scoop on the first human Spectre. She said she wanted to beat Emily Wong's news stories on you. She even wanted to beat out Al-Jilani. She's a war correspondent…I thought …I made myself believe it was because we were on the frontlines fighting Saren and his geth army. Everything about Spectres is confidential. Not even Alliance Brass can touch you now. I didn't want to think too much behind it." Merkson finally admitted. "It was just supposed to be a story about what you're like as a Spectre."

For a moment Shepard held her voice. Part of her couldn't fault the young man's naivety deliberate or otherwise. Believing the information he and Stevenson handed over simply because it was Intel on Spectres one of the most clandestine orders in the galaxy. Maybe he did fully believe it. He was conned not only by a news whore but by his own girlfriend who the Spectre knew to be a part of the Terra Firma party. The separatists party that holds the bar when it came to their pro-human /anti human agenda as well as their racist propaganda which in their protests every Armistice Day they called out in alarming regularity.

Stevenson had to have known this was more than sensationalistic journalism, that there were deep political overtones and agendas attached. And even if she hadn't she did willingly hand over classified information. That alone could very well buy her life in prison. No wonder she wanted to flee to Horizon. The Alliance and the Citadel therefore the Spectres has no jurisdiction there. And human colonies out in the Terminus Systems did not extradite prisoners, especially if they were facing life in prison or the death penalty.

"It's ironic isn't it? My bondmate and I will never see our daughter grow to womanhood, and you…and Stevenson will never see your child either. Fitting."

Leaving the brig Shepard returned not to the sick bay but to the CIC. Here she felt at ease. She looked down at the galaxy map at its point and go nav-system. Illium. They had to go there. The ship needed its upgrades and so did her Commander.

Before the incident on the Presidium Shepard and the senior officers had a briefing as to what should be done for the ship. Tali had come up with an entire shopping list of upgrades the _Normandy _needed to fend off their next encounter with a Reaper ship. To tell the truth, Shepard had been looking forward to upgrading.

There was the new asari Silaris plating to be attached to the ship's superstructure. Tali said it will help the ship hold together if hit by a blast powerful enough to penetrate its shields.

When asked about specifics about the Silaris armor it wasn't Tali who answered but Commander Shiala. The asari matron related that 'The _Destiny Ascension_ is covered in the same armor. It allows the ship to resist even the most tremendous heat and kinetic energy of starship weapons. This is because the armor is nearly unsurpassed in strength because its central material, carbon nanotube sheets woven with diamond Chemical Vapor Deposition, are crushed by mass effect fields into super-dense layers able to withstand extreme temperatures. That process also compensates for diamond's brittleness.

Shiala also reported: 'The diamond armor itself has two limiting disadvantages. First, whilst nanotubes and CVD-diamond construction have become cheaper in recent years, it remains prohibitively expensive to coat starships or aircraft larger than fighters in Silaris material. This is why only our fighters and a handful of wavecrest class frigates tend to be coated. The _Destiny Ascension_ is a large exception. To coat the _Normandy_ will be quite expensive. However with current ship's resources we can manage it.'

'What is the second limitation?' Shepard pressed.

'The second is that the armor must be attached to the ship's superstructure, so shock waves from massive firepower can still destroy the metals beneath the armor itself.'

'So we have to dry dock.'

'Correct. **Mallene Calis has negotiated a contract on Illium with a Silaris contractor and for a good price. They've had dealings in the past; she got us a very good price.' **

**'Will this interfere with our stealth drive?' Williams asked 'I thought the diamond composition of the armor makes everything all sparkly.'**

**'That is a misconception, Lieutenant.' Shiala explained. '**In fact, atmospheric nitrogen impurities during the super-hot forging process gave the armor a metallic gray as is seen with the _Destiny Ascension_ or yellow sheen which many of the asari fighters take on. As for it interfering with the stealth drives no it won't.'

In addition to this, Tali wanted to add Cyclone shield tech. The engineer said it was designed it to create rapidly oscillating kinetic obstructions of (CBT) or Cyclonic Barrier Technology. According to her it was designed to survive blasts like those that destroyed original _Normandy_.

'CBT attempts to solve the higher-end limitations of traditional kinetic barriers. Traditional barriers cannot block high-level kinetic energy attacks such as disruptor torpedoes because torpedo mass effect fields add mass. The CBT violently slaps aside rather than halting incoming linear force. By rotationally firing their mass effect field projectors, the _Normandy _once upgraded will create rapidly oscillating kinetic barriers instead of static ones. Shooting through the CBT is like trying to shoot at a target inside a spinning ball.'

When asked about any significant drawbacks, Tali only commented that: 'Current CBT configuration prevents its use on anything other than frigates and fighters. Fortunately the _Normandy_ is a frigate so that isn't an issue. What can be problematic are its many high-frequency sensors and emitters require frequent maintenance and replacement. A partially damaged CBT can endanger its operator, who is surrounded by rotating mass effect fields skewing in unpredictable directions. Fortunately, if an emitter is damaged, the CBT corrects to become a traditional shield array, a safety feature that makes it most effective during opening volleys.'

Garrus had his own ideas on how to upgrade the main batteries. Following the Battle of the Citadel, human and turian volunteers conducted a massive three-month survey effort to clear the station's orbit of debris. Secretly, the turian Office of Technological Reconnaissance "volunteers" were technology recovery specialists salvaging the main weapon of the geth flagship Sovereign, and large amounts of its valuable element zero core.

Contrary to popular belief, Sovereign's main Thanix gun was not a directed energy weapon. Rather, its massive element zero core powered an electromagnetic field suspending a liquid iron-uranium-tungsten alloy that shaped into armor-piercing projectiles when fired. The jet of molten metal, accelerated to a fraction of the speed of light, destroys targets by impact force and irresistible heat.

The Office of Technological Reconnaissance were still working on developing a miniaturized version of Sovereign's gun, it wouldn't be ready for another eleven months. However the Prothean technology recovered from both Ilos and Quana had Thanix cannon armaments. It was necessary for any truly effective offensive strikes against the Reapers. It could fire reliably every five seconds, rivaling a cruiser's firepower but mountable on a fighter or frigate. That fact alone had Tali run the numbers to have Thanix cannons mounted on all four viper fighters: as well as the two kodiak UT-47 drop-shuttles, the four raptor interceptors as well as two A-61 Mantis gunships, and the **M-44 Hammerhead. The smaller crafts would also be** covered with the Silaris plating and Cyclone shield tech. The makos would not be so equipped.

There were other upgrades to improve fuel consumption. The Heed Industries Helios thruster module was intended for next-generation fighter craft. The propulsion system far outpaced the typical liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen reactions that powered a frigate's maneuvering thrusters. By using metastable metallic hydrogen, the Helios boasted a fuel that burned at far greater efficiency than liquid H2/O2. Navigators could execute the numerous small course corrections inherent to any long-distance travel without fear of exhausting the ship's fuel supplies. This net gain extended to forward impulse as well: a ship powered by antiprotons could coast temporarily using the Helios to reach an inferior but highly sustainable speed. Such efficiency lowered antiproton consumption, a constant concern for any warship.

When a Helios-propelled ship had to refuel, however, it typically relied on a large carrier or nearby planetary factory to synthesize the metallic hydrogen. This process used extremely dense mass effect fields to create the metal under pressures of over a million Earth atmospheres, an activity most safely done while planetside. While that process may seem like a drawback compared to "skimmer ships" that could gather hydrogen and oxygen from anywhere in the universe, the combat superiority of the Helios' maneuvering capabilities was often a worthwhile trade-off. The same efficiency that allowed for microburn course correction could power rapid bursts of motion. Once a pilot became used to the ship's new energetic responses, she could easily put the ship wherever and at whatever angle she desired.

The Ayndroid Group's properties Argus Plate Scan Technology was to be integrated into the ship's systems to speed up the planet-scanning process. In addition to the scanning array, Tali had a way to double probe capacity.

The Silaris plating on the _Normandy_ alone would take upwards of a week to install – the additional upgrades would involve another two weeks on top of that. If Tali's calculations were correct everything was going to take a month, best time. That gave Shepard enough time for her own surgery and recovery time.

The Spectre's mind hit a wall. Illium was supposed…to fix everything. Make the ship ready to face the Reapers, make her ready. Make it so she wasn't a danger to herself, to Liara to their child. But what was the point now? Their child was dead because of her, because of the choices she made, the chances she took. Because she didn't fully understand the bond she shared with Liara and what she had shared with Sparrow, her little girl was now lost to them.

'You're pretty pathetic wallowing in self-pity, Shepard.' the Spectre chastised herself using the overtones of her father's voice. 'A Shepard isn't a hero they protect. You failed to protect your family, so don't fuck up again. Fix it. Get off your sorry ass, be a real Spectre, a real Shepard, a real N-Seven marine and get the goddamn job done!'

She did what she had done Elysium, on Virmire and on the Citadel; she pushed her pain down deep so deep she could focus on what mattered. Her blue eyes locked onto the spiral arms of the holographic galaxy. The sparkling blues reminded her of the speckled shades of cerulean in Liara's crest, the dark spots of her beloved's freckles. Shepard found her eyes tearing up even as the corners of her lips turned up imagining as she had a dozen times before that Secura would have the same adorable splash of freckles across her cheeks.

The pain of losing her child surfaced once more, despite the great efforts to bury it within her. In the grief counseling support groups she occasionally attended she was doing exactly the opposite of what they prescribed as healthy. Burying it didn't make it go away. But wallowing in it wasn't healthy either. She had to find something to focus on and yet at the same time ensure she didn't push Liara away or accept being pushed away by her wife.

The Spectre dragged her thoughts away from the inward turn they had taken and returned to the galaxy map. She had a mission priority but until she dealt with Udina and Cerberus they would become a constant harrowing distraction. One that could very well lose her the battle against the Reapers.

'First rule of engagement: know all you can know about a potential enemy, as swiftly as you are able to know it.' Words spoke over a thousand years ago by Sun Tzu. 'All warfare is based on deception. A skilled general must be master of the complementary arts of simulation and dissimulation while creating shapes to confuse and delude the enemy he conceals his true dispositions and ultimate intent.'

Her thoughts moved past Udina. He was nothing but the gun. The one holding the gun was the one to be concerned about. The Illusive Man: TIM. He was targeting her mind, making glorious attempts at unbalancing her. He had approached her indirectly by going through Udina. TIM had by Sun Tzu's own philosophies taken the battle. By the selection of devious and distant routes the Illusive Man had manoeuvred so expertly he had ensured Udina had become the primary distraction. He had used the ambassador and the bounty hunters to manipulate the Spectre's actions just as Barla Von said.

Shepard ground her teeth. Secura's death wasn't vengeance it was a means to an end. Ultimately Udina wanted what the false news report had manufactured, but that was not Cerberus's intent. They wanted something more. Whatever The Illusive Man's agenda was it was very different than what Udina wanted, Shepard was positive on that mark. This wasn't petty vengeance for her shutting down several of their operations and neutralizing their men. And despite what Udina believed it had very little to do with how his career ended. Just as Lasky used Stevenson and Merkson, TIM was using Udina. Unlike her former crewmembers however the ambassador was anything but a naive patsy, he was a very willing slave to Cerberus. He probably didn't even mind that TIM's ultimate agenda was not akin to his own just so long as Shepard paid for his downfall.

'What game is it that every player claims the same pawn?' Shepard continued to stare at the galaxy map. 'What game indeed? If you don't fully know the rules of the game your enemy is playing - change it, cheat, put in mods that alter the way the game is played. She knew the Art of War backwards and forwards as thoroughly as any N7. It was rare she encountered someone who not only knew the ancient tome but lived it as readily as the Illusive Man. He was attempting to shape her, observing her, probing her and taking all precautions not to be shaped by her.

To go toe to toe with the Reapers and the Cerberus, Shepard knew she had to re-establish her connection to the words of Sun Tzu and live it as deeply as TIM. She had to manipulate the situations to her advantage. In the past whenever in theater she had done just so. Using a defunct geth dropship to literally drop on the Cerberus encampment was one such instance. It had been a two fold strike take out the enemy as well as feed them false information, make them go after an different target, make them believe that for the moment Ilos was too hot until the Citadel could establish a stronghold.

This was no different than any other engagement she had been in. She had to weigh the situation before she moved, not blunder aimlessly into baited traps. Be prudent, but not hesitant. She had always taken calculated risks; which was why she had freed the Queen of the rachni back on Novaria. She had trusted the Queen when she spoke of the truth behind the rachni wars. They were of the Reaper's doing not the rachni themselves. The Queens had been indoctrinated with 'sour yellow notes' into warring against the rest of the galaxy. It had been a great risk to unleash the rachni back into the galaxy, but one Sam believed in. She believed in the words of the Novarian rachni Queen when she said she would teach her children of the Spectre's mercy and generosity.

Sam knew she had to become far more adaptable like water, conform to the ground around her and be just as flexible in order to win the double fronted battle. Cerberus was trying to give her enough rope to hang herself with, the trick was now was to turn the rope on the hangman and drop them instead. That was going to be very difficult but catching this Miranda Lawson was step in that direction. No doubt the Cerberus operative was trained to withstand mind altering drugs, interrogations and even brainwashing, just as any N7. But Lawson had to have some weakness that could be exploited. Once it was, it would further open weak spots within Cerberus itself. It was after all exactly what had happened to Shepard.

Cerberus and by extension Udina had selected and advanced to the spot where Shepard's resistance was the weakest. They knew how to avoid or by-pass a strong defense and to assault a weak spot: Liara and Secura. They had detoured and outflanked Shepard. Confusing her by attacking at one point to divert her attention while actually advancing on another. She had been outmaneuvered by one of her favored ploys, it was far more than jarring, it was a kick to the head and the ass. Gunny Ellison would be so very disappointed in her 'goldbricking' when she should have been paying more attention. She was a N7 marine, a Spectre for crying out loud. Saying she should have acted sooner, she should never been caught so off guard, never been so distracted was counter productive. Even if it was all true.

The Illusive Man was an expert at using clandestine approaches, no doubt he knew not only about her strengthened biotics but they were going to deteriorate her body and mind. He knew that her devotion to Liara was unwavering. These had been perceived as weaknesses, not only by TIM but by the ambassador and the Council as well. Each in their own way had attempted to remove Liara from her side.

But Liara was not a weakness; she was Sam's greatest strength. The Spectre's biotics were not going to be a deterrent to her or her family any longer. Her eyes once more looked to the map, more specifically to the Crescent Nebula. Pulling it up she centered on the Ondeste system and brought up Illium. She charted the course, finding it was only a few jumps from the Citadel relay.

Shepard activated her uniform radio: "Naga'sadow once we get clearance from the Council call up the coordinates in the nav-system and head for Illium with all due speed."

'Aye-aye Commander.' the young asari responded. 'Course laid and set, ready on your order.'

Since Joker was still confined to quarters the young asari maiden had taken over the duties as main helmsmen. That was another issue Shepard had to tackle, Joker's complete indiscretion over security protocols.

Running lights illuminated the corridors as if guiding Shepard's way, giving her direction. As she passed various crewmembers they stilled their actions and snapped to attention. It was strange it didn't take long before a consensus was formulated amongst the various species. Asari, turian, volus, and the salarian had all adopted the human form of saluting their commanding officer. At first the Spectre wondered if had bothered the non-humans that they had conformed to this practice but then she reasoned that Commander Shiala would have said something if that were the case, she was after all the XO, before that the CAG. She was an experienced officer of the asari military. She knew how to listen for dissidence within the crew.

To look at her crew now she saw reflected in their eyes their pity and unease for the words they lacked to express their regret over the loss of hers and Liara's daughter. Shepard ignored the looks and continued along her path. She took the elevator down to the crew deck, the running lights continued to lead her to her destination even as she had no will to truly go. What she wanted was to go back to her love, to hold Liara in her arms and shut out the rest of the galaxy. But the galaxy didn't wait for warriors to lick their wounds.

"Attention on deck!" Service Chief Gabrielle Daniels cried out as soon as she saw the Commander enter the communal quarters.

All around her off duty personnel jumped up from the table, their racks and stood at rigid attention, amongst their numbers were the salarians: Chorban, Shells, and Ororo. Of the present turians were Lilihierax known to most as Lee, former C-Sec officers Vlirigel as well as Galdor, both women Shepard knew to be excellent officers. The rest were humans, including Joker.

The helmsmen tried to lift himself off the bottom rack but was halted by the fact both of his legs were in braces.

"As you were." Shepard said dismissively allowing everyone to relax their stance. "In fact give us the room."

She heard the rustle of clothing as the rest of the crew scrambled out leaving her alone with the crippled lieutenant. Her attention focused solely upon the pilot until he began to squirm under her scrutiny.

"Permission to speak freely, Commander?"

"Denied." Shepard snapped. "You don't get to speak. You listen. There will be a formal Commander's Mast within the day, you'll be charged for the records at that time. For now this is what's happening. Lieutenant Williams confined you to quarters until further notice. I agree, in fact you're confined until the refit is finished. XO Shiala, Lieutenants Naga'sadow and Morwen are as equally qualified to pilot this vessel as you are. Your arrogance at the helm is wearing a little thin Lieutenant. Perhaps it's my fault for allowing such leniency with the glibness that allows you to feel free to act as you have.

"You know the first time you actually pissed me off was back on Virmire when you said rather snidely and I quote. 'I know what I'm doing.' I allowed it to slide because frankly I had far more important things on my mind than your back-talk. I wasn't as hard on you as I should have been. I gave you the impression you had more liberties than you had. For the next three months you are cut off from all extranet privileges. Any e-mail you have coming or going will be thoroughly screened, furthermore you will ask permission not only to read your mail and to respond to it by dictation to any mail."

She was silent for a moment, her blue eyes staring at him not with contempt but grave disappointment. "I'm not even going to ask why you did it, Monroe. I know why. Hell I was sorely tempted to do so myself. I owe Cerberus nothing save perhaps a bullet in the head. Don't you think I asked myself a dozen times over about those files we recovered? Why not hand them over to the Shadow Broker if a rear admiral was going to do the same? I almost did. Maybe I'm too devoted to the uniform and it's blinded me. You're not being punished because you sent the files Joker; you're being punished because you betrayed my trust in you. You let me down. The trust that uniform has given you, you let it down." She waited a moment as if deciding she was going to allow him the opportunity to speak or not. Drawing in a long breath she uttered in the darkest of tones. "You have anything to say for yourself?"

Joker nodded ever so slightly. "Yes ma'am."

"You have one minute."

"Even if it means letting you down again, or breaking the trust in this uniform has given me but it keeps you alive, I'll do it again and again. My loyalty is to you, not necessarily the Alliance. I wear the uniform to fly a great bird like the _Normandy_, to serve you. As for the money, I didn't keep it. I had the Shadow Broker's agent send it to the Shepards."

The Spectre looked at the man before her with incredulous scrutiny. "You what?" she folded her arms over her chest, daring him to continue such a ludicrous explanation. If Joker sent that type of cash to her family she'd would have heard about long before now.

"The Shepards. I'm guessing from your expression you didn't know anything about them. It's a charity organization. Remember your crazy fanboy stalker, Conrad Verner? He started this charity to help orphans and refugees from wars and disaster zones. Verner set it up to honor you, ma'am. They did a lot of good for the victims of the Vallum Blast on Taetrus and before that the lost on the Citadel.

"The money from the Shadow Broker was substantial the Shepards needed it. I didn't take any kick-backs, Commander. I swear it. Some good had to come out of all of that crap Cerberus did. They killed a rear admiral, used faked distress beacons to lures marines to be slaughtered in thresher maws nests. They tuned an entire colony into husks. Commander; we couldn't let them get away with it. And if the Shadow Broker sends some one after you because he thinks you betrayed the Kahoku's deal then the Reapers win. Udina and Cerberus are already trying to destroy you and Dr. T'Soni. They practically did! They were already trying to do that a year ago. You don't need more enemies, you need more allies."

Shepard dissected the words Joker said, one phrase in particular stood out. 'My loyalty is to you, not necessarily the Alliance.' "Why did you say that? Your loyalty is to me and not the Alliance?"

"Commander, you said it yourself the loyalty to the uniform is blinding you. Yeah you're the poster-child for recruitment now, but that love isn't going to last, Cap'n. Every one of us that served with you on the old _Normandy_ trusts you, believe in you. They know the truth about the Reapers. The new crewmembers on this ship trust your mission. But the crew isn't the Alliance. Most of them are of the Council races but they follow you because of who you are. This crew has your six.

"But the Council has already denounced everything you said about the Reapers. They have Avina saying the Reapers are nothing but paleo-mythology. The Alliance is saying the same thing: that Sovereign is a new geth dreadnought. Commander they are going to discredit everything you say when push comes to shove. And I saw that news brief just like the rest of the senior officers. If it leaks out, they'll cut you. You have to know that, Commander. You have to be protected just as much as you are protecting all of us. Don't you see that? You're more important than any uniform." In his excitement Joker used the bunk above his own to hoist himself up onto his unsteady broken legs. He teetered before he fell back onto his rack, pain washed across his face.

"Your minute is up. Your actions will be taken in account during the Commander's Mast. For your hearing choose an advocate who knows the law inside and out. Choose well, Joker." Shepard said her tone softer than it had been when she first entered the junior officers' quarters. "You chose to put on that uniform, Joker. You took the oath. Until you muster out you keep that oath. Oh and don't you get off that rack again until Chakwas gives you the green light."

He saluted. "Aye aye."

The helmsmen smiled to himself, he had fucked up but he knew he was back in Shepard's good graces. She had called him Joker!

To the empty room he said. "Commander, you are the uniform. Hell yeah I'll keep my oath. Same oath me, Ash, Garrus, Tali, Adams and Wrex made: protect and serve Samantha Shepard."

MEMEMEMEMEEMMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEME

The **yahg prowled the circular chamber watching the black-mailing film footage on one of the several monitors. **"I can not allow this transmission to air. She is a necessary commodity one that is not yet expendable. If this airs that commodity depreciates. However Donnel Undine is no longer an asset. He has outplayed his hand."

"Do you wish to deploy the Hunter-Seeker virus?" came the tinny voice of the floating blue drone at the Shadow Broker's massive shoulder.

"Engage the virus." the massive tri-lipped mouth flanged into a yahg version of a grimace. It was a drastic but necessary measure. All six of his eyes blinked at once as he watched the news feed for the eighth time. He found the subject extremely interesting. Shepard had become a particular project of his for some time now, since before Elysium. The Shadow Broker invested a great deal of time and even credits into her. She had become a pet of sorts.

In the event one of his pet subjects were compromised by a tactic deployed by the either the media or another force the Shadow Broker had developed a set of specialized viruses that hunted out certain files and wiped not only them from the hard drive but the hard drive itself. And like a virus it spread as a disease to other computers that shared that singled out file and wiped that computer's hard drive and so on and so on. It was not as difficult as it might first seem files shared between computers had one thing in common and that was they all went through FTL comm-buoys. The Hunter-Seeker viruses sought out all computers that shared that single file. In this case the news broadcast, it was far too detrimental for his long term goals.

Shepard must remain functional with her heroic status intact for the time being. The first human Spectre represented his best measure to survive the coming genocide of the Reapers. She had no idea how very unique, how special she truly was. And it had absolutely no connection to her being a hero, just her being so was very convenient. It had everything to do with the fact she not only linked with two beacons but with the thorian on Feros and survived with her sanity intact.

And now thanks to one of his agents within the Spectres, he had Shepard's medical files. She was a very unique human. Her biotic abilities now far surpassed Subject Zero formerly the most powerful human biotic. Granted Subject Zero's abilities were engineered both on Eden Prime where she was born and on **Pragia **by Cerberus.

Shepard's own genetic manipulation was just as enlightening. It seemed Cerberus orchestrated both 'accidental' in-utero exposures to element zero. Their biotic potentials were extraordinary which was why from the early onset Cerberus had plans to kidnap both children. While Subject Zero's mother had been lied to by Cerberus physicians saying the infant died of complications due to the exposure of Ee-Zo, Shepard's mother escaped the abduction plans simply because she had been shipped out on rotation. Young Samantha had escaped Cerberus's clutches.

Young Shepard escaped once more Cerberus when they had attempted to bribe John Shepard into handing over his unwanted daughter to Pragia's Teltin facility under the guise of a scholarship program for biotics. Once again due to Hannah Shepard's intervention it didn't happen. The records of Shepard's past indicated that she was one of the very rare recipients of asari training all due to Hannah Shepard. Apparently the woman was never going to let go of her spawn.

What was more interesting was what had happened to Shepard and the maiden T'Soni just after the Battle for the Citadel. Their unique gestalt augmented the human's abilities even further, to the point that she now rivaled an asari commando even if she wasn't as well trained. According to the Spectre he had as an agent, Shepard was even now capable of biotic sight, a talent that only asari possessed because of their unique biology. Apparently the prolonged bond during Shepard's life saving surgery and the resulting gestalt altered both Shepard and T'Soni. This made some people even more interested in her and it wasn't just Cerberus. The Collectors wanted Shepard dead or alive, it was her body they were after. T'Soni was a bonus paying a very handsome bounty upon delivery. The Shadow Broker intended to do precisely that.

Donnel Udina was another matter entirely. Project DU Sundown was a smear campaign set against the politician. Not only would it ruin all his political clout but the operation was so well orchestrated it would force him to retire from political life. He was of no value to anyone anymore. The only thing you did with dead weight was to jettison it out the airlock.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEME

Liara moved through her quarters as a whisper through a dream. Her eyes fell upon the piled broken model ships on Samantha's desktop. The heavy crystal display case was shattered but the remains had been carefully cleared up. Both the display case and models were obvious victims of a biotic pulse.

There were fresh vacuum-cleaner tread marks on the carpet, indicating that someone had very recently cleaned up, probably the same person who had picked up the debris and stacked Sam's toy ships.

Then her eyes fell upon the corner…Secura's corner. The bassinet was still there, the stack of little blankets, clothing, plush animals, the small shelf of bottles, dippers and the other accoutrements for the care of their child. Seeing them she fell to her knees and let out a soul wrenching howl.

The arms that wrapped themselves around her were blue; she felt her body being pulled into her dame's embrace. "Oh Arda! I cannot bear this pain. I cannot!"

Sha'ira held her child rocking her back in forth, tears streaming down their faces. _Arda_…the name given to the other parent, it was a name of love, not the formal Dame. The Consort never dreamed to hear the word issued from her firstborn.

To hear it now… was not unlike the tales of human warriors dying crying out for their mothers. _Arda_…

Liara turned in the embrace clinging to the Consort for all she was worth. Her grief coming in waves upon waves, but through it all she felt a gentle presence blanket her. It was warm, safe and loving. It was the touch of a parent's love, something she thought never to find again. The young maiden held on to the arms holding her even tighter.

The elder woman simply cradled her daughter. She had escorted Liara home, knowing her girl needed her to be there. She knew it because when she had returned to the condo she had shared with Benezia, there had been a nursery. It had crushed her to the very fiber of her soul. It had taken her acolyte Nelyna to help her though what she had believed was the very end of her family. Her soul had been crushed. At the time she knew only her beloved bondmate and her unborn child perished by choices she had made.

For a year her grief had been so deep, so unbearable she filled the hole with a child sired by a client of hers, one that would never confuse her want of a child for anything more than he was: the donor of a new DNA pattern. Racen was born a year later and though she loved her daughter, Sha'ira still mourned Liara's loss. She had until that fatefully day on Thessia when Hannah Shepard urged her to reconnect to her first born. Secura would never return to her parents, their ache would never end even after they had more daughters. Sha'ira vowed to be there for them both; she would help them through this grief.

AN: Information on _Normandy's_ upgrades liberally taken from the in-game codex. I also used the stories within Cerberus Daily News.


	39. Justice Duty and the Spectre Way

Chapter 39: Justice, Duty and the Spectre Way

_Screams thundered over the streets of the Presidium, creatures changing shapes just like the beings of light. Shards of Sovereign raining down all over the Citadel destroying the safety the Council had promised. Voices cried out in the dark, fists pounded upon the Sanctuary door begging the Regent to be allowed in. Sour yellow mist curled around dead bodies, around the corpses of little blue babies._

_Packs of three headed hounds nipped at the heels of a blue silhouette so perfect in form and shape. The hounds baying created the sounds of a baby crying, the wails of grieving mothers. Force fields sprang up, the destroyed streets of the Presidium blocked by heavy kinetic barriers, and the entity had been thrown back, swallowed up by a floating sapphire bubble. But it had been so close, it had saved the woman, it was getting through. It had been gaining command. It almost had it. The woman had almost obeyed the will of the wife. And now this. _

_In the darkness in the never ending rain of debris it heard the sound of armored boots approaching. A shape appeared in the cloying mists as a manta ray rising out of the ocean floor._

_It drew nearer and it spoke. 'What are you?'_

_The entity stirred like the Progenitor in the deep tidal pool. It was too exhausted to flee. 'I am the Renegade of the Dark.' It hissed in a sound that was not a sound. 'Who are you?'_

"_I am __**The Spectre**__.'_

'_They would have killed her wife, they __**did**__ kill her unborn child!" the creature lunged, and met the defying resistance of the blue hovering bubble it was in. 'Think of all the deaths they have caused, the chaos, the destruction. They will __**never**__ stand by her, __**never**__ support her. When the Reapers come they will cry out for her to save them even as they now forsake her. I am that which will stand by her, give her the power to survive. I will give her the power to overcome her enemies. All of them. I am her power. Who are you to stop me?"_

"_She created me. I am LAW. I watch her, I have always done so, I will always do so. You will not force murder, you will not force lawlessness." _

"_What kind of sentient creates their own Spectre?"_

"_One who is utterly terrified of the dark."_

_This brought great satisfaction to the entity "And so she should be." It laughed with great joy. _

"_You didn't copy that correctly. Transmissions must be garbled. My creation was not to keep the dark out, but in, contained, incarcerated, imprisoned. You may choose your descriptor. I guard the dark side. Imagine how strong I must be, how powerful.' __**The Spectre**__ stepped into the light; short black hair framed the light caramel skin of an angular face. Solid cyan eyes glowed in the low light. _

_The entity scuttled away but the confines of the security bubble stopped it movements, fear awash on its face. __**The Spectre**__ leaned in, cerulean eyes glowing ominously, 'You have no dominion here! Now get the hell off my ship!' _

Sam burst from the dream. Sweat gleamed off her tanned body, her breath churning heavily from her lungs. She looked over to the bed, Liara was in a deep asleep. Mostly due to the sedatives Chakwas had prescribed for her to help her sleep. Leaning over she placed a soft kiss upon tender purple lips before she rose from the bed.

Padding over to the walk-in wardrobe she grabbed a pair of track-suit bottoms and slipped them over her boxers, she didn't bother with socks or boots but shrugged on a tank top over her sports bra.

The images of the dream burned like acid in her mind. There could be no sleep for her now. She slipped out the door but didn't go for the elevator instead she hit the access maintenance shaft. She put her feet on either side of the ladder and slid down it. She ran the narrow maintenance shafts until she hit another ladder and slid down it and continued the same routine even if it meant she had to crawl on all fours until she reached the crew deck. She crawled out of the hatch and continued to run. She ran the length and breadth of the ship, every deck ordering people to make a hole allowing her to pass. She ran and ran until her lungs burned and her body begged her to stop, to rest but she did not. The physical pain and exhaustion was bliss compared to the mental anguish. But still it wasn't enough to rid herself of the images haunting from the dream. To purge it she poured herself deeper and deeper into physical and biotic exertion.

Sweat freely dripped from the Spectre's body as she assaulted a heavy punching bag that had more duct tape than vinyl canvas. Her hands and feet were wrapped in boxing tape to offer minimal protection, despite it there was splotches of deep red about her the tops of her knuckles where her skin had split open. Her body flared blue as she struck the bag again and again. She tried to still the haunting images, the voices echoing in her memory.

_One who is utterly terrified of the dark. My creation was not to keep the dark out, but in, contained, incarcerated, imprisoned. I guard the dark side. I will give her the power to overcome her enemies. All of them. I am her power. _

Images of her daughter's tiny body taken away by Dr. Chakwas, of a pool of purple blood, Liara's screams of pain, her body wracked in agony haunted Sam, even as she shut her eyes to blot them from her mind. Her ears continued to hear the anguish of the severed bonds of mother and child.

The dream was a spawn of the memories, of the screams of her beloved Liara. If Sam embraced the darkness within her, she would have the power to crush her enemies. It would be so easy to go down to the brig and carry out Liara's ultimatum. It was so easy to embrace the darker side of her nature, to be far more ruthless. She knew the power that the darkness within her gave her. Was it not easier to use intimidation than silver tongued charm?

Fear. Nietzsche said it is better to be feared than loved. Fear kept your enemies from overtaking you, it forced them to prepare against you. It kept the plebs in line and dominated far quicker than a more virtuous paragon solution. Yet what in the end did it yield but rebellion? The martyr becomes the tyrant?

"I don't need darkness to make my enemies fear me!" she snarled slamming a right hook into the bag. Again and again she smashed her fists into the bag. Sam twisted her body into side kicks, front kicks, and sweeps. She used her whole body as a weapon, forearms, elbows, palms as well as fists.

"I will make sure of my defenses. I will not sacrifice my integrity, my values. I will not! I can not!" she threw a biotic punch so fiercely it shattered the punching bag, spreading sawdust and polystyrene beads everywhere. Her sweat-soaked body became a magnet for the fine dust, giving her an almost feral look. She fell to her knees pure exhaustion overcoming her at last, her hands now bleeding more readily for the abuse they had withstood from her brutal assaults. "I can't do that. I can't lose myself. I won't give them that."

"Then do not." Liara said to her bondmate. She placed her hands on Samantha's shoulders as she approached from behind. "I want vengeance, I want blood, I want justice. That man sits in the brig and hasn't paid! Why didn't you carry out your duty, Samantha? You let Merkson get away what he did!"

"He will pay, Liara. He'll be paying for the rest of his life. Stevenson is pregnant. For her part she will be imprisoned long enough to have the child before it becomes a ward of the state, then she will be executed for treason. I have condemned Merkson to life, Liara." Sam responded tersely.

"Life?" the maiden scoffed. "You show him mercy and you call it condemnation?"

"Yes it is. Merkson will live on knowing his greed caused the destruction of his family. He had a choice, he could have stepped forward and reported Stevenson to me, warned me that she had a recording of me and of her plans to give it to the media and Udina. He could have told her no don't go through with the betrayal. Even if she had gone through with it and he had stepped up and done the right thing he would have had custody of his child. Now he will not even know the sex of it once it is born. Take it from me the vast majority of human males want a male heir. Even in this modern age most of the men of my species value sons more than daughters. They want someone to carry on their name. But his family's legacy will die with him. That child even if born male will never pass on the name Merkson or Stevenson, for that matter. He'll never see it. Never know it. It is no mercy to keep him alive Liara; in fact it is far from it."

For a moment Liara remained silent. She quietly took Sam's hands into hers just as she had after her lover's Great Hunt. This time however the Spectre wasn't shivering from the cold, but trembling from the sheer physical demands she pressed upon her body.

Tenderly Liara led the human to the first aid bay within the gym and without a word she slowly began unwrapping the abused hands. She dropped the bloody rags onto the table, snapped the duroplastic locks open on the medical kit withdrew antiseptic wash and opened sterilized pouches of gauze wipes and began to tend to the wounds.

"You're filthy." Liara said quietly changing the subject.

Sam simply watched her wife mend her knuckles, noting indeed that her sweaty body had a fine layer of sawdust and polystyrene balls sticking to it.

"You're not crawling back into our bed like that." Liara said

"Don't worry; I'll hit the showers as soon as we get back to the loft."

The asari nodded her head. "Your nightmares have returned."

"This one was different. It wasn't about the visions from the beacons or memories from the cipher."

'_Show me the dream_.' Liara sent through their bond.

Sam shook her head. '_I'd rather share other memories, tonight_.'

They linked minds that night sharing the memories of their very first night together exploring their love. The Night before Ilos.

MEMEMEMEMEMEEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM EMME

Shepard had convened a senior officer briefing later that morning. She knew her flagship team had initiated a response to the blackmailing news feed. She had to know precisely what actions they had taken and what if any fall out she had to deal with.

No one spoke of the death of Secura, Joker's indiscretion or Merkson's betrayal. For that both the Spectre and Liara were entirely grateful. It was Shiala who opened the briefing with a SitRep.

"It was decided to use Garrus's underworld contacts to make a connection with an agent of The Wizard to negate the newscast. Tali was in charge of the task, she was accompanied by Abby Williams, they were successful."

Shepard turned her attention to the young quarian. "Tali, what's the story?"

"Abby and I went to the Zakera Wards and established contact with the duct rats known and Varren and Roach, they gave us the name of one of their leaders called Mouse."

"Mouse?" Shepard folded her arms over her chest, her eyebrow cocked in curiousity. "These duct rats take names of vermin? How trustworthy are they Garrus?"

"Good. Most of them…okay nearly all of them are kids. They are the ignored, those who are not seen but see much. They are a very good spy network, Shepard."

"Kids? You're using kids?" The disapproval in her voice wasn't at all masked.

"It's not exploitation, not really. I'm simply using all sources available. These kids belong to the poorer populations; they run around in the ducts, keeping them out is nearly impossible it's why they are called duct rats. They take the name further by assuming identities of vermin." The turian explained. "They are a good source of info."

"I see. And their trustworthiness?"

"Reasonable, though they are loyal pretty much only to each other. They might be a gang of kids who can be bribed with food, clothes and meds, but they aren't hoodlums. They are the lost. But I've never been betrayed by one of them and Mouse is a fairly good kid. His rap sheet is filled with minor things: petty theft, B and E, selling illegal VI and selling bootleg sim-games as well as ticket scalping for consorts, sports even the theatre."

"Actually his VI is how we are getting in touch with The Wizard. It links directly to The Wizard if you enter the correct pass code." Tali said. "And um Shepard I don't know how you're going to take this. But er…perhaps I should just show you." Tali activated her OMNI tool and linked with the briefing room's holo imaging system and downloaded the VI.

A full color hologram blinked into existence. It was Shepard dressed in N7 armor. "Justice, Duty and the Spectre Way. What do you need done?" the VI said in a perfect imitation of the Spectre's voice.

"You've got to be kidding me!" the real Shepard exclaimed incensed. "THIS is the VI that links directly to The Wizard? What the hell!?"

"It is a good likeness." Liara said a small smile crept upon her purple lips.

"Hey babe." the VI flashed a charming smile to the asari. "I wouldn't mind handling any of _your_ problems."

"Back off you two-gigabyte counterfeit." the real one practically snarled. "Tali turn that god damn thing off."

The room carried the sound of snickering which caused the Spectre's frown to deepen. Clearly she was not amused. This only caused her crew to giggle, chuckle and chortle all the more.

"You know I delete trivial problems like you on the way to real trouble." the holograph flashed Shepard's very cocky 'I've got an idea' smile as it confronted its corporeal self.

"NOW Tali!" A scathing glare from Shepard was incentive enough for Tali to scurry and obey her Commander.

The holograph vanished with a blink. The room was still filled with laughter. The Spectre brooded.

"You mean to tell me this duct rat is selling copies of this…this mockery?" the tone of the Spectre had dropped several degrees. At first she hadn't minded the VI but when it had come on to her wife it stirred something in her. "It makes me sound like a letch wanting to bed every asari I see!"

'_There is only one asari in this room it responded to and it was not Shiala. Perhaps it is programmed to respond to me. Or Goddess forbid a VI of me if this Mouse created one.'_

'_Well…that isn't so bad. But still…that's borderline pornography if that is the case. And it is a complete misinterpretation of my character.'_

"Skipper before you go high and to the right, Tali did find something else about the VI." Williams interjected.

"What is it?" Shepard addressed the young engineer.

"Mouse reported that it was extremely glitchy. He has a few Volus techs working on it but apparently there is a phrase that once uttered causes the VI to relate warnings and information about the Reapers. The VI reports in such a way it doesn't come off as delusional propaganda but almost like a report on the stock market exchange or a weather update. People will listen."

"Let's hear it." the Spectre commanded.

Tali nodded her hooded head and reactivated the hologram. Once more it blinked on.

"Justice, Duty and the Spectre Way. What do you need done." it repeated its greeting.

"Please tell me it can say something else." Shepard sighed. "That is going to get old real fast."

"If you want me to say something else, please consult your owner's manual" it said.

"You're a bloody illegal VI you don't HAVE an owner's manual." the real Shepard snapped back.

"Aren't you intelligent enough to use another VI's manual?" It answered. "We're all pretty much the same in that regard."

Shepard's eyebrows shot up into her forelock. Everyone else tried to stifle their amusement. After a fashion even Shepard smiled. "I don't believe it; I was just given lip by a VI."

The VI in question folded her arms over her photonic chest. "So what's the mission? I can't do anything for you if you don't give me a SitRep."

"Tali, open her up to the Wizard."

"Aye, aye Commander. And therefore it is said that enlightened rulers deliberate upon the plans, and good generals execute them." Tali said quoting age old texts.

The VI shifted slightly as if the holoemitters glitched and attempted to realign the projection matrix. The hologram now wore a helmet. "If not in the interests of the State, do not act. If you cannot succeed, do not use troops. If you are not in danger, do not fight."

Tali responded once more: "A sovereign cannot raise an army because he is enraged, nor can a general fight because he is resentful. For while an angered man may again be happy, and a resentful man again be pleased, a State that has perished cannot be restored, nor the dead be brought back to life."

The VI Shepard apparently had response to this as well. "Therefore, the enlightened ruler is prudent and the good general warned against rash action. Thus the State is kept secure and the army preserved."

The real Shepard was taken aback. 'It quotes Sun Tzu? Talk about your omens.' "Isn't this a little over the top? Clichéd cloak and dagger code phrases?"

"I find it difficult to believe that a duct rat is well versed in the human's Sun Tzu." Liara asked incredulously. "Even if he _is_ a human. It does not seem highly probable."

"No." Tali shook her head. "Mouse said that The Wizard initiated contact with him. Then confiscated the Shepard VI and then sent it back to him with new programming. Mouse said the way to open a chain of dialog with the Wizard was to unravel a small puzzle. 'Only by knowing chapter and verse of War's Way of Fire, sixteen through nineteen will the Shepard user reach desired connections'." the quarian shrugged. "I know it's all a little too dramatic.

"I searched the extranet with the key phrases of Fire as a chapter heading and then numbered verses. It kicked out a lot of human's Christian biblical references but one it did pull up was the Sun Tzu's the Art of War. That seemed the most probable. So I downloaded a copy onto my OMNI tool. When I first attempted it, it gave the responses you heard. I continued with the subsequent verses until it blinked on and off with the helmet on and the voice had changed just as it has now."

"It is the only way to facilitate security." the holographic Shepard took Tali's explanation a step further. "Such things can not be chanced upon by accident but by design. Chapter and verse must be known to activate lines of communication.

"Spectre Shepard you should know contact between yourself and The Wizard can be considered an illegal act though your status grants you certain privileges and dispensations regarding the law." The voice coming from the VI was not wholly that of Shepard's own but layered with another's.

"Am I to assume this is The Wizard?"

"It is more accurate to say I am the voice of The Wizard's drone. I am capable of establishing real time communications if the user has the facilities, the finances for such and the wiliness to face judiciary consequences if caught out. A connection to this Shepard VI however does not guarantee The Wizard will respond. After all authoritative regulatory figures have tried this route to capture my master. Precautions must be met."

"Then tell The Wizard that the _Hero of the Citadel's_ enemies have conspired to ruin her and the mission to stop the threat of the Reapers. They _are_ real and they _are_ coming. There is proof of this. Once a true connection between myself and The Wizard is made I will give this proof of the conspiracy. To start with all The Wizard has to do is take a look at the C-Sec footage of the battle that happened on the Presidium to know what I speak of. I'm certain The Wizard has already seen it. This conversation is over. VI deactivate."

"Logging you out."

Shepard kept her tongue; her mind was not so still. The seemingly omnisentient extranet hacker had gone to great lengths to confiscate her illegal VI. It was obvious that there was a very clear message in that act. Using tenets of the Art of War was clearly another. The Wizard had chosen those stanzas purposely: do not act precipitously, out of rage or resentment least it endanger the State…the people. 'A State that has perished cannot be restored, nor the dead be brought back to life.'

"Don't bring harm to those you are trying to protect by rash acts." Shiara broke the silence as if she was plucking the very thoughts from Shepard's mind. "I have read this ancient human war thesis as have many in the Asari military. The Wizard who to some is viewed as head of the governmental conspiracy theorists seems to be supporting the government with the chosen stanzas. If it doesn't interest the State do not act, and if you cannot succeed do not use troops. This war we have against the Reapers seems to be nigh on impossible to win and yet if we do not act we will perish.

"I have to wonder is this a warning to all users who unlock the connection to The Wizard or simply you, Shepard? Is it a coincidence that such warnings come so soon after the attack against your family or by design?"

"You believe this is some sort of subtle hint for the Skipper not to enact rightful vengeance? Udina deserves to die! Cerberus needs to be burned, their agents are traitors, and traitors are executed! Sam and Liara have every right to act, to seek justice" Ash all but roared.

Shepard smiled at her closest friend truly appreciating the sentiment. She then looked to Liara. "Vengeance and retribution for my family is of a personal nature, for me - for Liara." she stood touched Ash on the shoulder and whispered "and for my sister." In a clearer louder voice she continued, her tone that of a commander. "I will not act precipitously but with all justice at my hand and in the time of my choosing. The enemy wishes me to lash out. Believe me that is exactly what I want to do. But I will not act contrary to my own principles. I will see them fall. To the very last.

"The concerns for my ship hold precedence or we will suffer the same fate as the original _Normandy_. I have never hidden it from you all that I have some…medical issues that also need attending to, all of this will happen on Ilium. We depart as soon as we are given leave by the Council.

"Once this has been seen to, we strike Cerberus. We will harass their bases just as we did before when they assassinated Admiral Kahoku. I have a dossier on one of their topmost operatives. Her name is Miranda Lawson. Each of you will be given relevant information on her to facilitate her capture." Shepard activated her OMNI tool and set it to project a holographic representation of the Australian woman before them.

"You should know she has considerable genetic modifications and has a great deal of bio-synthetic upgrades more than the typical soldier or civilian. She will live half again as long as the normal human. From what the Shadow Broker has given me on her, I think she's a true test-tube baby grown out of a vat of designer genes. She's a very powerful biotic, and a talented administrator, though it seems she has the personality of an iceberg. I'll admit she's drop-dead gorgeous, once more she knows it and will use her considerable sexuality to her advantage. We can use that arrogance against her."

Ash looked at the holo-image of the grey-eyed brunette. The Skipper was right Lawson was very good looking. Her form fitting black and white uniform hugged her curves, leaving very little to the imagination. It seemed designed to specifically show off the woman's ass and breasts "A Cerberus cheerleader parading around like a whore. Makes you wonder if it's by choice or TIM makes his female agents wear that get-up?"

"Do not underestimate this woman based solely on her wardrobe. She's Cerberus's topmost operative for a reason and isn't because she turns tricks for TIM. She is highly educated and very talented both martially and biotically. Take her seriously, very seriously. She will not be easy to apprehend. But this must be done.

"Cerberus is not just my enemy but the avowed enemy of all of us and I am not simply speaking of Council Space. Their pro-human mission will destroy any hope of building a foundation to create an armada strong enough to defeat the Reapers. In order to neutralize the power of Cerberus we have to understand them. To that end we need Miranda Lawson. Study her dossier, know this woman, how she fights, how she thinks, how she moves."

She gained a chorus of aye ayes before she moved the meeting forward. "Garrus what did you learn during the interrogation, anything new?"

"Not as much as I liked and more than I had hoped for." came the turian's answer. "The Talons in question were based out of Omega. The larger percentage of their numbers were probies - Prospects and thus expendable. The other - the one with the merc facial marking was a vet who had incurred some disgrace within the company and this was his restoration of honor. If he could lead a group of prospects against the mighty Shepard and instigate a battle he'd have his honor restored, even if he died doing it.

"The merc when asked confirmed that his boss, a turian named Vossk was conscripted as we suspected along with a long list of others. Some of whom belong to the names _Normandy's _STG recovered and those your own source found." Garrus spoke directly to Shepard. "These names we already have, there was one new addition, and one missing: a Helena Blake. It seems as soon as she heard it was your name she bowed out. The Talon didn't know where she went but apparently she was heard to say she wasn't about to cross you despite the amount of hard cash Udina threw at them. She wanted no part of it."

"The Syndicate not into blood money? Since when?" Shepard snorted disbelieving the rumor.

"Apparently since you, Samantha." came Liara's ever eloquent voice. "At very least that is one faction we do not need to concern ourselves with. I assume however the other mercenary companies are still on the hunt?"

Garrus nodded. "We already knew the three major merc bands had picked up the contract, the Blood Pact, Blue Suns and the Eclipse. Though from the latter we now have two names. A bartarian male: Cahhakt and the human female Mirahi. From the other groups no known names yet. And there are a fair few independents as well. Again some of the names we already had, the twin sisters of the Lystheni salarian offshoot calling themselves the Mournful Blades. A new name cropped up a human male calling himself Zaleed. And then there is the krogan Inamorda…"

"Isn't that the guy that hanar merchant in Port Hanshan was dealing with?" Tali asked.

"The same." Shepard nodded. "Not exactly a loquacious conversationalist, he was more of monosyllabic sort of man. But offered to pay more than Opold for the package."

"Practical like any good krogan." Wrex said. "Been on a few opposite ends of marks with him. He's a good hunter. Nothing of Aleena's caliber but good all the same." The aging warlord turned his massive head directing his next question to Garrus. "Speaking of which is she on that list of yours Bird-bones or Shepard's?"

"She is on the Talon's but wasn't on the list Shepard gave us." Garrus answered.

Shepard, Liara, Ash and Shiala all exchanged a glance, holding it for a moment. The Spectre drew in a great breath and puffed it out. "There's a reason for that exactly. It was Aleena who gave me the list, not some information broker."

Wrex was taken aback. His great red eyes narrowed. "What do you mean she gave you the list, Shepard?"

"Just that." She turned her attention to Shiala and with a slight nod of the head which was acknowledged and traded with a similar gesture. The XO immediately made a very quiet call on her uniform's radio. "For the record, I will say this was kept quiet on a need-to-know basis. Only Liara, Lt. Williams and Commander Shiala and Dr. Chakwas other than myself knew of this."

It was the physician's name that sprouted looks of stymied expressions on the remaining members of the team. The looks remained as the briefing room door swooshed open with a pneumatic hiss. And in walked Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa.

"May I present the Huntress: Aleena."

Wrex was on his feet almost immediately. For one with so great a girth and weight he could sure move quickly when properly motivated. His reptilian nostrils flared as he drew in air and the asari's scent.

"You are having better luck it seems." Aleena patted Wrex's cheek affectionately as would a lover. "It is I, old friend." She leaned in close; her emerald hand traced the ridge just under the krogan's jaw with a very _knowing _hand.

Wrex stepped back, appraising the female standing before him. He looked to Shepard back to Aleena then back to Shepard. His expression was precisely that as it had been on Virmire when Karrahe had announced that Saren had a cure for the genophage. A mixture of rage, betrayal and regret.

"The deception was necessary. It was by my orders to keep the rest of you in the dark which had absolutely nothing to do with the matter of trust. " Shepard now stood between the two non-humans. Her voice addressed the whole of the room but her eyes were fixed solely on the krogan. "Yes, she was hired by Udina but she has fully committed herself to our cause. As surely as anyof _you _have."

"You say it wasn't a matter of trust, I can see why you did not inform the rest of the crew, but why keep us out of the loop?" Garrus sounded hurt.

"In part it was to see if Aleena could truly be trusted. She had after all centuries to build her skills up in deceptions, manipulations and machinations. For all I knew her being outed by me was the artful tactic of building layers upon layers of strategy to take out her intended target. I had my doubts for months after her identity's unveiling on Ilos.

"I had to see her interact with the rest of you without the burden of fear of reprisal from any of your more protective natures." The Spectre turned to Wrex. "You knew her best, Wrex and she still moved under your radar. The skin job and the pheromone change aside you did not recognize her as a threat. In fact you didn't recognize her at all. I needed that unbiased assessment, I'm sorry but I had to use the rest of you as a control group. But it was a command decision and I still stand by it. If I was wrong I knew the rest of you would act accordingly without my decisions clouding your actions or judgments."

"Why?" Wrex's question was directly not to Shepard but to Aleena. He knew the matron would understand the intent of the question.

Her eyes became soft for a moment, wistful even. "Because sometimes it is better to disappear than have to kill someone."

This seemed to satisfy the old warlord. He simply nodded and sat back down. Though the chair was reinforced and built to suit him, it seemed to groan under new weight. "For someone soft and squishy with nothing to hang onto, you were prettier when you were bluish purple." he said at last.

Aleena chuckled, then demurely stepped up to her lover and stood behind her chair. 'It was in the past.' her lips seemed to have said when she caught the questioning look in Shiala's eyes.

Ash having prior knowledge of who Aleena was taken aback by Wrex's confession of his intimacy with the bounty hunter. You could see her attempting to work out the mechanics of the inferred relationship and she was coming up completely blank. It was if it hurt her head just thinking about it. Even Shepard was a little surprised by it but her face long schooled to hold the mask of command gave no outward appearance of her thoughts.

"As far as the rest of the crew are concerned Aleena remains Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa, just like the story of losing Ksad Ishan back on Quana to an ancient security system, or for that matter that it was a geth body housing a Prothean AI. It is a need-to-know security measure. Right now the _only_ people who need to know are in this room."

"Spectre, if I might be allowed to give a suggestion as to the bounty hunters." Aleena spoke up.

Shepard nodded her head for her to continue. "You did not act before, now however now you must. I suggest this. Go to the reporter from Citadel News Net - Emily Wong. Use her. Reveal the names of all the bounty hunters that you have on the lists. As you humans say: 'point the spot light on them.' I'd go further and name each of the Talons that are either in custody or in the morgue that made the attempt on the Presidium. List Westerland News as being a part of the trap set to kill your bondmate. And tell Wong why.

"I would even say 'sources' reveal that former Ambassador Donnel Udina acting independently from the Alliance has links not only Westerland News and Cerberus but was responsible for contacting as many bounty hunters as he had. For proof, I can give you the missive I received that summoned me and the others on that list. We all met in a private conference room in the upper floors of the Mezzanine hotel on Noveria. I had my Omni tool recording the entire conference.

"I am sure if say an organization such as Cerberus had been in charge of the meeting the room would have been wired with anti-recording equipment. Fortunately it seems that Udina isn't quite so paranoid even if he did use a holographic avatar in attempt to disguise himself. If Wong airs that meeting, things will not only go very wrong for Udina but the bounty hunters will not be so keen on acting once the galaxy has its eyes fixed upon them. No doubt a few persistent and resourceful hunters will still pursue their quarry but few will act unless opportunity presents itself. They will not be so eager to actively hunt as they once were, not even for the amount of credits being offered. The risks do not outweigh the benefits."

"An excellent idea, Doctor." Shepard said deliberately using Aleena's assumed salutation. "Shiala, once we're through here, make the call and set up an exclusive. I've been promising Wong one, time to pay up."

"Hell if this works out we may not even need The Wizard." Ashley commented.

"Good. I don't relish activating that damnable VI again." The Spectre did not disguise or hide her displeasure.

This seemed to ease the tension that had built up during revelation of Aleena's true identity as the others shared a moment of mutual amusement.

Shepard, who was still standing, crossed her arms over her chest and gave each of her friends a look of appreciation. "Before you are dismissed I want to thank you all for everything you each have done for me, for Liara. I am profoundly touched and deeply grateful. Thank you." In her blue eyes you could see how truly humbled she was.

"You walk into hell for each of us, time we pay you back Shepard. It's what a true krant does Shepard. We are your krant and you our battlemaster. That is the way of it." Wrex's deep rumbling baritone answered back.

"We'll always fight for you. Even if you do keep a few things from us." Garrus echoed the sentiment. "No matter the cause, Shepard, saving the galaxy or your family all you have to do is ask."

"Always." Tali finished.

As they filed out, Ash stepped up to her Skipper. "I have something for you, Sam. You're going to like it, I think. Meet me in the armory."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEEMEMEMEM EMMEMEME

Shepard walked into the armory with Liara at her side. "So what's this surprise you have up your sleeve?" she asked of Williams.

Ash crooked her fingers gesturing for the Spectre to follow her to one of the many work stations. On top of which was a dark case that usually housed her Colossus armor, which at one point Ash had repainted with the N7 design complete with the blood strip down the arm.

"You upgraded my armor?"

"Not exactly. That is to say not your N-Seven one. You know that armor design we were developing after the Ilos cache? I've fine tuned it and finally managed to finish it. There's a unique set for you and for Liara. One that will suit you well. And I think you'll both like the paint jobs." Ash snapped the lid open revealing a cobalt blue cuirass.

Shepard's keen eye picked out the model quickly. "Kestrel?"

"Better than Colossus for the upgrades in mind and it's easily piecemealed with other armaments." Williams quickly explained.

"That's true they make the more highly adaptable armors. How is this better than the Colossus, though?" Shepard asked curiously. The Colossus armor had a very high kinetic barrier ratio, ablative plating as well as links with the onboard computer that aided with weapons damage. With all the makes and models of armor Shepard had worn over her military career it was the Colossus she favored. In fact most of her ground team did, save for Ash and Liara who preferred the Phoenix.

"For one the helmet forgoes traditional transparent visors in favor of a reinforced faceplate with an internal heads-up display. The display connects to microcameras to allow naturalistic vision, and the helmet's weapon autotargeting and shield software provides a substantial boost to performance. Better percentages for headshots, weapon power and shields." Ash began to brief the qualities of the new set before them.

"The cuirass's spinal-mount processor synchronizes artificial torso muscle fibers with limb movements, allowing power to be generated by the legs, channeled through the core, and projected out through the arms. Stabilization of the firing platform assists in autotargeting, and waist-mounted capacitors add to the power of kinetic barriers."

"Cool." Shepard smirked as she held breastplate up for a closer inspection. "And what of the paladins, gauntlets and greaves?"

Ash stood proud as she gave the explanation. "The paladins house backup capacitors for shield generation. Artificial muscle fibers based on spider silk reinforce the shoulders, allowing for more powerful movements. You can give one hell of a biotic punch, ma'am but with this it increases that power by ten percent. You strike them with this they aren't going to get up any time soon. Even a krogan battlemaster will have a hell of a time recovering.

"As for the gauntlets they are just as potent. They have artificial muscle fibers as well. Just like everything else they are controlled by the armor system's central processor allowing for both gross motor movements and precision support of the hands. This steadies aim in a manner compatible with most firearm autotargeting systems. Additional capacitors for shield generation are installed on the ulnar side of the forearm. The greaves have a hip mounted power pack providing emergency energy for kinetic barriers and heavy weapons.

"This is all high end upgrades but what the protheans had was spectacular. This armor as well as that which I've designed for both you is environmentally sealed with an independent air supply for use in space and extreme planetary conditions, with an onboard "micro-frame" computer capable of running a suite of battle management software. To prevent detection by passive thermal sensors, body heat is channeled to the base of the feet, where it can be dispersed into the ground.

"Tali also had her hands in this implementing some of the tech used for quarian environmental suits. It has a VI dedicated to recognizing signs of stress and medical trauma. This application helps assess your health, but can be useful in any high risk situations." The implication of the recent tragedy hung in the air. And remained their as tangible as an elephant lingering in the corner of the room. "The armor's microframe computer also manages biotic amp and omni-tool power, and microservos help the wearer's movements to counteract the armor's weight."

"I'm trying it on." Sam said with the giddiness of a child on Christmas morn. She lifted the paladins out and noticed the winged crest of the Spectres. "Not in the N-Seven crest?"

"That was my idea my love." Liara said. "All should see you as a Spectre and address you as such. You are no longer a member of the Alliance Military; you have a much higher calling, even to that of your beloved N-Sevens. All must recognize you as you are: a Spectre. It is only right and just you don their colors."

"You're right." Sam passed her thumb across the winged emblem. "Ash make a note. I will no longer be addressed as Commander, but as Spectre." she leaned in wickedly smiling. "Though you can still call me Skipper."

"You know I'd still call you that anyway." Ash jibed causing the three women to laugh.

"Yeah I know." Shepard grinned. "I'd expect no less. So - now what of Liara's armor?"

Where as Sam's armor was blue with white accents, Liara's was white with blue and gray accents, it was not as heavy as Shepard's. The cuirass was pleated not unlike the overlapping scales of a dragon belly. The greaves were seemingly vertically pleated overlying the dark gray underlay. The boots were of similar fashion. On top of it was a long coat that to Sam looked reminiscent of a highway man's coat of the Georgian time back on Earth.

"The abdominal protection is highly fortified." Ash uttered softly almost regrettably. Nothing like fixing a problem after it's no longer an issue.

"Thank you." Liara whispered. "I appreciate the sentiment and the care you give this." the asari ran her hands over the armor. "I think perhaps like Samantha that I shall try it on."

There were only a few asari commandos present within the armory diligently working the hardsuits for the various ground teams. Completely lacking the self consciousness that might have lingered in a human, Liara removed her boots, then stripped down to her bra and panties taking time to fold them as she did. The gray underlay body suit was glove tight fitting her like a second skin. Unlike Sam who started with her cuirass after first putting on the underlay Liara slipped her feet into her new boots, then started for her greaves but was stopped by her bondmate's hand.

"Let me." Sam uttered in a slightly husky tone. She took one of the greaves in hand bent down upon one knee and with deliberate slowness she placed the greave into place. Her hand trailed along the inside of Liara's thigh causing the woman to draw in a hitched breath. Sam smiled as placed a kiss upon her beloved's belly before locking the straps causing the seals to fasten with a hiss. Samantha repeated the process with the left leg.

Liara's hand reached down stroking the dark locks of hair. The act was so sensual it caused Williams to actually blush.

"Perhaps I should leave you two alone." Ash teased. "Or do you simply like being publicly risqué?"

Sam cocked her head slightly looking up from her position a great smile on her face. "I'm just admiring great craftsmanship."

"Oh is that what you call it?" Ash jested.

Sam's only response was her smirk. Rising to her feet she took the cuirass and addressed Liara. "What do you say my love, doesn't Ash's fine work deserve such attention?"

"It does indeed." Liara said.

"Maybe it's not a good time then to say the actually design of Liara's armor isn't mine, but Nual's. It seems her mother is something of an armor fashion designer on Lusia. Apparently our young lieutenant picked up a few tricks of the trade. I just implanted the upgrades."

One of the commandos present was the very woman within their conversation.

"Lieutenant Nual, this is your design?" The Spectre asked as she pressed the seals of the Liara's armor.

"It is, Commander." the young asari said evidently proud she had so pleased her commanding officer.

"This is grand work. Thank you. Both of you." She laid a hand on Ash's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Though it was Nual who answered the praise. "It was my pleasure. Fashionable armor design is something of a hobby of mine. I enjoyed its conception. My mother's company was able to facilitate manufacturing it. She has a small outlet here on the Citadel. They were able to manufacture both yours and Dr. T'soni's armor."

"Then I shall make a note to send on a letter of gratitude." Shepard smiled. With her back turned to Liara she hadn't noticed that her wife had finished dressing, when she turned and saw the coat over the armor she gasped.

"Goddess you're sexy in that!" she walked up to her beloved, took her into her arms and kissed her with great fervor. "How does it feel?"

Liara took a step back from Sam's hold and went into a series of stretches that tested the limits of heavier armors. The vast majority of asari commandos chose to wear light amour for this very reason. Even Shepard tended to prefer the lighter amours they were more combatable with her biotics more so now than ever.

"They are quite suitable. Very fine indeed." she willed a pulse of biotic power to summon forth from her finger tips. "I like it very much." She gave a look to her bondmate. "You look very striking in your new armor as well, Samantha" she leaned in closer kissing her deeply. "Very striking. It suits you most admirably."

"So you approve?"

"Very much so." her fingers traced the Spectre's emblem emblazoned on the paladins. "Show them who you truly are, my love. Let all see the Spectre. Wear this as proudly as you wore the N-Seven., both visibly for all to see and in your heart, and mind Samantha. The galaxy fears the Spectres for a reason. Let them fear reprisal from you should they stand apposed to law. Let them know the acrid taste of justice visited upon them for their crimes. You are a Spectre my love, it is time you fully and truly embraced it."

"Justice, duty and the Spectre way." Samantha echoed her holographic copy. "Let it be done."

MEMEMEEMEEMMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM EMEMEME

*Spectre, you have a real-time call, marked private.* Naga'sadow voice called over the radio. *Do you wish me to patch it though to the briefing room or your quarters?*

"Who is it from?"

*Admiral Hannah Shepard.*

"My quarters, thank you, Naga'sadow." Shepard frowned slightly. 'Since when is Mom a Commander?' she snorted in half amusement. 'I guess we both have a lot to catch up on.'

Once in loft, Sam activated the FLT-comm system calling up a miniature holographic projection of her mother. She saw her mother's smiling face and she practically lost it.

"Hey Ma." she said slowly.

*What's wrong, Babe?* a mother knew almost immediately when her child was in pain.

Sam fell heavily onto her office chair, she opened her mouth and it all came out. She told how Liara got pregnant; her fear about telling about the pregnancy because Sam had said her biological clock wasn't ticking and Liara's terror about being rejected because she was with child. Sam spoke of her own fears that Liara thought her to be like Saren which was what had motivated her bondmate to withdraw.

She briefed over the make-up sex in the mako, the declaration of Ash being the godmother, and the choosing of a name…Secura and how she was first nicknamed Little Sparrow. Sam told her mother of all the little fantasies she had for her daughter and the surprise baby shower. Then the tears came when she told her Mamma how Liara had been attacked, why it happened and how little Secura was lost.

*I am so sorry, Baby.* Hannah cooed to her only child. *Look, I just docked at the Citadel. I'm coming aboard. You, me, your sweet Liara and her dame will get through this together. I promise.*

There are times when a child no matter the age or how strong their character still believes in the infallibility of their mother's promises. "Okay." She said in a hushed tone. She frowned a moment later as something occurred to her. "I thought the _Kilimanjaro_ was still out on its good will tour with the _Destiny Ascension_."

*It is. I'm aboard the _Orizaba_." the elder Shepard dryly chuckled. *Steven finally grew tired of me loitering in his CIC and threatened to either make pilot a desk or take the promotion to Admiral and command of my own ship or retire my sorry ass.*

"Oh!" Sam's face slipped into a genuine though weak smile. "I never understood why you didn't take command six years ago when it first came up."

*Go ask that Ashley Williams of yours and you'll get your answer.* Hannah chided. She knew well her daughter's defensive humor mechanisms were in play. * I was the XO of the Alliance Military's flagship directly under Steven Hackett, a man I well respect. I wasn't about to leave The Old Man's side. That's the problem with great commanders; you don't want to leave their command until they force you. Loyalty - sometimes its hell on the career.*

Both Shepard women laughed.

*Now, go wash your face, I'll be there shortly.*

Sam saluted, smiled "Aye aye ma'am." and deactivated the comm-system.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEME

AN: I've combined many of the armors in ME2 and took the color of Tela Vasir's armor to create Sam's new armor. And of course I had to use Liara's very sexy armor in the DLC-LotSB for hers.


	40. Answering Decloration

Chapter 40: The Answering Declaration

"Attention on deck!" Williams barked as soon as the airlock to the _Normandy_ opened revealing Admiral Hannah Shepard in her naval dress blues, waiting just beyond the threshold. Just behind Williams was the younger Shepard and at her side, Liara.

Personnel at various workstations rose and snapped a very crisp salute including the resident Spectre. Hannah returned the salute before placing her arms behind her back in a pseudo parade rest as officers of equal rank are wont to do.

"Permission to come aboard, Commander Shepard?"

"Permission granted, Admiral Shepard." Sam replied then smiled. "Gods it's good to see you, Mom." Sam came forward and instead of giving her mother a customary handshake took a hug instead.

Hannah read the disquiet in her girl's eyes but always the professional she would postpone her personal questions until privacy was theirs. Instead she turned her attention to Liara and gave the young asari a very motherly hug.

"Perhaps it's best to retire to the privacy of your quarters, Spectre?" Hannah asked keeping a natural professional tone in front of her daughter's crew.

"How about the nickel tour first, unless you're on a time schedule?"

"I have three days furlough." Hannah responded with more warmth in her voice. "I have the time, Kiddo."

Sam grinned at that.

She led her mother along the banks of terminals that comprised the Normandy's operations hub used for scanning planetary surfaces, FTL Comm Link, the NAVMANUAL 1.4.1, the GUARDIAN, and Heat Sink controls.

The _Normandy's_ Command Information Center truly took the elder Shepard's breath away. "Is this still the turian design or is this asari?"

"A little of both actually. The first _Normandy's _turianCIC was an effective and efficient design despite what some of our admirals think. Since this _Normandy_ is a prototype Spectre ship it incorporates the tech from _all_ the Council races.

"I've seen other Wavecrest class frigates, the _Normandy_ seems different."

Sam smiled in pride for her ship. "It is. The ship was developed by the math-obsessed salarians at the Jaedo Science Academy and manufactured by asari engineers at the Armali Shipyards. In fact it's a mathematical work of art, every single measurement, arc and number is either a prime, powerful, or perfect number."

"How Feng Shui." Hannah said glibly.

"That is not far from the truth." Liara said. "The asari have similar philosophies concerning functionality and spirituality. Both hand-in-hand are believed to lead the way towards enlightenment, innovation, inspiration and invention.

"The salarians at the JSA have incorporated our philosophy for the overall design of the Wavecrest-Normandy class frigates. There are many more innovations that have been implemented to meet the needs of this uniquely diverse crew."

"Of course all such vessels will be restricted to Spectre's only." Shepard added. "It's a way to circumvent the Treaty of Farixen, since the construction of the frigates are a joint effort and used only by Council Spectres and not by their independent militaries. In theory each Spectre will have a mixed crew. We're just the pilot scheme."

On her tour of the original _Normandy_, Hannah Shepard had been deeply impressed with what she had seen of engineering. She was doubly so now. The weaponry, armaments and engine capabilities were incredibly impressive. Even compared to the _Destiny Ascension_ the _Normandy_ was by far the most advanced warship the Council had constructed.

The Alliance Admiral knew her daughter was forbidden to give specifics about her ship, and she would never ask or presume she would be given any more than cursory knowledge. The officer in her accepted it and could not have been more proud that her only child was not only in command of such a vessel but trusted to keep its secrets. Mamma Shepard could never be more proud of her baby girl.

"I believe you've met my chief engineer Tali'Zorah vas_ Normandy_." Sam introduced the young quarian once again to her mother.

"Indeed, I believe she was your Chief's second."

"I was, on the first _Normandy_." Tali answered.

"It was Chief Adams who requested the change of positions. He said he couldn't even match her skill and intelligence and it was criminal to hold her back of her full potential and I agreed. We would never have defeated Sovereign if it had not been for Tali's skills. She's the best goddamned-Goddess blessed engineer this side of the spiral arms. And there is no one but Tali, I want in my engine room, babysitting those drives. She's Liara's Trusted in the meaning of life-stuff but she's my Trusted for the _Normandy. _"

On hearing that the girl positively beamed, it seemed she even grew several feet in height. For a quarian there was no greater, grander praise or aspiration than to have the esteem and acclaim of her ship's captain. But to have Samantha Shepard's…

Tali never felt more proud, not even if the Council suddenly said quarians could hold the office of Spectre and given that position would she have been prouder than to be held in such regard of her Commander. She was vas _Normandy_, no doubts or hesitations about it. She was Tali'Zorah vas _Normandy!_

"In fact we have had a great many changes in the past few months. Williams resigned as my XO so she could join me on the ground team as my second in command, leaving Matron Shiala to take the XO's position. The CAG once Shiala's now belongs to Russan." Sam explained. "For the time being Huntress Naga'sadow is our primary pilot."

Sam saw the question in her mother's eyes. The younger Shepard quickly interjected with: "Lieutenant Monroe made an error in judgment that solicited a Captain's Mass; he's grounded, for now."

"A Captain's Mass…that's more than a small error in judgment, Sammy."

"He didn't turn on the crew." Sam said. Then in a more authoritative voice she said. "It is _Normandy's_ business Admiral Shepard, it stays _Normandy's _business."

Hannah recognised it. "Understood, Spectre." She gave her daughter a true salute out of pure respect.

"Thank you, Admiral." Sam returned the salute in pure military fashion.

And that was the end of it. A captain's word was law on her ship; the elder Shepard believed this was a truism. In fact she believed it so readily she had inculcated such beliefs into her child. You use the law to change the law; you use justice to stop the unjust, you obeyed regulations, and rules…until they stopped you from doing your duty, from up-holding the oaths you took. The bond between the Commander and her crewmates was sacrosanct.

The rest of the tour was rather enjoyable if not a bit envy-making on the elder Shepard for all the space; tech and military acquirements the _Normandy _afforded her child. And she was far more than grateful for it all. A mother is always is mother. And a mother worries for her child - even if she is a hardcore marine: kick-ass Reaper-slaying Spectre. Moms worry for their offspring: it was a fact of life, a universal truth.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEEM

"She's one hell of a ship, Sam." Hannah complimented her daughter once they reached the mess hall.

The Spectre grinned. "She is and I've got hell of a crew manning her. They each proved their mettle during the war over the Citadel. In whatever fleet they were serving in."

"And the integration how is that progressing?"

"We've hit a few rough spots, arguments mostly, nothing the grimiest KP duties couldn't handle. Conflicts stemmed mostly from humans and turians. There were a few incidents between a couple of asari and volas. And there were one or two hitches between the salarian and pretty much everyone else. Overall the crew have merged successfully."

"Samantha speaks true, when a mission is on the board the _Normandy _crew work as one singular unit, covering each other's six. Any arguments stemmed between crewmates ends immediately when our troops hit groundside or take the birds into theater among the stars." Liara said with great pride in her voice. "What we have established here is unique. The Council Fleet protecting the Citadel is indeed integrated, but no single ship has been so until the _Normandy_."

"We've also adapted a turian way of handling stress by adding a fighting ring in the rec-room. It's all carefully and properly refereed, complete with standard safety gear but it works. Crewmembers who have been pissing each other off, can take out their frustrations in a sparring match. Hell we've even had some friendly sparring matches to blow off steam. It's great for morale."

"I imagine so. Sounds like a pretty constructive way to deal with interpersonal conflicts."

Hannah gauged her child for a moment before she spoke again. "Sam, what you're doing here is incredible. I'm not talking about your mission to stop the Reapers which is phenomenal in of itself. But all of this Sam…a united force. This is such a unique opportunity for you, for humanity.

"It is because of you, that one decision back on the Citadel that gave us our spot on the Council, but we have a place a true place in the galactic community. You are captain of a fully integrated crew on a ship of incredible power. The success of this crew will prove that not only do humans belong on the Council but we are not the upstarts or the powermongers some still whisper that we are. Sam, you are more than humanities' first Spectre, you are our spokesperson - now more than ever."

"Great no pressure." Sam offered her mother a lopsided grin. "I'm trying, Mom." She sighed. "But for every move I make for humanity it seems, humanity has made three strides in the opposite direction. Cerberus, Udina aside there are other elements…in play…" she sighed "Then there are the Reapers. I have to pretend the geth found Reaper technology, repurposed their derelict ships just to make sure the Council doesn't suspend me on the basis of being medically and mentally unfit. But at the very least they recognize a threat that Reaper technology is being used."

"At least there is that." The elder Shepard placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "But you don't have to do this alone. Even if only one member of the Council believes in you, you have others who do. You've got your crew, your bondmate and me and more than a few admirals in your corner. Steven sings nothing but your praises, and David Anderson is especially fond of you."

"I noticed you did not mention Samantha's father among that list." Liara said softly.

Hannah flinched slightly. "Sam, your dad _is_ proud of you. He just…has other ideas about the Reapers."

"Meaning he doesn't think they're real, that they are some geth construct and I've gone around the bend. Is that it?" Sam muttered darkly.

Hannah sighed. "He is very opinionated. He hasn't openly rebutted anything you've said about the threat of more Reapers coming. He simply believes that everything that has happened to you: the beacons, the Cipher…" dark blue eyes looked to Liara and held the stare for a moment longer than necessary, conveying the unspoken words about John Sheppard's opinion of Liara.

Sam snorted. "Typical. Even after everything we shared with him through the knowledge bond, he still can't get over Liara and I, can he? What does he think; I'm fracked in the head because of some asari 'mumbo-jumbo'?"

Hannah nodded. "That is it precisely" She placed a tender hand on Liara's arm "Look kiddos what he thinks isn't important. And you shouldn't have to deal with his crap on top of everything else. Leave it alone. I for one love my daughter-in-law." she winked "As for your in-laws Liara, my opinion is the only one that counts. You just remember that."

"Thank you, Hannah" Liara's lips curled into a smile. "I can say the feeling is quite mutual."

"Enough of this soft-and-gooey stuff." she patted Liara affectionately on the arm one last time, "I'm famished. What on this tub of yours is worth eating, Sammy?"

Liara snickered how alike mother and daughter truly were. She could definitely see where her beloved not only picked up her phraseology and mannerisms but also her outlook on life as well. She enjoyed watching them interact. In a way it reminded her of when her relationship with her mother was still good. Of course she was very much still a child then - still in her third decade. It wasn't until she had hit fifty that things between Benezia and herself had turned very sour.

"Rupert is a damn good mess sergeant. He can throw grub on the plate that is almost five-stars. Happy bellies make happy soldiers." Sam jibed, bringing Liara back from her stray thought.

"Indeed he can turn even the most mundane common foodstuffs into fine cuisine" Liara said.

"Only with proper portions." Sam laughed. "None of that dinky bite size dinners they try and serve at those fancy joints."

"Yes, I've nearly forgotten that you biotics have practically hollow legs. How you keep it from going straight to your hips and thighs I will never know. You must burn a hell of a lot of calories."

"Biotics do have higher metabolisms than those without the talent." Sam shrugged. "It takes a lot of energy to do what we do. It has to be fueled by something."

"Is that why I've never seen an overweight asari?" Hannah asked, shifting her attention to her daughter-in-law.

Sam turned to Liara; she wanted to know this as well. It had never occurred to her before now, but even those asari she had met who opted not to develop their biotic capacities were not even the slightest bit obese.

"That has something to do with it yes. But asari physiology has a much higher metabolism than even the fittest human or turian athlete. A great deal of it stems from our reproductive system as well as our natural biotics.

"Not to say eating an unhealthy diet does not have an affect on us, for it does just as it would with anyone else. It is simply that our bodies process food in a very effective and efficient manner."

"Still must be nice though, eating a deliciously decadent bar of chocolate without worrying it will go straight to the hips." the elder Shepard quibbled, brokering chuckles from the other two women.

Rupert had served them meals of calamari and alligator gumbo something both Liara and Hannah enjoyed, and for the Spectre she enjoyed a bit of smoked squab on a bed of wild rice and portabello mushrooms.

Once dinner was finished Shepard led her mother and bondmate back to the loft. Here the strength of the Spectre waned once she saw the looming basinet tucked away in a corner of their quarters.

Hannah saw her child falter, "Sam…" she started softly as she approached her girl. "Liara…both of you listen to me right now. I know how hard this is." she held up a hand forestalling everything that would have come forth from her child's mouth. "A year before I delivered you…I was on furlough, your father and I celebrated New Years like newlyweds. Four months after that…I miscarried."

Sam stared at her mother incredulously.

"John never knew. In fact the only people to know were Steven Hackett, Karen Chakwas and David Anderson. The David, Karen and I were serving on the same ship at the time. And Steven has always been a good friend…he….nevermind. The four of us have always been pretty solid. The three of them kept this secret for thirty years.

"Kiddo, I wanted a child for so long, when I had that miscarriage…I thought that was my shot. Then I got lucky…I got pregnant with you. It was on my birthday. I know, because nine months later in April …I had you.

"Girls, I know what it is to hope, to look forward a new life and feel it snuffed out. I can not tell you what is it to feel a child so close to you are bound to her spirit, her soul, but I know what it is to lose that hope. To lose a life growing inside of you, Liara, I know this agony. It takes a long time to go away but eventually it does. It lessens…but it never fades completely. And you have your bondmate to see you through it, she mourns just as you do. Don't lose sight of each other in this grief. John would have been relieved. At the very least you are spared that bitterness, that pain."

Sam stared at her mother. "Dad …never knew?"

"No. Never. I wanted you Sammy. I was desperate for you, like I said if John ever knew…I would never have had you. Not the you that you are.

"John being the sort of man he is would never have claimed a 'bastard' child as his own. Nor would he have any part in raising you. He did little of that as it is. You're my Shepard not his Sheppard. Your personality, your whole demeanor would have changed because of those events."

The Spectre stared at her mother, 'not the you of who you are…' She never knew there was a child before her. She knew not only from the words of her own mother, but from the memories of the prothean vinculum that her mother was desperate for a child but her father ardently opposed the idea. John Sheppard never wanted to have a child, Hannah Shepard did. Hannah had her victory but at the cost of the pure happiness of her marriage.

Hannah knew that after she had given birth to her child, her coveted daughter she had lost her husband, forever. It was a sacrifice she had willingly given. A sacrifice that only now Sam fully understood.

The memories of the vinculum flooded back to her. The argument the night before she was told she was getting implanted with biotic amps and gaining a new mentor. She remembered her dad saying that he wasn't the one to have sired her. That Hackett had!

There had been so much going on; Sam had all but blocked that memory from her mind until now. In some ways she wanted to know if it was true, in others she very much didn't. It would change anything from the past, but still to know…

"Is he even my father?" Sam suddenly asked.

Hannah blanched. "What?"

"Not my Dad. Is. He. My. Father?"

The elder Shepard didn't answer. "I don't know what you heard…" she signed. "Sam it's complicated. He does care for you, honey in his own way. John is still a fairly descent man, and I still care for him even if he is…the way he is. I would never have married him otherwise. But our marriage has always been better when we are stationed separately. It is one of the reasons he isn't on board the _Orizaba._ In fact he's retiring."

"You didn't answer the question, Mom. I…remember an argument, when I was a kid. The one you had about either sending me away or getting me a mentor. Dad said I wasn't his. I was so worried about being sent away and trying to prove I was a good daughter I spaced that part of the argument out." Sam watched her mother's expression it was a mixture of sorrow and regret.

The younger Shepard place a hand on her mother's shoulder and begin to tell her about the vinculum. When she was done. The energy in the room seemed to have been sucked right out.

"So is it true or was he just blowing smoke?" Sam finally asked. "Look it doesn't matter right now. If it is, I'm not going to confront anyone. I know why it was kept dark if it is true. And I don't blame you, Hackett or Dad for the decisions made. And I'm not going to say you should have told me, because knowing wouldn't have changed anything. I'd just like to know, now. Guess the same is true if it isn't."

Hannah stood up and walked toward the fish tank, her blue eyes watching the creature within in mindlessly swimming to and fro without a single thought.

"The blue of your eyes matches those of your father's, not mine." The elder woman said at last.

John Sheppard had brown eyes.

"Does Hackett know?"

"Yes."

"I'm guess you and…my _father_ had or still have feelings for each other."

"Yes. What I said was true about the night of your conception. Your real father readily agreed to sire you, but we had to be careful. Had news of it leaked out it would have destroyed all of our careers. And more than likely criminal chargers would have been made." Hannah continued to watch the fish. "A woman who wants child with her partner will sometimes do desperate things…to insure she conceives."

'_Tell me about it._' Liara thought to herself thinking of her own mother and the mess that had been her bonding to Aethyta and connection to Sha'ira.

Despite the gravity the conversation had taken Sam smiled at her wife's thought.

"I do not understand why your husband was so adamantly opposed to a having a child." Liara pressed for details, as much for her own sake as for her beloved's.

"Because John had a simple belief: you can not be both a good parent and a good officer. One will suffer for the sake other. He wasn't willing to sacrifice a career for a child and he thought it terribly unfair for a child to be raised with so little foundation of a home. He isn't the only military person to hold this belief.

"And a part of him is right Sam, it was unfair to you. You never had a stable home life. And your education wasn't the greatest, with shipboard computer tutorials when a live teacher wasn't available. The only steady teacher you had was your biotic mentor. And even that didn't last long."

"I'm not complaining." Sam said. "We did alright. What he did he want you to do after he found out you were pregnant? Retire, that you sacrifice your career?"

Hannah shrugged.

"And where would you have chosen as a home base? Dad's home colony of Mindoir? By now I'd have either been killed by the batarian slavers that hit it, a slave or severely traumatized had I even survived it when Alliance dropped groundside and stopped it.

"Or would we have settled on maybe the Shepard's family colony? A whole planet that is basically a reservation. You talk about my conception shaping my life. Not being a spacer definitely would have.

"I liked ship-life. The hum of the engines, the creaking of bulkheads. It's comforting. And I'm no dummy, so what if the majority of my education came from computers. I still aced my courses; they don't accept dull stones at Arcturus Station or the Interplanetary Combatives Academy in Rio. They don't turn idiots into N-Sevens. Or for that matter Spectres. And for the most part my own kids will be spacers." Sam looked to Liara, sheepishly. "Well…right?"

Liara smiled and touched Sam's face affectionately. "For the first few years of their life, yes. But I want them to know Thessia as well. They should know the feel of the ocean air upon their skin, the touch of the waters, and the smell of the gardens."

Sam nodded. "Babe, that goes without saying. Maybe when they're ready to go to school we can settle there. You know we actually never talked about this."

Hannah chuckled chiding her daughter. "Don't you think perhaps that you should? I'd like to know where my future grandchildren are going to be, when I come to visit." She took pity on the couple, "When it's time you will let me know."

"Mom, actually there is something else we need to talk about." Sam said. "When we have another daughter, you can't be Nana because it's too lose to the asari word for Mom….which is Naneth. And I know you hate Grandma, so how about _Yeye?_?"

"_Yeye?_." Hannah grinned, the Salish word for mother's mother-grandmother through the mother's side: anglicized it sounded more like Yeah-yEAhh. "I like that idea. Absolutely. So you're going to teach your daughter, Salish?"

"Yeah, she will know it fluently. After all her Ada knows Asarian fluently so she'll know both Salish and English."

"I think my translator just glitched. Did you just say you said 'Ada'?"

Sam smirked. "Sorry, yeah, our translators turn their word for _other _parent or siring parent based on the definition into father, but they can't change the shortened version. It's sorta like Mommy-daddy…thingy. Ada.

"I'm not going to be called Daddy, Dad or father. I refuse that term. I don't have the bits for it. Call it human hang-up. And Mommy and Naneth is Liara's. So I'll take Ada, and well that comes with Arda, oh and Mamma." she smiled. "Until my kids are ten or so and they feel that's little too babyish for them."

Hannah nodded understanding; her voice became softer than Sam ever recalled hearing save when she was a toddler. "Then you get a call from them and when they call you Ma, you listen. You just listen. Because that's what they need you the most. You put down the uniform and you do what needs to be done. Like me, you chose the uniform Sam, but when your baby calls out in pain, you choose her over the uniform."

Sam could only offer a smile to her mother, for no words came to mind or mouth. After a beat the Spectre sat heavily upon the sofa. "Mom, there's something else you need to know. I've been diagnosed with borderline Cyan Syndrome."

"What?" Hannah partially fell on the floor but was guided to the couch by Liara. Her tanned skin had taken on the most unhealthy pallor. "Sammy?"

"Ma, it's not bad, not yet. I'm going to Ilium to get the necessary upgrades to my implants. And before you ask yes it has practically everything to do with the prothean beacons, cipher and a few other of their gadgets I interfaced with.

"The cipher…changed the way my biotics work, so did the gestalt; I'm more or less on par with young asari maidens. Shiala is training me further as is Liara. Combined with diligent training and with the new upgrades I'll be fine."

"But…your eyes….they haven't changed."

Sam shook her head. "Tricks, courtesy of old school theatrical special effects. It was actually Chakwas's idea. She even developed the way to do it." With her left hand she lifted the lid of her right eye, licked the tip of her right index finger and plucked out a coloured contact lens. "Sometimes the old fashioned ways are the best ways." This time when she looked at her mother, Hannah could not help but gasp.

Sam's iris glowed a biotic cyan blue.

"Mom, don't worry, I'm getting it sorted. It's one of the reason's we're headed to Ilium. I have an appointment with a clinic there that will give me the necessary up-grades."

"Why Ilium, why not here?"

"In two words: The Council. I want as much autonomy as possible. Ilium affords me that secrecy at least for the moment. My ground team knows I need some medical attention but as far as the rest of the crew is concerned they are taking their furlough there while the ship itself is upgraded with new tech, much of it prothean."

Hannah nodded understanding the line of her child's reasoning. She even knew why Sam went out of the way to conceal her glowing eyes from her crew.

"So Ilium?"

This time it was Liara who spoke. "Though my people do not use amps we are in fact the best at creating and developing biotic amplifiers as we are in their implantation in the body of other biotics. We base the technology upon our own natural physiology, it is perhaps why they are both the most effective, efficient and yes expensive. Ilium is one of the very few asari worlds outside Council jurisdiction.

"We have one of the best contract negotiators onboard dealing with the legality of it all. Trust me when I say, the asari know how to write, bend and twist the legal procedures. The non-disclosure clause in Samantha's medical contract is _very _finite."

"I see." Hannah sighed rubbing her forehead as if to wipe away the anxiety she was feeling for her child. "But you are going to let me know the outcome." it was an order, not a request.

"Yes Ma'am." the younger Shepard answered without sarcasm

"Good. Now then I believe there are other matters we must attend to, no?"

Packing up the baby's belongings. It was something neither young mother was particularly looking forward to.

There were three boxes in the end.

One contained the basinet, one contained items that could be used by Shiala for her daughter. The third held items neither Liara nor Sam were willing to pass on. Fuzzy-footed sleepers Ash had bought the couple in the pattern of N7 armor. Tali had bought a similar set but fashioned after green and white labcoats favored by Liara. A teddy bear again a gift from Ashley decked out in felt N7 armor. A plush varren from Wrex, and a mobile with tiny model ships from Garrus. There was a selection of musical compositions from asari composers, a gift from Shiala, plus a few other personalized odds and ends the mothers themselves bought for their Little Sparrow.

All personal gifts for the baby had been kept and stored. Secura would know them, but in the future another daughter would. They might not have been intended for her but they were for a T'soni-Shepard child.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEME

Three days can provide a great deal of healing to broken spirits. Much of the Spectre's time was divided between spending time with her bondmate, mother and Consort as well as the Council. During several of those meetings, Tela Vasir was present on the pretext the other Spectre had been present during the altercation on the Presidium.

The presence however made Shepard feel scrutinized, as if she were under constant evaluation. There was no doubt in human's mind that Sparatus had ordered her colleague to appraise whether or not she was mentally fit for duty. Anyone else who had an attempted assassination on their wife and their child dead in the womb would have been given some respite. Shepard on the other hand knew if she didn't step-up and show she was capable of distancing herself from her personal trauma they would pull her from the Order of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance.

On the other hand if she were too detached, showed a too much of a hardened and cold heart they would pull her just as swiftly. It was delicate balancing act upon razor-wire. Any misstep and it ended everything. Even Anderson seemed to be sitting back watching his protégé walk the dangerous path. His motives though just as shaded as the others were not as malevolent. It was as if the latest addition to the Council was proving to the others that Shepard was up for the task.

When she appeared before Council donning the new armor, complete with the emblem of the Spectre's, the reaction was immediate. Sparatus's mandibles flared in contempt, Velarn blinked several times, a salarian equivalent to a raised eyebrow, Anderson smiled and Tevos only gave the slighted tilt of the head. The most telling however was Vasir. She seemed to be taken aback by the bold proclamation of the humanity's first Spectre. You could see it in the asari's eyes that she had not believed Shepard to embrace her role as Spectre as ardently as she had as an N-7 marine.

"I see that you have finally shed the vestiges of your loyalty to the Alliance military and present yourself in hallmarks of the Spectres." Sparatus said. How it was he could make even the simplest of statements seem like an off-handed insult never surprised Shepard.

"I am as loyal to my people as you are to yours, Councilor." Shepard sidestepped the baited trap. "And like you have taken up the mantle, duties and obligations expected of me in my role of serving this Council." Shepard stated with sublime diplomacy. Listen to the Consort long enough and you pick up a few things about word-play.

This made even Velarn's lips tweak into a slight smile. There were times when his turian counterpart racked even his passive tolerance.

"Indeed." as all the turian Councilor said.

"Spectre," Anderson addressed her, "It is my understanding you wish to further your investigations into the attack. We've read the reports from Spectre Vasir, Executer Pallin and those of your own concerning the mercenary bands that were sent after Dr. T'Soni. You each affirm that Cerberus is involved. And you further stipulate that Udina is working with them, in fact you have proof of this."

"I do. I also have a lead on one of their top operatives. I intend to capture her, though this coincides with the attack on my bondmate capturing her will give us an opportunity and insight not only on Cerberus but on their head—a person who calls himself the Illusive Man.

"As you have said yourself Councilor Velarn they are the avowed enemy of the Council just as much as the geth are. Their policies are so mired in a pro-human agenda they do not see they are harming the very ones they claim to be protecting. I have seen first hand their atrocities; and Admiral Kahoku died because of them.

"They were on Ilos collecting the bodies of the protheans. And though we neutralized the group stationed there, there is no guaranteeing they had not already sent samples off to the Illusive Man. As you know they have samples of the rachni, thorian and the Reaper tech recovered by the geth that turns organics into husks.

"It's time to put a muzzle on this hell hound, and I'm starting with the woman Miranda Lawson. Pardon the pun but according to the dossier I gained from the Shadow Broker she is the Illusive Man's top bitch. I've forwarded you each a copy of it. I wouldn't be surprised if Cerberus hadn't funded or at the very least was the motive for her unique …creation. Cerberus wants frontline super soldiers, but they also desire supremacy of human evolution. There is enough evidence to point that Lawson is one of these stepping stones. The Illusive Man's own dynasty.

"He's a charismatic xenophobic despot. He seems to have had a lot in common with Saren. He will make sacrifices, as many sacrifices as are needed to achieve his warped sense of glory and domination. He must be neutralized."

"You desire to abandoned your notions of the Reapers are coming for chasing after Cerberus?" Sparatus asked. "You'd give up your hunt for your 'white whale' so easily?"

That comment completely shocked Shepard. Of all the human literature to quote, he used Moby Dick? Though if she were truthful to herself, being compared Captain Ahab was just this side of better than being compared to Chicken Little. Of course he'd make the scathing comment for her own jibe at Saren's cost.

"That whale hasn't breached yet, but this one has." Shepard dismissed the insult as trivial. "Cerberus is a very recognizable threat just as the geth are. You've all seen the reports during my hunt for Saren, they dogged his every move, had people on the inside stealing his research and twisted it further. I'm not giving up on the war with the Reapers but this must be dealt with."

"We have formed a consensus. You have our permission to purse the hunt for Cerberus." Tevos said. "The Illusive Man is the heart, mind and soul of Cerberus. Eliminate him and the organization will collapse; its cells will become disorganized and incapable of coordinating or cooperating with each other."

Velarn picked up the conversation, "It will be critical to compile an accurate and effective list of targets. After you have this Miranda Lawson in custody you will coordinate with Spectre Vasir and Captain Kirrahe of the STG to hit these targets."

"It will be a joint-species military action. It is highly speculative that any of the bases you will find and paint as targets may not be within Council space but in the Terminus Systems. Spectres are able to act without impunity and on their own accord. The Council will not avow any such action." Sparatus trailed the salarian.

"Typically attacking a facility in the Terminus Systems means a Council review and grounds for military discharge. But Spectres are not bound by the rules and Cerberus doesn't follow them anyway. Engaging Cerberus will not be easy, if not properly executed the facilities will warn the others and they will shut done. At that point gaining a foothold against the Illusive Man will not be possible." Anderson finished. "Since this is your investigation, Shepard you will be in command of it."

The expression upon Vasir's face in hearing the declaration was one of contempt quickly concealed behind a mask of acceptance of the inevitable. It wasn't that she didn't dislike the human, but to her Shepard was still very much a rookie. You didn't give a job like this to someone who in the galactic arena was still wet behind the ears. Still if and more than like when Shepard failed, Tela was going to be there to take over and officiate as needed. Perhaps this was the agenda of the Council—a back up plan ready to be implemented if the great Hero of the Citadel failed.

"As the Council orders," Vasir finally said. "So shall it be done."

The asari turned to her human counterpart. "Spectre Shepard, perhaps we should reconvene on the _Normandy _to overview the agenda of our operation."

Sam shook her head, ever so slightly. 'Oh no you don't. I'm not turning this into a pissing contest to establish whose top bitch on my own ship.' she thought to herself. Aloud she said as cordially as possible. "That won't be necessary. You already possess all the Intel, we have at this juncture. Once I have anything more I'll forward it to you, Spectre Vasir. However I'd like to say I look forward to working along side you."

The asari's only outward sign of agitation was a curt nod of the head. "Until then, Shepard."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEEMMEMEMEME 

Emily Wong had long looked forward to this day. An exclusive with the Hero of the Citadel: first human Spectre. Though Shepard had a few interviews with that tabloid hack Khalisah Al-Jilani it wasn't what one would call an exclusive and by no means in-depth conversation.

"I have to say this is a far sight better than being ambushed in the promenade of C-Sec." Shepard said looking around the set of Citadel Newsnet.

It had a fairly relaxed yet formal look to it, with Wong's wrap around chrome and durasteel desk offset by the dark hunter green velveteen sofa on which guests could comfortably sit. To Shepard it had the feel of an evening entertainment show versus a newsroom. Of course the set was reserved for interviews and not the typical broadcast news.

"I'm Emily Wong with Citadel Newsnet and I'm here with Spectre Samantha Shepard, formerly a Captain of the Alliance Military. Hailed hero of the Battle over the Citadel, Savior of Elysium and Eden Prime as well as humanities first Spectre.

"Spectre Shepard, may I say it is an honor and privilege to have you here." Emily bowed her head in a traditional greeting.

"Thank you, Miss Wong." Shepard responded cordially. "I'm glad we could finally do this. I know it's been a long time coming. I believe I promised you this a year ago."

Emily smiled. "You've been busy; its understandable taking time out I can imagine is a highly prized commodity. As I understand it you've been hunting the last remnants of the geth army, as well as terrorist organizations and criminal overlords. That's quite the resume."

"Just doing my job." Shepard said. "The geth have reproduced ancient Reaper technology, the same technology that whipped out the protheans. Twenty years ago a derelict Reaper ship was discovered by a salarian science team and then stolen away by bartarian pirates. This same ship was later seized by Saren when he raided the pirate's base. He christened the ship: Sovereign.

"In its recovery he discovered Sovereign's AI technology was not wholly dormant. He made contact with the geth, formed an alliance with them. There were other discoveries the rogue Spectre uncovered, such as indoctrination. Surviving STG members from Virmire can attest to this as can former disciples of Matriarch Benezia."

"Yes, as I understand it you went to great lengths to acquit her of treason." Wong stated. "Not only her but her disciples as well."

"They were indoctrinated. Victims of ancient Reaper technology. They had no will of their own." Shepard said. "They can not be held accountable for being coerced into unwilling actions. Saren used the indoctrination to brainwash his victims."

"There are some that say that Reapers technology turned on Saren and it was why he turned on the Council, the Citadel and perhaps even the motive behind his attack on Eden Prime." Wong played the devils' advocate. "What are your thoughts on this, Spectre? If this is so should he also not be acquitted, post-mortem?"

"It is only supposition to his actions on Eden Prime. It is no secret that he harbored resentment towards humans for his brother's death in the First Contact War. However, if you are asking me if he was indoctrinated near the end…I truly believe he was." Shepard knew she was treading on very thin ice now, if she admitted to what she knew to be true. The Council and the Alliance both would disavow anything she said as madness and delusional paranoia.

"It is entirely possible the geth connected to the ancient AI and sought dominance just as they had done to their quarian masters three hundred years ago. Irregardless the geth have this technology now, and they are making steady and progressive use of it. Sovereign was only a vanguard for what is to come."

"Are the geth retro-engineering more of their ships to become as Sovereign?" Fear crept into Wong's voice.

Shepard nodded. "Scouting reports indicate this is so." she carefully maneuvered. "It is our prime objective to see this does not happen. It was why I was given the captaincy of a new ship and the crew that I have.

"The Council fleet and its allies will protect Council space; there is no danger of an immediate attack on the Citadel itself. However the outlying colonies are not going to be so fortunate. It is why I and the crew of the _Normandy_ are sent on the mission to stop the incursion before it fully escalates into a war we can not win. We must act preemptively if we are to succeed at all."

"And is this what you believe, Spectre Shepard?" Wong pressed, "That we will win?"

Shepard paused for a moment. How to convey that she didn't think it was hopeless without sounding prosaically and naively optimistic? Then it occurred to her to quote the words that were in what was essentially the N7 bible.

"Victory can be created. For even if the enemy is numerous, we can prevent them from engaging. If they do not know our military situation we can always make them urgently attend to their own preparations, so that they have no leisure to plan to fight our forces.

"The enemy must not know where I intend to give battle. If the enemy doesn't know then he must prepare in a great many and thus those I will engage in one place will be few. Abating to asari guerilla tactics in theater will assure the enemy will never know where or even how we will hit them."

"And if the enemy does know?"

"In war espionage has always been an issue to contend with even if we use it ourselves. Therefore we must be ever vigilant, which is why you can appreciate I will not discuss how I intend to engage the enemy."

"The old saw that lose lips sink ships." Wong nodded her head. "It is as applicable now as it was when it was first coined. I understand the necessity of confidentiality, even if say some of my counterparts in other news agencies do not."

"Sensationalistic reporting isn't news it's gossip." Shepard said flatly.

"Indeed not." the reporter agreed. "I was going to ask you about how it feels to captain the first fully integrated inter-species crew, and what you are allowed to tell us about the new _Normandy _and even the decision to change her name from _Victory _to the new designation.

"But in light of recent terrorist events upon the Presidium and truly unfortunate results, is there any light you can shed as to why such an atrocity occurred?

Grim faced the Spectre nodded. "Unfortunately duty sometimes bleeds into the personal life. Terrorist organizations like Cerberus don't like the message you're sending such as integration and cooperation with other species and they send bounty hunters after your family to assassinate them."

"Are you saying the attack on the Presidium was one message?"

"In any given government there are those who desire their so called heroes to be nothing but puppets." Shepard drew in heavy sigh. "When these individuals do not capitulate with those elements' demands they strike in what they believe to be the paragon's weakest point."

"The assassination attempt on your bondmate." Wong said softy. "Spectre, I wish to convey for myself and on behalf of everyone here at Citadel News our deepest condolences for you and your wife's recent loss."

Again a mask of dignity and diplomacy was all Shepard allowed to be seen. But there was something in her eyes that betrayed the deep seated sense of loss and regret.

"It is widely known that Cerberus is pro-human anti-alien organization. Why would they branch out into the private sector of mercenary groups, especially ones controlled by the turians of the Terminus Systems?"

"The Talons, were not the only ones to be hired. The prisoners that were interrogated admitted upwards to five organizations as well as independents. The Mournful Blades, Blood Pact, the Eclipse are a few so names. Then there are independents such as the krogan Inamorda, LT Christen Meier of the Elysium PD, a batarian calling himself Dezanti and a human known as Zaeed Massani. There was an asari called Aleena but I've dealt with her, she will no longer be hunting." Shepard gave a shark's smile.

Wong was taken aback. She knew several of the names the Spectre called out. As for the mercenary group to have such a hive of friends, the Spectre must have seriously angered someone. Her mind whirled at the implications.

"Many of these people are not human, why would an organization such as Cerberus hire them?"

"Cerberus doesn't waste what it can use." Shepard intoned. "And why not use non-humans to hunt down the first human Spectre? This way the light of accusations seems improbable at best at worst ludicrous.

"I am now well aware of who is hunting and why. I intend to bring the battle to them, lest more innocence suffer such as the death of my unborn daughter will not happen again. I have no intention of acting impetuously however as they desired to provoke in me a more renegade reaction. I shall bring the full force of my office and authority down around their ears. In knowing who they are, I know where to find them, and I will come for them."

There it was, war declared on inter-galactic television.


	41. Let the Testing Begin

Chapter 41: Let the Testing Begin

'….I shall bring the full force of my office and authority down around their ears. In knowing who they are, I know where to find them, and I will come for them.'

It was a bold declaration of war even by Miranda's standards, though she might also call it fool-hardy and overly dramatic to challenge her enemies so openly. It sounded a bit like clichéd dialog from a b-vid. There had to be something more to that theatrical display.

"She's quoting Sun Tzu. She's called out the enemy, used one of them as a trophy, and initiated the next move by openly stating she will not be manipulated into actions that are dictated by others."

The more Miranda thought about it the more she started to see just what Shepard had accomplished with her junior-high rockstar showmanship. She had not done this to posture before her enemies or assure the heads of state she wasn't going to go rogue. It was to provoke the sympathies of the general public.

Those that might have doubted her ability to carry on the duties as a Spectre, to represent humanity were now reassured. There was nothing that the plebs liked more than a hero constantly hounded, harassed or even severely wounded. They wanted to watch their heroes overcome the odds, pull themselves up once more and prevail where a lesser being would fall.

Now a great multitude would have heard that Shepard's bondmate was brutally attacked, an unborn child lost and a list of enemies that still desire her blood, more than that they want her to fail and go rogue. The public believed in Shepard now more than they had when she had saved the Citadel, because now she seemed more real, with known vulnerabilities. The public was already rallying behind her, now they would do so even more.

"You truly are a bloody icon." Miranda uttered to herself.

'You would truly wage war on all of these mercenary bands?' Wong asked.

'War? No not war.' Shepard shook her head. 'I'm just implementing the law. By instigating a terrorist action on the Presidium they have made themselves fugitives from Council justice. This criminal act can not go unpunished. Nor will it. Those that hired the mercenaries are the true malcontents.

'The act was perpetrated in Council space, within the seat of its power. This is _Spectre_ territory, _my_ territory, _my _jurisdiction. They were fools to so openly defy the law in what was an obviously staged attempt to make me either resign my commission or have me become like Saren, a rogue agent.'

'I don't understand." Wong said. 'Are you saying Cerberus hired mercenaries to kill your bondmate just to force you into resignation? Doesn't that seem a little outlandish? If anything, I'd think Cerberus would want to try and recruit you, not sully your name.'

'What greater power is there than to turn an enemy to your cause? Cerberus may not have been directly involved. There are those who have very strong ties to the organisation that are however. There are political parties that did not approve of my choice to order the Fifth Fleet to defend the _Destiny Ascension_ rather than direct all firepower upon Sovereign. Nor my recommendation that Captain Anderson becomes humanity's first Councillor.'

'I know many viewers wonder why you made that decision. That is to say the decision during war not the appointment of your former Captain.'

'Are you asking me why I sacrificed so many human lives to save the Council? Or perhaps why Rear Admiral Hackett didn't belay those orders and concentrate forces on the enemy dreadnought? I know people of the Alliance out there criticize me for the loss of so many humans that guaranteed the continued dominance of the Council. They don't seem to grasp the greater scope of things. They tend to forget that others lost a great many lives as well.

'The turians lost twenty cruisers each with a crew of three hundred. The _Ascension_ the asari dreadnought, we saved had a crew of ten thousand. We lost eight cruisers. _Shenyang_, _Emden, Jakarta, Cairo, Cape Town, Seoul, Warsaw, Madrid_. And yes I remember them all. Everyone in the Fifth Fleet is a hero. The Alliance owes them all medals, the Council a lot more than that. So does _everyone_ else.'

Miranda picked up the tone of anger in the young Spectre's voice. The Cerberus operative turned off the vid-screen. She had heard and seen enough to gauge Shepard's true demeanour. Opening a line of communications with her, even with a gift-wrapped Udina wasn't going to be easy.

The Illusive Man believed the more intelligent a person the easier it was to manipulate them into believing a complex lie. They filled in the holes with logic, reason and creative thinking. They finished weaving together the threads in a perfect tapestry of deception. The simple minded questioned the holes in a story, demanding explanations for every loose end. It was far more difficult to lie to them.

When she was younger and being moulded into the perfect operative at the Illusive Man's feet, he had carefully indoctrinated this knowledge into Miranda's training. With deception she knew that one had to weave in bits of the truth to reinforce and support the layers of the story that were false. It was theatrics but of another kind: truth, deception, re-establish the truth.

And so the story went: It can not be denied that Udina did indeed join us. However he went completely against the Illusive Man's orders in ordering the death of your bondmate and child. My boss wants him eliminated; he is now a blight upon the best interests of humanity.

Getting Shepard to listen first was going to be the tricky part. The Spectre's history with Cerberus agents was going to cloud her judgment and further impressions of what Cerberus truly stood for. Yes, their methods were harsh but they were not as evil as many believed. People of Cerberus didn't hate aliens they simply believed that humanity should not be subjected, dominated or overrun by them. Cerberus was there to even the playing field and ensure humanity's continued growth. It would be far too easy to grow complacent in the role the Council wanted of them just like the hanar, drell or even the elcor and volus.

Complacency was stagnation, stagnation was death. It was a simple truth. One that Miranda hoped to convey to Shepard, that it was the driving motivation behind Cerberus doctrine. If the Spectre could be made to believe it or simply understand that, then she could be convinced to join in alliance. Miranda knew it would take something quite extraordinary to make Shepard become a willing part of Cerberus which was highly unlikely but an alliance however tentative was a start.

Finding the _Normandy_ after it left the Serpent Nebula wasn't going to be a difficult challenge, even if she was running on stealth. A person like Shepard tended to attract attention. She was after all not always the most subtle of people, things tended to blow up around her. It was like being in the center of a hurricane calm and chaotic at the same time.

You could never capture a storm only chase it. But how to get near it and not be caught up in it?

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Naga'sadow's fingers deftly moved over the helm controls of the _Normandy_ bringing her smoothly into the prearranged docking bay on Illium. She loved the feel of the Spectre's ship under her expert hands, it responded to her command as a lover cooing with every touch. She was proud of the _Normandy_; it was an asari ship after all. Yes it had salarian mathematicians who helped design her along with the pre-existing human and turian models of the original _Normandy_ but it was the asari who built her. It was the asari who melded four designs into one glorious whole.

She understood Joker's obsession and his jealousy over _Normandy_'s helm. When she was placed as temporary lead pilot she took up the position because it was her task, her duty. Now she didn't want to give it up. She knew of course once Joker was reinstated she'd have to but he couldn't always be at the helm. She completely understood the jovial human's desire to always be the one to put the _Normandy_ through her paces.

During the dogfight over Ilos she had been in the cockpit of a viper, one day she hoped to be at the helm of the _Normandy_ when the inevitable fire-fight broke out. Especially with the new upgrades that were going to be installed. For now however she was content just being this marvellous ship's pilot.

She didn't know what strings were pulled to get the _Normandy_ a private docking bay, but the young asari knew they had to very expensive ones. Being a Spectre had a great deal of perks, perhaps this was one of them, or perhaps it was because of the ship's resident contract negotiator's talents. The pilot decided it was probably a little of both.

Mallene Calis once a representative of the Armali Council had joined Shepard and her crew as a contract specialist. It was her expertise that managed to pull the strings both for the private docking area, the contracts for the new upgrades for both the ship and her Commander. Working for the Spectre was good PR for the Council and Calis felt she was doing her civic duty to aid the Savior of the Citadel. She might not have the silver tongue of the Spectre but she knew the ins and outs of contract negotiation fine print. She had been doing for it for the past three hundred years. The only hiccup that ever came in her career was when she had to deal with humans. But her stint on Novaria had taught the maiden much about the impetuous and highly individualistic race.

She had taken Shepard and Vargas for dull stones simply because they were humans and completely underestimated them. And truly underestimated Shepard - a mistake that had a common theme of those that did ending up dead. Calis had to appeal to the Spectre's sense of justice to get her to perform the small task of hacking Vargas's computer with a monitoring device.

Shepard had first refused to undertake industrial espionage; forcing Calis to appeal to the commander's sense of justice by saying that Binary Helix was hardly innocent. That got the human's attention or at least the asari had thought it had. She had watched across the Mezzanine while the commander worked over Vargas whilst actually tipping him off about the attempted espionage.

What puzzled Calis the most at the time was that Shepard came back and told her that Binary Helix was on the alert. She took the news calmly and asked why Shepard decided to do this. She thought perhaps it was because it was going against a human company but the Spectre told her that it was justice. Neither the Armali Council nor Binary Helix were above the law. This was a much better lesson than a slap on the wrist. Calis respected that.

It was how The Game was played on Novaria; despite the fact the Spectre didn't seem to grasp that. It was also a very large reason why Spectres and alternatively Justicars were not welcome there. Such tactics were going on all the time on the corporate ice planet; it was enough to make officers of the law go insane.

Calis had been reprimanded for her choice of 'agents' and told she should have known better than to pick a Spectre to do something outside their nature. Calis would never have asked a Justicar to do such a thing as corporate espionage; she'd end up in pieces. Asking Spectre as clean as Shepard was just begging for the same end. Fortunately Shepard was content with Calis's humiliation and not the taking of her life. And it was for this reason when Shepard asked the Armali Council for a contract negotiator, Calis stepped up and volunteered for the role. Calis had no nefarious motive to pay the Spectre back for the botched mission, rather she felt indebted to Shepard for teaching her a very valuable and very bitter lesson. Humans should never be underestimated simply because they were new to the galactic scene. The humans were not vorcha, and they were not dull stones. Well at least not all of them.

The Game however still had its used even aboard a starship, especially a starship which such an integrated crew. Where subtlety, manipulation and subterfuge worked within The Game, especially on Novaria it wasn't appropriate for a military vessel. The direct approach was what was called for. Soldiers responded to orders. Calis reminded the Spectre that threats under the auspice of legality were a solid move against espionage for the non-military crewmembers. Few were willing to risk the definite end of their own lives and impending imprisonment of their families for monetary gain.

So it was that Shepard allowed Calis to open ship-wide communications and remind everyone of their contractual obligations, she added in duty, honor and integrity to bind the mindset of the crew. She also reminded them that should anyone follow Merkson's example that they were not the only ones to suffer but justice went all the way to their families who would ultimately pay for their misdeeds. The asari could tell the Spectre didn't at all like the very idea of the ultimatum's threat or rather promise but it had to be done.

Having taken care of the administrative details of the _Normandy's _arrival, Calis's duty now lay in meeting with the engineers for the upgrading and ensuring the medical team handling the Spectre's case progressed without a delay. So far everything was proceeding as exactly as planned. The engineers were due to arrive on the morrow and they would meet with Tali'Zorah and Lt. Adams. The quarian of course would be in charge of the entire refit. Nothing happened without her approval, as Shepard gave her full authorization. The Spectre trusted the young engineer's expertise and professionalism just as she did with Adams. The ship was in good hands. There was nothing engineers obsessed over more than the ship in their care. To them the _Normandy_ was their baby…their first born.

MEMEMEMEMEMEEMEMEMEMME

"T'Lam!" Liara snarled the name with colder disdain than Sam had ever heard the asari use before.

She turned from packing her carryall, looked up and saw Liara leaning on the office station staring at the computer monitor as if had personally offended her. "Babe? I'm guessing she somehow pissed you off?" She gambled it was a she as T'Lam was an asari name.

"Dr. Unira T'Lam is….considered one of the foremost experts on paleotechnology. She was my mentor at the Serrice Academy where I earned my PhD. She now advises the Council on prothean technology."

"Yes, I can see why you would have a problem with her." The Spectre said looking at her bondmate. She abandoned her packing for the hospital and padded up to the office section of their quarters.

Liara sighed. "I might seem ungrateful but my anger is just. I looked up to her, I was a willing disciple. She gave me the true hunger to delve deeper into the fate of the Protheans, their knowledge and technology. After a time she started to cast out my theories on the Protheans and the cycle of destruction. She spread doubt on the papers, I wrote concerning not only the protheans but those that had come before them. She said my theories were idealistic! Fanciful!" Liara growled.

"My peers believed her. After all she's a matron and I was barely more than a child playing at archeology. Oh she said I had a talented mind and a vivid imagination but I had a great deal to learn about paleotechnology." The last sentence was said in a snarl.

"And to the asari this is same as an admiral saying an N-Seven is playing at war. Nice. So what happened? She, debunked your reports on our recent discoveries?"

"She has placed some questions on them, especially the validity of the data banks we found on Ilos. Specifically Vigil. Now that we no longer have him, her counter argument holds far more weight. That was enough for the Council to take her words over mine. "

"Like the arguments against what I've been saying about the Reapers."

Liara nodded.

"But this isn't what ticked you off. Is it?"

"She sent me a message saying she wishes to speak with me." Liara snorted. "Perhaps she desires to ridicule me in person. Even if it is by holo-conference,"

"Speak with her." Sam touched Liara's face with the back of her hand, gently stroking the blue cheek before she kissed her.

"You want to me to meet with this woman? Why?"

"She was your mentor. Might be good to say 'I told you so' to her." Sam flashed a smile. "Your work is instrumental in what we've been doing. And your knowledge is the only reason we discovered what we have. Not only did you discover it but allowed for the rest of us to understand it. We have a long list of Prothean tech, a great deal of it is going into the _Normandy_, thanks to you."

Liara sighed. "It was also my knowledge that brought you to the accursed vinculum that nearly destroyed your mind."

The Spectre shook her head. "That's bullshit. You didn't put me in that thing. Vigil did…and I did. I couldn't let it go. The need to prove the Reapers are real, the fate of the Protheans…drove me to take chances. There isn't any fault in you, Angel Eyes, or your knowledge. I told you that before. I did it to myself." Sam stole a kiss from purple lips that were set in a line of discontent and worry.

Liara frowned into the kiss, "I am serious."

"As am I." Sam continued to nuzzle her beloved, her lips trailing down the gentle folds in Liara's neck. She was rewarded with a moan of pure pleasure. "Stop beating yourself up over something that wasn't your fault. Besides if you weren't there to pull me out, I'd be lost. As for this T'Lam, talk to her, see what she wants." Sam nibbled at Liara's jaw line with little pecking kisses.

"We have a couple of hours before we have to book into hospital…" The Spectre slipped her hands down Liara's spine to the small of her back, causing her to gasp. When the fingers slipped lower, Liara's eyes went solid black. Sam's lips pulled into a large smile, she knew she had hit azure.

"Anyone ever tell you, you do not play fair?" Liara hissed in her desire.

"Of course I don't, I'm a Spectre." This elicited a giggle from the asari.

Liara used her biotics to send the duffle bag to the floor while at the same time manipulating Sam towards the bed. "In that case, we're wearing far too many clothes." Liara's left hand cupped her lover's breast before snaking down to Sam's inner thigh.

"Perhaps we should remedy that." Sam purred.

In quick succession shirts, trousers and undergarments were shed. Sam felt her heart quicken, her body responding to Liara's knowing touch. She moaned as she felt teeth bite her earlobe. She arched her back into the sensation.

"Prothean experts bonded to Spectres do not play fair either." Liara whispered as she sent a small biotic pulse into her lover's nervous system, replicating the sensations of azure being triggered.

"Goddess!" Sam gasped as a mini-orgasm hit her.

Liara nuzzled, nipped and kissed the woman writhing in pure desire beneath her, "You always go first in our Joinings. Now it's my turn to give pleasures." She slid two fingers into Sam's wet warmth, gaining a deep moan of want. The bond exploded between them, overflowing, overcoming and enfolding them both. Sam cried out in her ecstasy as another orgasm wracked her body. Connected to her, Liara thrilled to the power of her own symbiotic climax as it captured her.

Breathing heavily, body slick with sweat Sam flipped Liara onto her back. Her lips trailed kisses down blue-skin, along her neck, down to the swell of breasts. "Now I get to send you into embrace of eternity." Her lips pulled into hungry smile.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Ash in the CIC watched as Shepard and Liara left the elevator, both women were smiling, whispering to each other. "You're looking particularly glowey this morning, Skipper. Breakfast in bed, I take it?"

Sam smirked devilishly. "The best sort."

Ash shook her head as only a teasing sister would. The mirth in her dark brown eyes took on a more serious expression. "Skipper, the assessment crew will be here by late afternoon. Commander Shiala and I will meet with them along with Tali and Adams. We've got the baby well in hand, Sam don't worry about her."

Shepard reached out and touched Williams on the shoulder. "I know you got this. Actually that's not what I'm worried about." She shrugged as if trying to dismiss the apprehension she possessed about going under the knife.

"You'll be fine, Skipper. These docs came highly recommended; they've got the best credentials. They know what they are doing."

"I know. But knowing and feeling can sometimes be in conflict," the Spectre admitted. "But I gotta do this. I have to. I can't just throw on contact lenses and pretend CS isn't there, or that it isn't progressing." Sam rubbed a hand against the back of her neck, kneading out an imaginary kink. "Let's just get it done so we can go back to work." She smiled softly. "It's only pain right?"

"Check it at the door, Skipper." Ash held her hand out into a vertical fist.

Sam tagged the fist with her own, "Check it at the door."

MEMEMEMEEMEMMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Sam sat in the office listening as the doctor droned on about the procedure. Just as Chakwas prescribed, her nervous system would be infused with bio-synthetic fibres. The lattice shunting would act as a conduit to her brain and the dark energy nodules. The doctor continued to describe that the shunting was similar to those in her derma-layer. Shepard tried her best to keep her patience, and not roll her eyes at everything she had heard or rather reheard. Smart amplifiers, neural masks and hyper amps would take care of the issues of Cyan Syndrome. She knew all of this.

She knew the cipher had rewritten part of her cortical synapses, thus changing her beta waves. She knew the beacons, and other Prothean interfaces she had encountered furthered those changes. But more than anything else, the gestalt had augmented that change. She knew dormant areas in her brain were now awake, she knew she was functioning on the same level as an asari maiden without the thirty years of concentrated learning on how to control her biotitics. What she didn't understand was why it was that the doctor before her processed the need to virtually regurgitate everything that Dr. Chakwas and Aleena had already told her and Liara.

'_You just want to go out and shoot something don't you_?' Liara chided Sam through their link. '_Or blow something up?'_

'_Hey! That's not what I'm all about_.' Shepard scoffed.

'_You're bored.' _Liara teased warmly.

'_Deeply.'_

"Spectre?" Dr. Kiang T'Shyn called out in a tone of voice that suggested this wasn't the first time she had tried to get the human's attention.

"Sorry. I…um…what were you saying?"

There was slight amusement in the woman's voice. "I said we can begin the testing. Both Doctors Chakwas and S'thasa will be present to aid in moderating and consulting on your progress, as both are intimately involved in your primary care.

"I need to set some baselines to see what I am dealing with outside the context of reports and medical files. We'll begin by testing the potency of your biotics. From your files I see you have undertaken training from your ship's XO, Commander Shiala…in the asari methodology."

"Yes that's true. Meditation exercises and drills."

"This includes the echo game?"

"Yes, that's right. I can hold a pretty solid average of twenty-five to twenty seven beans. Once or twice I've managed thirty-one." The Spectre looked to her bondmate with pride. "It's nothing like Liara who can clear the bowl."

"You are no commando. That is impressive. As is the fact you can perform the echo game, Spectre Shepard. Few humans can manage that amount of control. " the physician complimented the younger woman.

"Not all archeologists are passive diggers of dirt, Doctor. Out on digs alone one must be able to protect ones self." Liara said adapting Sam's more sarcastic nature. "And Samantha is a very accomplished biotic. "

"Indeed. Is that not why you are here, Spectre? I read what Dr. Chakwas said about what happened with the firaxon shark, Sovereign and before that the battle on Elysium. Accomplished or not these are impressive feats for someone who had so little formal training. Perhaps we should commence with the testing."

Shepard couldn't agree more. She was more than anxious to get the whole affair done and over with. "Tell me what you needed me to do."

Three days of extensive testing designed to challenge asari commandos.

Shepard's first tests were simple, consisting of suspending roses, which moved into the echo game, even stopping an air car with a biotic pull. Her body was put through strenuous exercises,: how far could she use a storm-charge not only in distance but vertical leaps, how long could she hold a singularity, and how well she could control it. She performed pulls, throws, warps and shockwaves. She created barriers, slams, and reaves which allowed her to focus on snuffing out a single target's life, increasing her strength, power, and damage as well as her ability to heal. There were other drills such as having Samantha using her biotic power to enhance ammo to do heavier damage against a target's health, the strength of their armor and biotic barriers.

During all of it the Spectre was hooked up to monitors, even while she rested, meditated, slept and shared intimate moments with Liara whether it was making love, or cuddling, it was all recorded: peaks and dips, surges and drains. The doctors needed to see what triggered the higher surges.

The new amplifiers were custom-made specifically for Shepard, but the tests proved how they needed to adjusted to stabilize the Spectre's biotics. Her powers were a strange cornucopia, a mixture of Prothean, asari and human abilities unlike anything the doctors at the clinic had ever seen in their collective seven hundred and forty-five years. It was the Prothean markers that changed everything, from how they assessed Samantha to how they were going to cure the onset of cyan syndrome

On the fourth day Sam was prepped for surgery. She lay on the gurney as the local anesthesia set in before they put her under the general. Liara held Sam's hand close to her heart, while her other hand stroked back the locks of black hair.

"You're going to be fine my love." Liara whispered, as much to comfort herself as Sam. She kissed her forehead. "Caroline and Aleena will be there consulting with Dr. T'Shyn. I shall be with you every step of the way."

Sam groggily smiled. "They're letting you in?"

Liara nodded and placed another kiss on her bondmate, this time on her lips. "Yes."

Her eyes drooping, the smile on the Spectre's face became sleepy. "Chakwas must have told….'em about wha…happen….Sovereign." Try as she might Sam couldn't keep her eyes open. The sedative was fully setting in.

"I'm sure she did." Liara stroked the tanned cheek. The door opened up as three asari in surgical scrubs walked. in. "They're here for you."

Far too sleepy to speak Sam managed a nod or at least she felt as if she nodded, a thumb went up then she closed her eyes.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEEM EMME

"How long is this supposed to take?" Ash groused. "It's been nearly seventy-three hours and all we get is she's stable, and still in surgery." She paced the floor of the mess hall

A familiar feeling set in around the companions as they sat around one of the tables, Wrex and Garrus side by side, opposite them was Tali and Joker. Leaning against the wall was very pregnant Shiala, her hand resting upon the swell of her belly.

"I can only relate to you what I am told by Dr, Chakwas. Lt. Williams, the replacing of the modules in her bio-amps, and the bio-amps themselves take time." Shiala said softly. "Cyan Syndrome is a progressive neural degeneration, we were fortunate to catch Shepard's in time. What damage had been done can be repaired, but will take time. Switching out amps will not magically whisk the problem away. She will have to undergo cell replacement and maintenance therapy along side biotic physiotherapy. That is not something that can happen within three days."

"She will be fine." Wrex said. "Or she won't. Fretting one way or the other will not change that outcome."

"Oh? So you're good with her not being fine? Then what the hell are you doing sitting here and not doing whatever it is you do when you're not stomping around in the muck groundside?" Ash snarled at the krogan.

The large male stood facing off against the puny human. "I didn't say I was fine with her biting the big one, I said she'll be fine or she won't. I'm not worried over it."

Ash got into his face staring him down. "Oh yeah? And I say again why are you sitting with us, if you aint worried over her?"

Wrex snorted, one could almost imagine steam puffing out of his nostrils like from great bull on the charge. "I was sitting eating when the rest of you came in and sat down."

"Yeah? But you're done eating now. Admit it; you're just as worried over her as the rest of us are. Stop pretending you're not."

Again Wrex snorted dismissively. "Look Shepard wants this ship ready for heavy battle. The engineers are doing their part. Our battlemaster is getting herself fixed up so she can do hers. I say we don't get soft in the meantime. Now we can pace up and down the halls like some nesting broodmother or we whip these so called warriors into shape. We harden them. I say we get _Normandy's_ warriors ready to take down a thresher maw on foot. Get them ready to face husks, and whatever the hell the Reapers are going to throw at us. I heard Illium has full-on battle sims just like we used in Pinnacle station. We don't let them go on furlough we start training. If the asari are supposed to be the finest warriors in the galaxy let them prove it. Get them teaching. Not only the warriors, but the egg-heads as well. Liara proved that even a scientist can hold her own in battle.

"Everyone at this table knows what to expect, what we're going to face. They don't. I say we make them. We set up the sims so they face husks, minions of the Reapers, the rachni, thresher maws, thorian creepers and the geth. Instead of wringing our hands Williams, we turn this ship into a force worthy of Shepard's legacy."

Ash faced off the massive krogan and….smiled. "You're absolutely fucking right, Wrex. Shiala you're the XO now, what do you say?"

"Wrex has a very valid point. I will instruct the asari commandos to begin instruction of survival and battle techniques to the non-military crewmembers. Humans, turians and the salarians all have different fighting styles and military philosophy it will be a mistake to completely reconfigure that fundamental training. However we can begin integration in unit cohesion.

"Illium has several national parks we can utilize as survival training grounds as well as war games. Personal not required for the refit or security will congress there and we will commence training. I think it will be a very good start to being the scientists there to test their skills. We can divide into four groups: survival, battle sims, actually war games and a skeleton crew for the _Normandy_. We'll draw up a rotation chart. Since we are here for a month and one week has already passed we will take there remaining weeks into the afore mentioned sessions. The most senior warriors can guard the _Normandy_ leaving those junior in rank and skill up for accelerated training and exercise.

"Because, I am the XO and not released for combat for medical reasons," she indicated her rounded belly causing several to chuckle. "I will remain with the _Normandy_ for the duration. Wrex since this is your idea which group do you wish to oversee?"

"Survival. Krogan. We're good at that."

"And here I thought it'd be war games." Garrus taunted. It only gained him a very toothy shark's grin.

"I'll leave that to you Bird bones. Turians are good at playing at games."

Garrus lowered his head and grunted.

"Actually, I want that one." Williams said.

"Very well that leaves you the sims, Garrus. I'll order Morwen to take opposing side in the war games. I'll post the roster later this evening. And Wrex thank you for the insightful inspiration. When Shepard returns we will be ready to face whatever enemy dares to confront us. Dismissed."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEME

"Can you believe these new orders? It's preposterous!" Jahleed railed through his environmental suit's vocabulator. "Those gun-totting knuckle-draggers think just because Shepard is away they can order us to go stomping through the mire, and pretend to be soldiers. Who do they think they are?"

"In charge." Chorban said.

"They _are_ in charge, Chorban. And they are trying to up the odds of us surviving encounters with the enemy." Abby Williams stated. "We're on a military ship, on a military mission. We follow military orders."

"You're only saying that because your sister is Shepard's right hand." the volas challenged. "We're here because of _our _skills in the sciences, we're not meant to fight. No volas has ever been a warrior. In case it's escaped your notice we're not built for it."

"Are you built to survive?" Shilar asked. She was an asari biophysicist.

"We are given orders, and we will obey them." Lehneero a turian astrophysicist agreed with Abby and Shilar. "I am a scientist, but I served my mandatory two years in the Defence Force. All turians do. We do not shirk our duty. We can not serve this ship, perform our duties if we can not survive or defend ourselves. I concur with this new training regiment."

"Of course you do, you're turian." Chells snidely commented. Then in a more even tone he said. "But you're also right, . We're on the cusp of greatness and much hinges on what we do on this ship. If we are to survive the war with the Reapers, then we only do so if we are fully prepared. That takes training most us never received."

"Twenty-four scientists all on survival training courses." Lizbeth shrugged. "I'm game. It's more than ExoGeni ever did for any their people."

"From the lists it looks like we're going to be divided into two teams, twelve in each. " Abby announced reading from a data-PADD. "Wrex will be taking the first twelve into the Illuminari National Forest for survival training. My sister is taking six of us into war games into the same forest and Garrus has the other six into VR battle-sims."

"Do you think they will pit us against the commandos and marines or will they slip us into teams with them? I sure hope it's the latter, I was always chosen last for any kind of sport" Lizbeth's voice took a hint of concern.

"I highly doubt they will pit us against seasoned warriors." Juliana said trying to soothe her daughter.

"You don't know my sister." Abby shook her head. "She can get a little sadistic against the bookish sorts. And face it, all of us here, fit the nerdy-geek clique extremely well."

"I for one am looking forward to be pitted against the jar-heads. Let them face brains over brawn." Hank McCoy of the genetic research division boldly proclaimed.

"If any of us are pitted against my sister asari, we will not win." Shilar said. "Each of those commandos has had at the very least forty years of training behind her. That is longer than most of you have been alive. Outwitting the turians, humans and salarians may prove easier. But that is not a guarantee."

"Way to boost moral, Shilar." Abby chided. "Face it they are all going to be overconfident. So we use that to our advantage. Whichever team we end up on, don't give into the stigma that scientists can't put up a fight. We just have to fight a lot differently then the jar heads. So maybe we don't win. But we won't go down with a whimper either. Make them earn their victory. And fuck who knows we might surprise everyone and take the trophy."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEM 

"I thought you said we wouldn't go down with a whimper." Lizbeth teased Abby who was rubbing the soles of her feet with a look of absolute agony.

For the better part of the afternoon a group of six scientists scrambled, fought and ran for cover. It seemed the very forest was hunting them. They found a cave to secure themselves in and establish a new camp. Building a small fire they roasted what looked like large beetles, tubers and massive mushrooms the size of a krogan's head.

"I have so many bruises they now have names and families." Abby complained. "In all the letters Ash wrote to us back when she was in basic, I always thought she was being a bit of a drama queen then she turns around in the next paragraph and says she loved it. I don't see how she could love it!"

"Look on the bright side, at least we're learning how to eat off the land, build lean-tos out of twigs, tree bark and moss and of course don't forget about the spelunking."

"And this teaches us how to battle against the geth how?" Chells bemoaned his own aching body. "In less than three days we 'lost' half our people. This is intolerable. I should never have signed up!"

"It's teaching us how to survive, to improvise to use what is at hand rather than always relying on technology, machinery and convenience." Shilar explained. "Why do you think the krogan gave us the scenario that our 'escape pod' crashed in the middle of the great lake and we were only allowed marginal supplies? He has a valid point as scientists we have grown complacent with our amenities."

"I think it is something else." Jahleed said. "I think this is all a diversion. I think Shepard is going to order the whole ship bugged and wired with monitoring devices. She wants us watched. Merkson made her paranoid, the death of her daughter - vengeful. She wants us out of the way so she can carry out the plan. She wants us out of the way; she has her favourite team to do it."

"I don't believe it." Abby said. "Shepard would never do anything like that."

"I think Jahleed has a point." Chells nodded his head, his large eyes blinking rapidly. "That Merkson fellow changed everything. She's gone cold. Now she's just like every other Spectre. Cold, hard and deadly."

"If she is like any other Spectre, best not piss her off." Lizbeth said. "But I don't believe she'd order her ship completely wired to monitor us all. It doesn't feel like her."

"Feel's like the STG, though doesn't it?" Chells pointed out. "She's got Karrahe as a consultant. He'd push for it. Even Commander Rentola is working with the krogan on this so called survival training fiasco. And Calis _is_ from Novaria. She'd whisper into the Spectre's ear just how the corporations do it. We all heard Calis's little reminder of our contracts. Palon - you were on Novaria, didn't Binary Helix monitor everything? "

The young salarian looked up from the fire. His whole countenance was as if he had been mesmerized. But then fire had way doing that. He paused for a moment staring at the others gathered before the makeshift hearth. His voice was distant, measured and monotone. "Yes, I was on Novaria. So was Shepard. She stopped the rachni drones. Stopped the Matriarch and her commandos. Stopped the geth stormtroopers. I saw most of my team wiped out. Had to shower the brains of my partner off of me. If Shepard monitors us to keep us safe, it's her prerogative. She's a Spectre, it is her ship. If she's monitoring for traitors let her. Traitors were responsible for Peak Fifteen's fall. Spectres hunt and kill traitors of the Citadel. Traitors should be exterminated."

It was difficult to argue against that. Still…

"That's all supposition. Shepard's more the in your face, look you in the eye, shoot your ear off if you're a traitor, than put up monitoring devices type." Abby said. "All that gear, all that tech we found is being installed and anyone not involved in the re-fit is put into training. Trust me, I come from a very long line of marines. It's in the blood. Even on vacation especially on camping trips my Dad treated it like some sort of boot camp. That's a soldier for you; they always think you can stand a bit more training, a bit more improvement on survival skills, and guess what?" Abby flung her arms into the air, "we're on a ship loaded with soldiers."

"I concur;" Said Shilar the asari biophysicist "My peoples' commandos are the same, always in training, always improving their skills, they do not stop. Why do you think the asari have the reputation for being finest and best warriors in the galaxy? There is no great conspiracy on the Spectre's part. We must be tested."

"Say, I buy all of this, then where is the Spectre?" Jahleed asked. "Why isn't she out here with us putting us through our paces?"

"She has to oversee the refit doesn't she?" Abby said "It is her ship. That's why she ordered the flagship team to see to our training. All we have to do is make sure the rest of us survive the next three days."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEMMEMEME

Wrex monitored the progress of the scientists. In two days they were down to half their numbers. A very pathetic outcome but not unexpected. At least they lasted longer than one of the commando squads made out of turians and humans. Within the first hour they were down two members by the end of the day two more. By morning they had lost all members. They had been "killed,' by negligence, a lack of unit cohesion and discipline. And while the labcoats might just get away with such abysmal results, there was no excuse for seasoned warriors.

The other three squads were doing well according to his observation team which was made up out of members of the STG. Wrex would have preferred asari commandos or human marines but the majority were assigned to either the war games or the training-sims. Still infiltration units did have their uses. At the very least they knew how to move about covertly. They were sent out to tranquilize members of the test teams, in essence 'killing' them and removing them from active duty. They were then placed within a new squad, playing the part of a lost survivor of another pod with all other hands lost. All teams that were being tested had new members integrated all that is to say save the scientists.

To Wrex the labcoats were all too soft. On Tuchanka even the scientists were put through the trials of the Gauntlet. If they survived they were true krogan, worthy of joining a krant, of having a battlemaster. If not then they died within the trials. If the weak die it was of no loss to the krogan people, only the strong live, only the strong gained the right to mate. The smooth skins were far too accustomed to coddling their scientists, their non-military personnel. This was but a trial any youngling could accomplish. It was interesting to see how the other races tackled such basic survival skills. In Wrex's opinion they were falling short of even the most rudimentary expectations.

"The pack ready?" Wrex barked at Commander Rentola.

"It is. However I again protest its use, Spectre Shepard will not approve!"

"She's not here. The fishdogs have those subdural implants you put in. If they become too much for the labcoats, all you have to do is hit the button and varrens' heads explode. Shepard's precious pets won't be placed in too much danger. Now set them loose."

The salarian commander shook his head but obeyed the order. Ten varren against six non-military scientists, one of them a volus. They were doomed. At least Williams' clutchmate…wait that wasn't the right word…it was sister. Yes that was it. Sister. At least she had some of the lieutenant's skills out in the field. And despite the fact the girl didn't like pistols she handled them exceptionally well. And the asari had her biotics to back her up; those two might just pass this next phase of the trials.

The rest were still doomed.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEMMEMEME

Garrus like many of his fellow soldiers loved the battle-sims. First off you couldn't die in the simulator. The second was good old fashioned competitive rivalry. Who could beat whose time? Who had more kills, who managed to capture the most fugitives or free the most POWs? Who could survive the longest? Who could dampen not only enemy barriers and shields but hack the CPUs of geth or enemy controlled mechs?

Granted those with mixed teams of biotics, techs and marksmen faired better than teams that were heavy one way or the other. The simulation levelled the playing field a little allowing the less experienced in combat gain understanding of how frantic a fire fight could be without any casualties other than their own egos.

There were three basic terrains: volcanic, tropical and subterranean. There were twelve scenarios in all, many of which were based upon the vid-captures during Shepard's flagship teams battles against the geth, Cerberus and raiders. Different gravities, environmental conditions from inclement weather to toxic were factors. In most scenarios the individual teams were up against the clock as well as the gunfire of the holographic enemies.

The former C-Sec agent's only requirement was that the scientists must be integrated into the commando units. It was working with relative success. Of course if one team beat another it was usually the labcoats who were blamed for the discrepancy in the time-stamp. Still simulated bullets were better than live-fire training for those untrained with firearms or even unskilled in their biotics.

There were a handful of asari who opted not to train in their biotics. It always came as a shock to Garrus when he encountered one of them who never reached her full potential in what was a natural part of them. Then again his best experience with an asari scientist was Liara who was an extremely accomplished biotitic. Given whom her mother was this was hardly surprising. Knowing Liara as he did was why he assumed that other asari labcoats were up to her calibre.

All in all it wasn't a doomed or futile exercise, at least in the turian's opinion it wasn't. Once Shepard saw the results of the battle simulations that was when the true verdict would be in.

Of course she was undergoing her own tests and refits at the moment; he offered prayers to the Spirits that she'd pull through not only the surgery but the physiotherapy that followed. He knew how risky it was for biotics to undergo amp replacement. Of course in the ten years since the L2s were upgraded to L3s medical sciences had evolved. Nevertheless there was still a high risk factor even in microsurgery. After all the docs had to go in and replace all the amplifying nodules along her nervous system. One tiny slip and Shepard could end up paraplegic, or worse biotically-lobotomized which would leave her as debilitated as the majority of the L2s.

After what happened with Ksad Ishan and the vinculum, Secura and the bounty hunters there was no force in the galaxy from stopping Liara from tearing the doctors apart for accidentally butchering her beloved. Garrus hoped for all involved the docs didn't make a mistake.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEEMM EMEMEMEME

Sam opened her eyes.

The first sensation she felt was pain. The second was the need to defend. If she was in pain there was something that caused it. The warrior in her retaliated against the pain maker…

Something around her was beeping loudly.

Oh that's right, she was going into surgery for the new L5 implant. Gods it hurt so much, her whole body felt at if it had been stung by fire ants. The thing is she couldn't recall if it felt like this during her first implantation surgery. Of course back then she was so high on painkillers…and younger…Goddess her body was on fire!

"Spectre….Shepard….Samantha….easy…easy…you're in recovery. You are in no danger, you are safe. Liara is near you, asleep but safe. She is simply exhausted. She was with you every step of the way of during your surgery. You need to relax, you need rest." Dr.T'Shyn said in a soft soothing voice. She knew from her human colleague, Dr. Chakwas that Liara and the Spectre shared a very special connection. It wasn't until the surgery that T'Shyn knew just how deep that connection went.

There were asari legends as old as the ardat-yakshi that spoke bonds so very deep that the very souls were connected. The soul-binding it was called. According to the legends it only happened to the oldest of souls and only between two asari. This was the first the matron had ever heard of it occurring between an asari and an alien, even if that asari was a pureblood. Was that the key then to soul-binding to another—a pureblood? And if so why didn't other purebloods experience such things? Perhaps it had to do the linage of purebloods? The doctor knew that Matriarch Benezia was a pureblood. Only long-lineage purebloods produced the ardat-yakshi, were they the only ones capable of developing soul-binding as well?

Nevermind. It made little difference in the here and now. For the moment her greater concern was the Shepard and by extension T'soni.

"Spectre, the surgery went well. The integration of the nodules was a success. I'll go into details later. For now just rest. I'll give you another dose of painkillers; it should be enough to ease your discomfort."

Still very much dazed, semiconscious Shepard watched as a purple skinned hand tapped a single command into a consol at her vitals monitoring station. The next moment the lids of her eyes fell heavy and she slept as the painkillers seeped into her bloodstream.

When Shepard woke next she was in her hospital room, Liara was in a bed next to her still sleeping. A sympathetic smile crossed the human's lips; of course she was still asleep the poor woman had stayed awake connected to Sam for full seventy-seven hours of her surgery. There were pangs of familiarity about the whole thing. Here they were in the hospital beds - one sleeping due to over exhaustion the other healing from a critical surgery.

As Liara stayed near Sam's side, Chakwas hovered over the young maiden. She was only a week past the miscarriage. Her blood loss had been considerable as had the trauma to her young body. But that was the saving grace; Liara was young and healthy as was Shepard. But these were Chakwas's people, her soldiers with piercing eyes. Caroline Chakwas wasn't about to abandoned her charges to other doctors simply because they were the experts. She was going to be with them every step of the way, they were her stability, and she loved them. Miscarriages, Cyan Syndrome Vorlex Syndrome, very delicate immune systems even chicken pox they were her people, all of them. And she would see them through it all.


	42. Reflection

Chapter 42: Reflection

Willing energy into an unwilling, incompliant body after surgery was not unlike a writer staring at a blank page on the computer screen willing ideas into text. Sometimes the ideas don't come, the writing is neglected. Shepard had stared at the ceiling of her room for the past half hour telling herself to get out of the bed, and do…._something_.

It was too easy to simply close her eyes and sleep. The pain meds were strong, made a person lethargic. Or so the Spectre made the attempt to convince herself that was the reason why she wasn't getting out of the bed.

The truth was for the past week she didn't have to think about the war with the Reapers. She didn't have to think about getting her ship and her people into shape to face them. She didn't have to think about the ongoing unrelenting continuous battles of will and words with the Council. She could simply snuggle up to Liara and be for one moment a normal woman and not some goddamn hero.

'Face it Sammy, you're just being dead lazy. Get off your ass and do something. Besides today is physio-day.' Shepard scolded herself. Tossing the blankets aside she rose from the bed, stretched and popped the kinks out of her body before moving for the ensuite to take a shower.

She had just ducked her head under the spray of water for a second time rinsing off the shampoo when a pair of blue hands reached around her waist slick on the soapsuds. The warmth of the other body pressed up against her. "Do you still feel as if your skin is crawling with ants?"

"Not anymore." Sam said coyly, leaning against her beloved. "Though I have to say last night's little escapade was astounding."

Liara giggled. "Better than our first night together?" she nipped the soft flesh of her bondmate's earlobe.

Sam turned in her arms, "Nothing compares to that night, Angel Eyes." She kissed Liara soundly. Her hands slid over the slick blue body.

Liara smiled demurely, "We were a little rushed that night… I like it better when we take our time and indulge. But you are correct our first Joining was truly amazing." Liara's hands cupped Sam's face, looking into blue eyes that still held the cyan glow within the pupils. Then much to Samantha's surprise Liara kissed the tip of her nose, causing Sam to blink several times in succession. "Unfortunately our exercises today are not to be so intimate." the maiden cocked her head slightly; "Well not until later."

"You are such a tease." Sam put on a full faced pout.

"All the sweeter for the wait." Liara purred.

"Huh. Promises, promises." the Spectre returned the playful kiss before surrendering the shower to her lover and stepped out. After towelling her body dry and running it over her head to soak the remaining moisture from her black hair she used the towel to wipe away the fog condensing upon the surface of the mirror. She studied her image for a moment not out of vanity but with a more critical eye. "You know, Mom's right. I do need a haircut." she frowned as she pulled the fringes she normally kept swept back; they now hung well past her nose. "Phft." she blew a puff of air causing the fringe to float away from her eyes. "What a disgrace."

"I rather like it long." Liara said after turning off the water and stepping out of the stall.

Sam idly handed over a clean towel to her before she grabbed a comb and started to rake it through her dark locks.

"It's not regulation."

"But you're a Spectre; you don't have to follow regulations." Liara lightly teased.

"Thirty years of military upbringing, Love. It's kinda hard to kick the habit, just because now I can."

"Can you not put it up like Ashley?"

"Not a bun type of girl. Pony tails yes, buns or topknots just aren't my style. I'd rather have a sergeant's flattop than have a bun."

Liara made a face.

Sam giggled as she saw her beloved's face reflected in the mirror. "What you can't see me with a flattop? Okay then how about a crew-cut."

"Even worse."

The Spectre's lips were still curled into a smile. "Okay, okay no flattops and no crew-cuts. But I still need a trim. After I'm sprung from here, I'll have to hunt down a barber. Illium has enough humans to warrant some sort of hairdressing joint."

"Or I can do it." Liara said following Shepard into their suite.

Shepard went to grab a sports bra and tee-shirt from the bed but turned and gave her wife an incredulous look. "Um…you? Liara, babe you might be a brilliant scientist, a powerful biotic and one hell of an archaeologist and paleotechnologist but hair-cutting? What on Earth would you know about hair care?" she waited for the answer as she wiggled the bra over her head and shoulders.

"You wear your hair simply; it can not be that difficult to trim straight lines especially if you use a comb to aid you."

Shepard tugged on the shirt, "I don't know…." her words were slightly muffled coming from behind the cloth. When her head popped out she saw a slightly forlorn look on Liara's face. The sort you see on a five year-old after telling them that Father Christmas never truly existed and was made up by the corporations to sell more commercial products. Sam sighed, "Look it's not that I don't trust you, it's just that….well you don't exactly have hair. It's not something you can learn by reading a how-to manual…"

"If you are fearful I will turn a cereal bowl over the top of your head, I will do no such thing. I will simply trim your forelock and the back. You can get it styled later to something more cosmopolitan."

Shepard folded her arms over her chest, "Do I look the sort of woman that conforms to cosmopolitan ways, Liara? I've been accused of being butch, soft-butch and a hard-ass but never cosmopolitan. I'm not a frilly-lacy pink lipstick lesbian." she blushed slightly, at Liara's expression. She managed to make the 'brow' marking above her left eye arch as if she were human. "Not that being a…a…. lipstick lesbian…fem… is a bad…thing."

Liara smirked. "Technically asari are not lesbians. Lipstick or butch or any labels humans seem preoccupied with. Besides, you like me in my white lacy thong and teddy."

Sam bit the inside of her cheek as she was want to do when seriously embarrassed. "Well yeah…you're seriously hot in those!" To distract herself she pulled on a pair of N7 navy-issued unisex boxers that matched her sports bra.

"You are deliberately trying to distract me, my love."

"Is it working?"

"No."

"Ah damn." Sam sighed. "Babe, look it's like I said it has nothing to do with trust and everything to do with experience. In this matter, you have none."

"All you want is a trim. But perhaps you're right, t'is best to allow someone else to do this simple thing."

"Oh… you're evil" Sam tried to frown. "You know that? Evil."

"Is it working?"

"Yes."

Liara grinned triumphantly. "Here sit backwards upon the chair and I'll fetch the comb and scissors."

"Just so you know if you botch this…. you have to get a tattoo."

Liara opened her mouth then closed it. "A tattoo?"

"Yep. And I get to pick what and where it goes."

"Really?" Liara stared down her bondmate, with her hands upon her narrow hips. "It is my body…I think I have say in this."

"You'd be more imposing if you weren't naked you know." Sam smirked teasingly. "Standing in a Peter Pan stance as you are now… It's adorable. It's also sexy."

"You're hopeless, Samantha." Liara shook her head.

"I'm a married woman who has libidinous thoughts about her bondmate. Now tell me that's a bad thing."

Liara walked over to the bed where she had tossed her clean undergarments before climbing into the shower and started to put them on. A devilish gleam came to her eyes as she began to don them as if in a reverse burlesque dance at a bordello. She gained a satisfactory gasp from her beloved before she put on a pale sea green silk blouse as mundanely as possible.

"Evil." Shepard whispered.

"I learn from the best."

This had Sam completely stymied. "Who?"

Liara gave a pointed look.

"What, me?" She chortled incredulously. "I'm hardly seductive…"

"To me you most certainly are. I love the way you lean on something with your arms crossed over your chest. That is very evilly seductive."

"Phft." Sam dismissed the compliment. "I know I'm not half bad in the looks department, but the way I stand when relaxed is hardly sexy."

"You do not see yourself though my eyes. There is no point in debating in what I find attractive or sexually appealing in your actions, my love. It will be futile. And I also love the fact your freckles stand out when ever you are a bit embarrassed or had some sun. Very fetching." sitting on the bed she put on her socks before slipping into a pair of black slacks. "Now this tattoo, what do you have in mind and more importantly where will you demand I place it?"

"On that cute ass of yours. Right cheek I think. As for the what… I haven't decided yet."

"If you think for one moment I'll allow property of Samantha Shepard or any variation of your name on my backside you will be very disappointed."

"Oh please…I'll be far more imaginative than that. But of course you don't have to worry about a thing if the haircut isn't botched."

"Very well."

For a moment Sam believed she was free and clear of the pouty-faced wife wanting to give her a haircut. But she was in no such luck as watched Liara go for the wardrobe and pull out the Spectre's rucksack. There was always a first-aid kit in there which included a pair of bandage scissors.

Granted medi-gel took care of injuries incurred on the battlefield until a medic could better tend to the wounds. However there were times you didn't have enough medi-gel, or you ran out. Sometimes you had to rely on very old, very basic methods of first-aid. It was something Shepard had learned long ago in basic survival skills back in boot camp. Gunny Ellison drilled it into his recruits' heads that relying on technology all the time made a soldier impotent. So it was that whenever Sam hit groundside for long periods of time whether it was mission based or on furlough she had an old-fashioned first aid-kit either in her gear or stashed in various concealed compartments on her hardsuit.

"These shall do nicely, I think." said Liara as she opened and closed the blades of the scissors.

Sam groaned, but gave in.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

Physiotherapy seemed a full day of repetition, not only for Sam but for Liara as well. Dr. Kiang T'Shyn ran them through the same battery of tests as before the surgery, comparing the results to the control set.

Many of the results came back within a very minuscule variant of the control set. Others were under the control numbers but only two days after the surgery this was to be expected, the body was still healing. And still others were just that much above the previous results to be marked as significant.

The echo game was where it showed the most. At first Sam didn't think she was up to the demands of the strenuous exercise, but her Illium doctors and even Aleena assured her that she was. Apparently Chakwas's presence was demanded back at the _Normandy _as there were several incidents with the science team and some sort of physical training. Ash's simple SitRep stated it was nothing to worry over but the doctor was needed nonetheless.

The first run through of the echo game was very much like the Spectre's first try, ages ago. Her pulses were not as controlled and far too powerful: three drum heads had to be replaced. Once more Liara soothed the anxiety building up within Samantha so that she might concentrate and refine her shots. This time she was able to follow thirty-five of the ricocheting echoes.

It was the same the next day and the day following. Her average now was thirty-eight beans. The weight she could control with her biotic lifts and pulls were now into the tons where before it was only half a ton. Her rushes were longer and higher though not too extraordinary. With proper training she would be as equal to a young asari commando. Finesse and control was where she lacked skills, not power. But that was solved with repetitive training as it was with anything in life.

A simple but relaxing exercise with biotics was what the Spectre dubbed as making balloon animals. She was to simply sit and create organic shapes with a flare of biotic energy. It was a game that asari younglings did during recess. The object of the game was not unlike the human's game of cat's cradle with a bit of string. The difference was that biotic energy replaced the string and it was played as a solo activity. But it could be competitively played with another child or in this case with Liara as to who could create the most elaborate flare in a given time limit. Of course the design still had to fit within in a single palm. Another meditative drill was to create an orb and maintain it throughout during heavy meditations. The biotic physiotherapeutic exercise Dr. T'Shyn said would diminish the chances of Cyan Syndrome from recurring. In fact it was imperative that Shepard perform both meditative methods if she wished to remain healthy.

And here came the elephant in the room. Children. "Doc, are the children we have in the future going to be bonded to me as Secura had been? And if so how are we to minimize any threat to the fetus due to the demands of a Spectre's duty?" Sam wasn't about to mention the war with the Reapers. That would only serve to dredge up unwelcome questions due to the debunking both the Council and the Alliance Brass over her dire warnings.

"It is not uncommon for matron commandos to go into battle while in the early stages of the pregnancy. To prevent physic trauma from seeping into the fetal unconsciousness she dampens her bond to the unborn daughter and at the same time erects strong mental barriers. Now that you know you are likely to be bonded to Liara's daughters all you need do is to create a similar effect."

"_Our _daughters." Sam's features slipped into a narrow expression of displeasure.

"I'm sorry?"

"You said 'Liara's daughters'. Any child within her womb is also my child. I don't give a fucking damn if my DNA is only there to remap Liara's own. Any child is my child, blood or no." The Spectre all but snarled.

"I apologize." Dr. T'Shyn hastily said. "It was a slip of tongue. I meant no offence." She should have known better and guarded her tongue more closely. Those diagnosed with CS were prone to express their emotions rather strongly.

Sufferers of the syndrome felt all emotions and therefore expressed them just as strongly. What might be mild annoyance before became instant grounds for swift anger and quickly dove in to rage. It was the same for all other emotions: grief became inconsolable sorrow. Dislike became intolerance. Love became possessive and jealously guarded. And hate….became murder. It was why it was so dangerous to provoke suffers of Cyan Syndrome even those of the more benign borderline stages.

Yes Shepard's illness had been caught in time before the neural degeneration became far too progressed to be reversed. But she was still recovering. A healer should know better than to reopen wounds. "I sincerely apologise Spectre. I misspoke. Of course any chid conceived by Liara is of your heart, your spirit ….your daughter. Just as if you were to conceive a child she would also be a child of Liara's."

Liara felt as much rage at the earlier inference as her bondmate. Their connection allowed Liara to feel Samantha's emotions as if they were her own and often times it became confusing as to who was feeling what. She reached out to soothe her bondmate only to realize it was Samantha who was touching her arm.

"She apologized. I don't think slapping my doctor with a singularity will help matters, Angel Eyes."

Liara blinked as she realised that her body was shimmering in the cyan glow of a biotic field.

"Now that is interesting. How very curious."

T'Shyn had the same tone of voice Liara had nearly two years ago when she first found out about Shepard's connection to the prothean beacons.

"Samantha held the anger but it was you Liara that reacted." She moved to the younger asari with a penlight in hand. "Does this happen often?" She shone the light in Liara's eyes watching as the pupils constricted to small pin points then took the light away studying them closely as they re-dilated.

"More than before. The gestalt set it off, I think. But when well this…happened," Sam gestured to her eyes indicated the CS. "it was bit more intense."

"Most curious." The doctor now did the same to Samantha. "When I read the files from doctors Chakwas and S'thasa I had assumed they were speaking of the soul-bounding but this is…unique." She frowned. "You held the anger, but she reacted and you Samantha have the signs of summoning your biotic energy but Liara does not."

Sam bit her lip looked to her love then back to the doctor. "Actually I have a thought on that. You see… the prothean devices I interfaced with, left me changed. As you know, I was given the prothean cipher via a knowledge-bond. I have their genetic memory within my mind ingrained in the beta waves. The gestalt bonded Liara to me as you said soul-deep but I think it did a lot more than that. I gave her the a measure of the cipher through a knowledge-bond as she indicated. But what if in that genetic memory… was a soul-bounding between say two protheans. Maybe this is how they connected to their bondmates?"

"Now that is a stimulating theory!" T'Shyn exclaimed. "Oh to do an in-depth study on this. Truly what an evolutionary benchmark for biotic understanding."

"You know doc you're not the first asari who wanted to put me under a microscope."

Liara's cheeks turned purple in a blush.

Unrelenting in her jibe Sam continued her teasing. "Of course now that Liara is here with me it makes it easier." she reached over from their seated positions and gave her wife a very quick peck on the cheek.

"Indeed. I think this must be studied." T'Shyn said earnestly. She picked up a data-PADD and scrolled through the contents. "As I re-read this it says you gained the cipher through a knowledge bond with your XO Matron Shiala of Armali. And that she gained it from a sentient plant known as the thorian. But there is little more to it. Other than to say the thorian has some sort of psychic control over its thralls, the human colonists of Zhou's Hope."

"I guess Dr. Chakwas didn't think any more was relevant. But it wasn't only humans there was a salarian and of course Shiala. She was inside some sort of pod kept prisoner. The thing not only made creepers, they were I don't know plant zombies, mindless but deadly, it also made several clones of Shiala."

For the next three hours Liara and Shepard explained the occurrence of the thorian on Faros. The fact creature dated back past the protheans was astounding to hear and actually to relive the memories. Liara was still plagued by nightmares of that thing's malevolence.

"It is truly a tragedy that such a being had to be destroyed." the physician said softly.

"I tried to negotiate. But it resisted any sentiments of peace. I had to instigate more hostile negotiations. Given that Saren had double-dealed it didn't help matters. It was a danger. I am sorry I had to kill…to execute it but I had no other recourse left." Shepard said.

"So this thorian saw the extinction of the protheans by sentient machines called the Reapers? The same species that Sovereign, Saren's flagship was a part of?" The doctor was astounded but yet not unbelieving.

Sceptically Shepard nodded, readying herself for the ever familiar ridicule she often confronted in the face of her warnings. When none came she spoke. "Yes. I suppose since it was a plant and did not build… the Reapers did not deem the thorian a commodity to be harvested or collected, nor was it a threat to be wiped out. Until it was roused by ExoGeni I think it was just hibernating away, left alone with its thoughts and memories. It was why Saren sought it out. He needed the prothean memories. He knew the thorian had absorbed prothean lives in the past, thus gaining their genetic memories. It was why he sacrificed Shiala to it."

"Does Shiala have the same symptoms you two do?"

"No, not that I'm aware of. I didn't think CS was something asari suffer." Shepard frowned now curious herself.

"No we do not." The doctor shook her head. "However, there are other symptoms this thorian might have left her with, say perhaps the same symptoms you described the colonists having. Acute headaches, heat-rushes even unstable biotics. And there might well be other side-effects we do not know of that will affect asari but not a human or salarian."

"So far the only thing to manifest is her pregnancy. Being cloned so many times, her body initiated her own reproductive cycle. Her nervous system tapped into the thorian's DNA just as I did with Samantha during the gestalt." Liara offered. "If there were any other changes she would have notified me and Samantha. She was my mentor as a youngling when in service to my mother. I know her well. She would not keep anything of this consequence from either of us."

T'Shyn gave a mother's knowingly pained smile. "Are you so certain of that young one? So close to you two and seeing you both suffer so much, is it not conceivable that if she was suffering she would not wish to add to your burdens? Regardless if she is or not, I'd like permission to examine her as well."

"First that is up to her, even as her commanding officer I won't order it unless I am convinced this has more to it than scientific curiousity."

"I confess much of this is scientific curiosity. However." the doctor held up a purple finger pausing any forthcoming argument on the Spectre's behalf. "It also has much to do with understanding this cipher, and its connections to the Prothean genetic memories. If your theory is true, Samantha, that the bond between you and Liara is not fully asari in origin but prothean. To fully treat you and Liara as she suffers from CS as surely as you do, I must come to understand it. I know you are pressed for time and due to have the months to waylay here. So I propose I join your crew and continue my studies there. What say you Spectre?"

"But what of your practice here?" Sam could not keep the shock out her voice if she tried.

"I am the senior partner in this clinic and chief surgeon. I can take my leave as I see fit. And this will surely benefit biotics in the future. Not to mention a full in-depth understanding of this unique phenomenon will only benefit you and your bondmate as well as any future daughters. Please consider the request, Spectre. I shall not demand an answer as of now but give this some serious contemplation."

"Look, even if I do agree, Doc we are going into theatre, and not the surgical kind. We go to war." Shepard pointed out.

The purple asari laughed. "Do you truly think I have stayed on Illium all this time running a medical clinic? In my wild days as a maiden I was a merc. I even ran with the Eclipse Sisters for a time, oh …two or three centuries ago."

To Sam the asari before her didn't look any older than Karen Chakwas… relatively speaking. She couldn't help but wonder just how old her physician was.

"There are other concerns." Liara said. "The chain of command is sacrosanct. And while you are senior partner here and chief surgeon, on board the _Normandy _that position belongs to your colleague Dr. Chakwas and I am head of the science department. Of course we are all under the command of the Spectre."

"I have taken orders from the very young before; this shall not be the first time." There was a smiling gleam to the asari's green eyes. "So does this mean you consent to the request?"

Sam shrugged. "As much as you wish for me to consider the request, I want you to make sure this is what you want. The _Normandy_ is an unconventional ship. It's a wavecrest class which means shared living spaces, save for the department-heads, who have their own little cubicles. And well me and Liara, we have the loft. But a specialist in biotic medicine _is_ beneficial. S'thasa is our battle-medic and Chakwas handles pretty much everything else but she isn't specialulized in biotics. And we have a lot of 'em on board. Granted most of them are asari…."

"Add this to your considerations, Samantha. If, I am onboard not only can I monitor the progress of your healing and recovery from CS, but I can also aid the both of you in controlling this unique bonding experience. Thus equipping the two of you with the knowledge on how to monitor your bond to one another, as well as any future children. Not only that, it will expand the knowledge we have of the protheans and their biotics. Surely you Dr. T'Soni can see such advantageous benefits to uncovering the full understanding of such a remarkable species."

Liara nodded, but in that moment Sam's mind flashed back to the Intendent of Quana and how she locked out the majority of the colony she governed to preserve the lives of those deemed more worthy. She thought of Administrator Ksad Ishan and Vigil and how with its personality of man the VI had diverted all power from the life support pods of the 'non essential' to preserve the scientists' cryo-chambers. Then it went a step further and transferred all power from the life pods to itself to preserve its programming. All because the data it held was deemed more worthy, and far more necessary than an entire population. The real Ksad Ishan could not have come to that choice easily. He could not have made it as coolly as it was made out. It had to have pained him and yet he had ordered Vigil to preserve its programming at any cost. The Reapers had to be stopped.

No the protheans were not the saints, not the mental giants, 'the gods' the rest of the galaxy revered them to be. Vigil had it right when he confronted Sam and Liara both with their preconceptions. Sam reflected on some of the choices she had to make to stop Saren. The sacrifices she had to quickly calculate for the better good to preserve those more…necessary. In the future days to come, Shepard knew in her gut she would have to make more cold hard decisions, make more sacrifices to win against the Reapers. She prayed she wouldn't lose her humanity doing it.

Still, T'Shyn had a valid point. Understanding the protheans, their biotics and their telepathic links could only be a benefit. To understand what she and by extension Liara had become, the Spectre knew she had to understand more about the Protheans. T'Shyn had already been vetted by Calis, the rest was just paperwork.

At long last the Spectre spoke. "Permission to come aboard, Doctor."

"Thank you, Spectre." the other woman said.

"I hope you still feel the same way once we get into the thick of it." Sam said cautiously. "I'll contact my XO and have the arrangements made. I'm sure we can find some accommodations"

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

*That will not be an issue, Spectre." Shiala said over the real-time holographic communiqué. "We've lost one of our science team members. She can have his bunk.*

"Hold on, what do you mean _lost_ one of the science team? What the hell happened?" Shepard all but snapped.

*Mr. Jahleed resigned his commission after his ordeal in the survival training course. It seems he had a rather bad reaction to some fruit and it caused quite the havoc with his bowels….*

The Spectre grimaced as she imagined a volas with very watery bowels inside an environmental suit. It wasn't pretty.

*Yes you can imagine the problems. He was rather vocal about his forced involvement in the training course and said he was on the _Normandy_ to help uncover technology to stop the geth not necessarily to go into physical combat with the machines.*

"Yeah, I'm still back at survival training course. Who set that up?"

*It was Wrex's initial idea Spectre, but it was by the senior staff equally agreed upon this was a necessary step to have a better chance not only surviving the coming battles with the Reapers and their allies but winning it. I authorized it. I hope I did not undermine…*

"No, are you kidding? I wish I had thought of it. Great idea, far better then going complacent while we're dry docked. So what else is going on?"

*Lt. Williams has taken a dozen crewmembers, half of which comprises of the non-combatants along with a complement of marines into the Illuminari National Forest for war games. Mr. Vakarian has taken the same number into Nos Austra to one of the several battle-sim arenas, half of his crew also comprise of members of the science team. Battlemaster Urdnot Wrex took the remaining twelve members in to the same forests as Williams for survival training. He also took mixed squads of commandos and set them through their paces.*

Shiala further explained the idea of the rotations of the _Normandy_ crew. Granted the majority of the engineering members and those needed for the upgrades remained behind. And of course there was always a full commando squad on guard.

"Tell the squad good work on getting the crew into shape. We'll be rendezvousing within the day."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Once she returned to the _Normandy,_ Shepard received the strangest looks from the crew. It wasn't the first time that day she wished she had worn a hat. Liara T'Soni was many things, being a hairdresser was not one of them.

Thank providence the helm was clear of any jesting pilots or anyone at all for that matter. Of course with the refit in motion and dry docked as they were there was no true need for a helmsman.

The crew sagely decided not to comment on their commanding officer's new hair style given the Spectre's 'come on if you think you're tough enough' stare. Then Ashley Williams approached with a full wattage smile of amazement, and …desire.

"You look like a thistle." She said by way of greeting her CO.

Shepard pursed her lips.

Stepping nearer to her closest and dearest friend Ash whispered, "A very cute and very hot, thistle."

Sam sighed.

"I don't think she looks like a thistle." Liara protested. "That certainly was not the look I was going for. I thought a nice feathered layered cut would be quite fetching. And I will say it is."

"Um…Liara…you did this?" Williams gave an astonished look to the Spectre. She reached out and flicked a rather stubborn lock of hair that fell over Sam's nose.

The archaeologist nodded proudly.

"What on earth possessed you to allow an asari to cut your hair, Skipper?"

"She did the 'you kicked my puppy' voice and she used the doe eyes." Sam mimicked her bondmate's pleading woe-begotten expression down to a tee.

"Oh…you know you are so whipped don't you?"

The frown was back. Arms were crossed.

Ash grinned even brighter. "Admit it Skipper, it looks good on you. Kinda gives you a rogue-pirate appeal. Or a ranger from the tales of old."

"Not exactly the look a Spectre should have, though is it?" Shepard challenged.

"Oh I don't know," Williams shook her head. "A wilder look is better than say the boot-camp crew-cut. Yeah that says authority but this thistle-cut is way better. "

"I told you so." Liara added. "This is very fetching. And she is correct it does give a wild look to you my love. Wild means unpredictable, and face it, Beloved, the vast majority of your plans are spontaneous, unorthodox and improvised. This is why your enemies have difficulty winning any confrontation with you."

'_You just don't want to get a tattoo.'_

'_On the contrary, I think I will get as you human's say some ink done. My sister asari huntresses have a great deal of ink, though typically on their backs though some on the face as well. So why should I not? And technically I already have ink.' A hand touched the eyebrow markings. _

'_You truly know how to take the wind out of someone's sails you know that, Love?'_

Liara smiled. "It's a talent I learned from my mother," she said aloud.

"You know it's still rude when you two do that." Ash interjected.

"Sorry, Ash. Habit," came the Spectre's answer.

"Right…" The younger woman took on a more serious expression. "All kidding aside, Skipper how are you doing?"

"Well enough." Sam placed a warm hand on her friend's shoulder. "I'm on the mend. I'll be five-by-five soon Ash. Don't fret."

"Yeah well once you're hundred per cent, then I'll stop."

"I know." Sam said with a smile. "We'll talk later in my quarters. For now I want a SitRep on what's been going on. From what I heard from Shiala you should be out stomping around in the woods playing war with a complement of my scientists. So what are you doing here?"

"Shiala said you'd be back today." the marine answered as if that explained everything. "And I'm switching out teams then we head out again."

"So let's see what you've done to my scientists." Shepard said leading the way to medical-bay.

When she walked in the sight surprised even her. Three humans one of them Ash's sister Abby lay on beds, their skin covered in what appeared to be pink paste. It took a moment to realize that it was calamine lotion, an old fashioned remedy to be sure but one that worked exceptionally well. The other two were the Baynhams: mother and daughter.

Chells was there as well, looking absolutely miserable. So miserable he was openly weeping. Then he sneezed. No he wasn't crying, his eyes were watery due to…what - hay fever? Jahleed was nowhere to be seen; the Spectre assumed he was in isolation due to the severity of his condition. To someone outside an environmental suit hyperactive bowels might be a great inconvenience and nuisance but to volas or quarian it had the potential of being very deadly. Given that he had already expressed his desire to resign, Chakwas may have already cured him and sent him on his way. Though Shepard doubted it.

The Spectre studied each face in turn until she at last came upon the only one not seemingly injured: Dr. Shilar. "Shilar, I hear that the science teams were put through their paces." looking at the injured. "It went well?"

The asari didn't know if the human was being sardonic or not. It was always so difficult to tell with humans. So she opted to answer truthfully. "It was not a complete success. But the object of the session was survival and we did manage that. I doubt Urdnot Wrex would concur with the less than stellar results but it was never stipulated just how he measured success."

"I'm not asking about Wrex's assessment. I want yours, Doctor. I want to know," at this Shepard waved her right index finger in a circle indicating the others in the room "how all of you came to be here."

"We were given the classic scenario of our escape pod crashing into a massive body of water therefore becoming inaccessible as was the majority of our survival gear. Despite the fact we accounted for hypothermia, we 'lost' one of our team to it. Or so we were told. We set camp, insured to set up a picket and a watch cycle but we 'lost' two more."

"Did you scout for possible threats within the area or was camp set relatively close to the crash site?" Shepard asked.

"Within the crash site." Abby answered this one. "I thought we might be able to salvage something from it. When my father took my sisters and me on camping trips he'd always say to use all available resources. Seeing that asari can practically breathe underwater and can withstand the pressure of the deep, I thought they might be able scavenge something from the downed pod."

"Did your father ever tell you crash landings attract attention? You did not know if the immediate area had hostiles or not when you established your base camp. Pirates, scavengers, raiders even bestial life forms see a crash and the scent for a hunt hits them. And that is exactly what they do. They hunt. You lost two of your members because you did not vacate immediately the area for a more isolated one.

"While scavenging anything from a downed pod is a good idea, you should have vacated then returned when you were sure it was secure to do so." Shepard was a little surprised that Shilar or one of the other asari hadn't thought of this. Liara surely would have, and she wasn't even trained as a commando.

'_No but I was trained by one very talented huntress and let us not forget my mother_.' Liara's words whispered into the Spectre's mind. '_Do not judge the other asari too harshly. Not everyone decides to expand their biotics or take even the most basic martial training. Shilar is one such person. She never trained in her biotics beyond the very basics taught to all younglings._ _We are not as the turians who must serve a compulsory two years in the military.'_

That was true. During her cultural diversity classes in the academy, Shepard recalled that if an asari's biotic powers were below grade they could never serve in the Republic of Thessia's armed forces. And even the mercenary companies were extremely reluctant to hire on any asari who couldn't summon a decent singularity or hold a barrier, despite their greater talents in other areas.

"I'm assuming that you lost more of your squad just after you settled your second camp."

"We did." Lizbeth Baynham nodded, "It was within a cave. But we were not so careless to simply set up camp without checking to see if it was inhabited by local wildlife or other potentially dangerous lifeforms."

"Did you cover your tracks?" Shepard asked.

The elder Baynham answered the question with her own. "Our tracks?" She shook her head. "No. I don't recall doing that. Did any of you?"

"No. We did not. There was something coming at us at great speed. We fled. We secured ourselves in the cave and fortified the entrance." Chells answered. His normally high-pitched fast-paced speech was thickened by rather seriously stuffed up sinuses. It took Shepard all her command training not to burst out laughing at the comical sound of a salarian with head-cold.

"So you fled, and in doing so allowed your pursuers to know exactly where you were." The Spectre pointed out. "If it was an animal the hiding of your trail is moot, they could simply smell you out. However it if were not and your hunters did not have acute olfactory senses you led them directly to you."

"But we were being chased!" Abby said defensively. "The cave was a good defensive position!"

"Yes, a move I myself would have made. However after the threat had seemingly diminished did you send scouts out? Perhaps you weren't so much chased by a living thing but from debris from the ship you had been ordered to abandon. Fallout. Nevertheless if you scanned the cave I'm presuming you still had your omni tools?"

"Only one. And that blasted krogan made sure it was only partially functioning. He no doubt had that Rentola hack into the others to make them inoperative. Deliberately crippling us! I took parts from the others to repair mine, defeating his machinations." Chells grumbled. Then sneezed. "There were no signs of anything chasing us. That krogan simply made the noise to frighten us into fleeing and making mistakes."

"That actually was the point Chells. Dealing with inoperative tech and improvising is a key to surviving any ordeal. One must adapt and overcome to thrive in an inhospitable situation. The idea of non-functioning omni-tools wasn't to simply handicap you it was to force you to think outside the box and circumvent the problem." Shepard pointed out.

"We even used the omni-tool to set up a crude alarm system." Abby said proud of herself, for recalling one of her father's lessons. "That's how we knew that damn pack of varren was on our scent."

"In our haste to flee the first camp we inadvertently crossed into the varrens' hunting grounds. There were no bones, scat or tracks to indicate the cave was their den but apparently they laid claim to it." Shilar said. "We were forced to surrender the cave to their superior numbers or be overwhelmed. In fact if it hadn't been for the keen observation of Dr. Williams we surely would have been. "

"And how did you manage to escape the varren? I'm guessing this is where the story gets interesting." Shepard said with a hint of a smile on her lips.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEME

The worst of it was the sound they made.

It was a screeching howling cackled bark that no furred beast on earth had ever made, not even hyenas. It set Abby's nerves on fire. The acoustics of the cavern made it all the worse. Their barks bouncing off the walls like an asari echo game.

'Ash is not the only Williams with strength,' she chastised herself. 'Fear cuts deeper than any blade, bites deeper than any bullet.' She repeated words her mother often spoke to her girls when they were filled with night-terrors and imagined creatures lurking under beds and behind half-closed closet doors. 'Fear cripples, so let it pass through you and think clearly. Then open your eyes and see what truly is there.'

When she was five years old, Abby had replied that it was easy for her mother to say she was ancient…Mommy was after all thirty.

Abigail Williams never told her mother that it was Ash who made the monsters go away by shooting them with her cap-pistol. 'Monsters are stupid. You fire at 'em even with a toy gun and they think they've been shot for real, so they die or they run away because the noise of a gun scares 'em. Now stop bawling and go to sleep, there's no more monsters. You're a Williams for crying out loud stop acting like a pansy.'

'Monsters are stupid.' Abby reminded herself. '…noise scares them….' She looked around to her companions. Jahleed was in a right panic as was Chells. 'They hear the noise and think themselves dead. They have already resigned themselves to death. I'm not like that; I am not going to fall because of stupidity and panic.'

"They are circling us," Shilar's clear crisp voice broke through the clamour of braying hounds. "It is difficult to know the strength of their number, but I believe it is fewer than our imaginations have conjured."

"What difference does it make? We have two guns and one of them only has a half a clip and the other is empty. What are we going to do - throw rocks at them?" sneered the volus.

"Actually that's not a bad idea. We just pull a Shepard! " Abby said. She stepped towards the fire and took out one of the limbs that was only partially burning and began to examine the stalactites and stalagmites of the cavern with her geologist's eyes. "There's a saying we humans have. Sir Isaac Newton was the deadliest son of a bitch in space."

"Of course!" this came from, Lizbeth. "His first law! An object in motion stays in motion unless acted upon by an outside force."

"Our scientists have cultivated this same law several millennia before yours I might add… but what are you suggesting?" Shilar asked.

"Simple. Like I said we pull a Shepard." Abby answered with a full grin on her face. "You're a biotic Shilar, you can summon up a singularity and hurl a few well placed stones into those support struts near the south end of the cavern. It will bring that whole face down. It may not have the same impact as a twenty kilo slug going at one percent of lightspeed but it will do some very heavy damage. Even if it doesn't kill the varren it will frighten them off. I've seen what asari biotics can do on Ilos. Dr. T'Soni and Shepard brought down a whole dreadnought!"

"Not all asari are like the _great_ Dr. Liara T'Soni." the asari said not bothering to disguise her contempt. "Some of us never cared to train. Just because I'm an asari does not mean I'm some biotic sorceress. I have not used my biotics in seventy-five years! And you expect me to aim a rock with pin-point accuracy to bring down a section of the cave? Goddess, it took me three attempts to complete the Great Hunt! I'm a bio-physicist not a huntress. "

"It doesn't have to be accurate, my dear." Juliana said softy. "Just powerful enough to do what Abby is suggesting."

"I think this whole plan is insane!" Chells barked. "If we bring part of the cave down it will cause a chain reaction and we'll all be crushed."

The braying-howls grew closer; flashes of silhouetted bodies could now be made out in the deeper shadows.

"We don't have time to debate this as a committee! Look it's something Shepard will have done, it's bound to work." Abby snapped. "Can you summon your biotics or not?"

To demonstrate Shilar willed the energy within her body into a swirl of blue-black energy in the palm of her hand. "It will not have any amount of finesse nor can I guarantee the results you are looking for."

"We have to give it a try." Lizbeth said trying to be supportive.

Abby turned to the others, "Alright, the rest of you gather what you can and leave, I'll stay behind with Shilar." She took the only loaded pistol and switched the safety off. She was the most experienced with pistols so logically she was the one who was armed.

"You want to be fishdog bait be my guest, come on Chells we're leaving." Jahleed said waddling towards the mouth of the cave.

'I can do this. It will be just like the roses. Lift first. Concentrate on one action at a time' old words of her first mentor had uttered to a five year old Shilar. The words were oft repeated. The rose lifted, and petals came off.

A rock in front of her feet rose and flew, and fell several paces short of the mark.

"Blast!"

"It's okay." Abby said. "But not to ah put any pressure on you they are coming closer."

Shilar nodded. "I told you I haven't done this in a while. Just give me a moment."

"Take all the time you need, just make it quick." young Williams said urgently. She pointed the muzzle of her pistol aimed at tracking the movements of the ever encroaching varren.

A lithe sinewy form lunging out the shadows, growling, and snapping barrelled towards the women. Its eyes as red as its sleek scaled hide, its teeth as bright and as dangerous as the jiggered glitter of broken glass. Backed between two boulders, Abby fired. The angle was wrong the bullet splintering stony earth at her feet as the varren jumped at her, growing deep in its throat. Shots rang out, again and again some going wild. Its head exploded with the next shot that Abby could have sworn missed.

'They are making the noise to scare you, are you the monster or them? You're a Williams for crying out loud stop being a pansy. Steady of arm and hand, steady of eye, steady of shot.' Those last words were those spoken by her firearms mentor, the man who gave her instruction. The sound of guttural and primal shrieks of fury withered behind stone walls.

At the same time Shilar felt the queer sensation of rising anxiety the taste of bile in her mouth. She was never any good at her biotics. She had only ever reached ten-beans in the echo game. Ten! Sighing the asari lifted her hand once more allowing the arcane power to fill her body and mind.

'I have to relax. Slow steady breaths. Open my mind…Embrace Eternity.' She lifted her hand to the rocks that lay scattered across the floor of the cavern. They shifted unsteadily, but lifted. Skills long left sleeping woke with a fury as one roused from nightmare. Boulders slammed into the far South wall. A ferocious clamour cracked, booming its earthen voice above the braying of hounds.

Shilar's world span, she felt her arm grabbed and her body propelled forward, her feet tripping over themselves.

"Great job, now we have to get the hell out of here!" Abby screeched yanking the asari along with her.

Clouds of dust billowed forth, coughing out of the mouth in great spasms.

"If you wanted to pull a Shepard, you most certainly have." said Chells. "Big results, big explosions, the dead of our foes strewn everywhere."

"I would hardly call trapped within a cave strewn everywhere." Abby said. "It worked didn't it?"

"Yes it worked but now we're out of shelter." Jahleed complained.

"We were out of shelter when that pack of varren were set upon our scent." Shilar said. "Do not complain now volus in the manner of which you live. You are a craven and as such you have not the voice nor call to say in the manner of which you are saved. Be grateful you are not food for fishdogs."

"He's right though." Juliana said. "We must find new shelter."

"I know where we can go." Shilar said pointing towards a path leading deeper into the woods, into a grove of towering old growth giants. "Those trees grow on Thessia as well as here. They grow strong and thick as any of Earth's redwoods. We'll find shelter there as well as food."

"Why didn't you say anything before?" Chells asked. "We could have avoided that whole mess with the cave and the varren and everything that has befallen us so far."

"I wasn't leading was I? Abigail didn't ask for opinions or advice she took the lead assuming it was hers because her sister is the Spectre's right hand."

"What do you expect? She's Earth clan; they always assume they should already be in charge." Jahleed said.

"That isn't fair!" Lizbeth snapped coming to her fellow human's defence. "Abby came forward to lead us when no one else did."

"Look you want to lead, go ahead Shilar. Take us to these magnificent trees of yours." Abby said blithely.

"Ithiliend, the trees are called." Shilar said. "In the ancient days when my people still huddled in caves they would harvest the fruit, blossoms, leaves and bark from the trees. From their leaves my ancestors wove ropes, clothing and canvases for sails to propel ships made from her wood. From her bark and pitch kayaks were constructed. Ithiliend limbs lent their strength to our bows, tridents and spears. Her sap gave us amber and once distilled it gave us sweet syrup to cover our breads. Her fruit gave us nourishment and sweet summer wines. Her blossoms gave us blessings to sacrifice to the Goddess."

As they drew nearer to the woods the great grandeur of the trees was overwhelming, their girth too much for the mind to take in at once. Whole cities could be held within the very branches of the trees, imaginations nearly created them in such lofty green glory.

"If they are so wondrous, why then did the asari huddle in caves?" Chells asked. "Would it not be safer to live within these great boughs?"

"You mistake me, Chells. Perhaps you have forgotten my people were once far more amphibious then we are today. Though still beings of the ocean we are likened to the whales rather than the sharks. But the seas and ocean are ever our home.

"The caves my people called home were not land-based, but vast underwater caverns linked together in winding labyrinths. On Thessia there are many such caves. Once you dive into the great deep of the oceans you will find the after passing these mouths of these caverns in dry chambers. Whole cities lay hidden beneath the mother oceans, safely tucked away form land based predators."

"And the predators of the deep?" asked Juliana out of true hunger for knowledge.

"Avoidable enough if you know how. Apparently my ancestors possessed that knowledge, or the asari people would not be alive this day."

"If we take to the trees, the legacy of the asari aside we might just win this game of survival of Wrex's. I say we start climbing." Abby put forward.

"I'm not made to climb and I don't trust that one's biotics enough to lift me." Jahleed pointed to Shilar. "Shepard or T'Soni yes, you not a chance."

"Then stay on the ground volas." the woman answered curtly. "Our chances of survival might go up without dragging you along."

"Let's not make any hasty decisions based on tempers made from exhaustion and hunger." Juliana said in a mother's voice. "Jahleed if you stay on the ground it is well enough. We will set up a watch so you will not be vulnerable as you sleep and when you are on watch you should be alert enough to raise an alarm should anything happen.

"Shilar, you said your people fashioned weapons from the limbs and boughs of these great trees then we can likewise." the elder Baynham reached out and touched the massive leaves, to her they were not unlike the leaves of umbrella trees or banana trees but three times greater that size. "You'll have shelter Jahleed, if we build a lean-to from these leaves and twigs. Come let us show these soldiers, theses warriors that egg-heads are capable of overcoming the odds of surviving the wilds."

For once no one argued.

EMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM EMEMEMEM

Hearing about the in-fighting of the scientists it did not trouble Shepard as much as the lab-coats might have feared. To the Spectre it was not unlike the bickering, fisticuffs and silver-tongues found amongst raw cadets in boot-camp. Of course that stopped once dominance was hard won and the alpha rose to lead the squad and thereafter the platoon.

"Am I right in guessing that these ancient trees had something to do with the condition you are all in?" Shepard asked and again it was Shilar who answered.

"It was. The fruit caused a most unfortunate reaction in the volas's digestive tract. Cap….Spectre, Jahleed annoyed me to distraction as he did the rest of us, but I had not known the fruit would affect him so." Shilar answered softly.

"Do you assume that I thought you purposely set out to poison him?" Shepard said coyly. "And what of Chells?"

"It was the blossoms." the salarian answered for himself. "The pollen. The air was thick with it the accursed stuff. It got into my nostrils and clotted there. Would it be I never left the Citadel!" he sneezed.

Unfortunate, but powerful antihistamines would easily clear up the man's malady. It could have been the tree or perhaps it was due to the simple fact that Chells had lived the majority of his life in the relatively sanitary environment of the Citadel. Some people were simply prone to hay-fever.

"That leaves my humans," Shepard said, "and their pink mud."

"It was the leaves." Juliana said. "My first clue should have been the texture."

"What do you mean?" Now the Spectre was intrigued. From what she had heard of the multi-purpose foliage of the ithiliend trees it was a lot like hemp.

"They were soft upon the skin, like velvet. Like poison oak and ivy back on earth. While we share much in common physiologically with the asari we are different enough that some plant life will have very different affects upon us. Or maybe it is simply personal. I am allergic to wool as is Lizbeth." the elder woman continued to explain.

"But Abby suffers as well." Shepard pointed out.

"Yeah, and I can wear wool, so we're back to the poison ivy-oak thing."

Shepard looked at each of the bed ridden scientists and turned to Chakwas. "Patch them up quickly. Williams, you said you were selecting your new team?"

"Yes Ma'am."

"Make sure they are all on it. All twelve of them."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Commander…" Chakwas said. "If I may… the scientists are not all hundred percent."

"Exactly. Since when is war gentle? Let them overcome the adversity of their own bodies and the frailties living inside labs have given them. Patch them up and send them out."

"Actually that is a little of my point. It's been a while since I was in the field. I want to join this next rotation. I could use a little exercise to get rid of the kinks in these old bones. A little field work will be a nice switch; S'thasa can patch anyone up here in the med-bay."

"You want to hit the muck Doc, be my guest. However I want you to meet with Dr.T'Shyn, the biotic specialist, first. She'll be joining the crew."

She could see the look of incredulity in the older woman's eyes. Before anything could be uttered out of Chakwas's mouth, Shepard spoke with a purely diplomatic and yet authoritative voice. "Don't worry, Doc she knows this is your med-bay and you're head of medical."

The Spectre gestured for the Doctor to take her into her office thus allowing them a bit more privacy. Shepard always felt calling this space an office was generous as it was not much more than an enclosed cubical with sound-proofed walls that afforded doctor/patient confidentiality. Only when Shepard knew they had confirmed seclusion did she relate the theories and speculations of the good doctor Kiang T'Shyn. Most of which had already been hypothesized. The Protheans, more succinctly the Prothean cipher. Coupled with the knowledge of Dr. Morzan Volkhavaar the specialist in asari neonatal care, the totality of the hidden effects of the bond were soon to be uncovered.

What they hadn't fully expected was the true affects of the bond and what the cipher had done to it. Yes there were written accounts of such close bonds between two asari and more oft than not between the long lineages of the pureblooded. Liara a child born of long lineages of purebloods believed it was the key to the bond and the gestalt.

They were looking in the wrong direction. They were looking into the ancient asari but with each new revelation of the Protheans biotics and their telepathic abilities it was becoming clearer that it was in their direction they should have turned their full attentions. It seemed the bond born between the two young lovers was not asari in the making but born of the Protheans. But was it purely Prothean or of a mixed blood union of that of the ancient asari as it had been with Matriarch Dilinaga?

In fact it was to her writings that both Liara and Sam had turned to. And why not? They had recovered fourteen of her lost texts and safely returned them to Thessia. Liara once told Shepard that Matriarch Dilinaga was one of her heroes growing up. Even to this day the heroic figure of the brave matriarch held a special place in the archeologist's heart.

When asked why Dilinaga was so important to her, Liara told the story:

Interstellar colonization sparked a golden age of learning and cultural advancement for the asari. During this time, the Matriarchs became obsessed with achieving 'ultimate knowledge'. To that end, a small but dedicated group chose to leave Thessia hoping to find greater wisdom and true enlightenment elsewhere.

Within a span of a few years, twenty-eight Matriarchs left Thessia with no destination in mind and no plan to return. Only six were ever heard from again. Of the other twenty- two, only Matriarch Dilinaga's remains were discovered, along with several writings made during her journey.

The writings instantly became the subject of intense study and discussion. Hundreds of anthropologists and historians analyzed the writings and theorized on their meaning and importance to the asari race. For several generations, these writings were kept at Thessia Guildhall, the center for asari learning and research. Less than a century ago, these were finally made available to the public. Since arriving at the Farinah Museum, the Dilinaga exhibit has become one of most popular historical attractions on Thessia.

Liara was a frequent visitor, in fact her visitations were bordering on the devout. It was only natural for her then to turn to her hero for the answers she sought. It was almost ironic that the answers lay in the ancient days of the protheans, and Liara being an expert upon them had not truly thought to look there.

"You may want to consider that your bond was born of the prothean cipher but raised asari." Dr. Chakwas said at long last. "If you mean to understand the heritage of this bond, it means delving deeper and deeper into the prothean memories. That didn't work out so well the last time."

"That was the vinculum. This is going to be different; we will only touch the memories within the cipher itself." Shepard argued.

"And how do you plan to do this without that accused thing that tried to make Swiss cheese out of your brain Sam?" Chakwas asked sternly.

"A knowledge bond shared through our meditations." Liara answered. "The cipher already dominates Samantha's nightmares and her dreams. Perhaps this will help make peace with them. We must do something; we must gain full control over this bond, lest it consumes us and destroys any chance for our future daughters." the asari's voice dripped in desperation.

"Liara, understand, I am not against this. But with all the two of you have suffered and had to endure, we must act prudently. I am your doctor and your friend. I worry."

Liara reached out and touched the elder human on the arm. "I know. We both do. This is why we want you to be a part of this. Dr.T'Shyn is a biotic specialist yes, and has aided several non-asari with CS which was why you sent us to her, but she doesn't know Samantha or I as you do. This is new to all of us, your thoughts and experiences will be most welcome."

"Ditto." Sam said with a simple smile on her face. It wasn't the most loquacious of answers but hell Liara said everything she wanted to.

"Of course I will be a part of this. This is after all _my _sick bay." the sternness in her voice never reached her grey-green eyes which were filled with an almost maternal care and most certainly amusement in her Spectre's monosyllabic response to Liara's speech. "This means however that I will forgo the venture into the field. I had best see to our new doctor's induction." What she didn't say was: 'and insure she knows this is my territory and those two girls are my people.'

If her soldiers hadn't needed her back on the _Normandy _to patch them up from their misadventures during the training sessions Chakwas would never have left Shepard or Liara back at the clinic. Their needs even with petty hurts greatly outweighed those of her favored two. Ever was the doctors' terrible and necessary duty of triage. Now the two had returned to the ship and under Chakwas dutiful and watchful eye.

"Since you are here, I'd like to run my own examinations." Chakwas said. "I know you are loath to have a physical as any marine, but I need to see the results for myself."

Shepard all but rolled her eyes. "Very well, get on with it then," Sometimes it was easier and less time consuming to consent than to argue over such simple matters.

When they emerged from the office the beds of the med-bay were vacant no doubt the former residences were harried off by a sharp barking orders of Lt. Williams. Shepard imagined the younger woman telling the lot to check their bitching at the door, it was only pain. It brought laughter into the Spectre's voice and filled her eyes with merriment.

"Scholars may not be galvanized steel but boiled leather can offer just as much protection to those who know well to use it. If they learn to use their own strengths they will triumph." Shepard said, paraphrasing a Prothean colloquialism.

"Perhaps they will take what they have learned from their time attempting to survive the trials of the woods into theses games of war."

"If not it will be a very short game. Pitted against commandos and marines they will not outlast the day if they do not find cohesion. What we mean to give them in strength and morale may well have the opposite effect."

"Trust in Ashley, my love. If my fellow bookworms," to this the purple lips curled into a smile, "do not find unification and cooperate no doubt our friend will slam their heads together and chastise them for not being smart enough to puzzle out such a simple riddle."

Sam snickered. "That she will."

When Samantha Shepard first began to utilize a more archaic form of speaking from time to time, Chakwas had attributed it to the bond with an asari mind. For the physician had been to enough medical symposiums with matrons to grow accustomed to its hearing. But there was always apart of Caroline that theorized it was the Prothean's manner of speaking and not asari. Now she was sure of it. The protheans had a far greater influence over Shepard and Liara than she had originally feared. The legacy of the Protheans was a doubled edged sword salvation and damnation both.

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It was nearly an hour before Chakwas allowed Shepard out of the medical bay. By this time the Spectre and her bondmate were famished. Normally the two took their evening meal in their quarters but tonight they opted to join the crew. It was good from time to time to put in a showing. Besides boosting moral by showing the crew the Commander wasn't too good for their company it was a good way to soak in the scuttlebutt. As it happened Rupert had the Citadel News playing on one of the hall's public monitors. Emily Wong's voice as clear as ever washed over the typical din of the crew.

'The controversial tell-all e-book "Criminal Negligence: The Citadel Council and the True Story of the Geth Threat" went on sale at midnight last night and was lapped up by lovers of conspiracy theories and politics everywhere. Written by a C-SEC officer personally responsible for asari Councilor Tevos' safety, "Negligence" alleges that the Citadel Council knew the geth were traveling outside the Perseus Veil long before their attack on Eden Prime. Other revelations, such as the geth spreading to not one but five planets before their attack on the Citadel, are now being revealed to crank up the hype on the author's tour of the Council's homeworlds."

"Negligence is not the only controversial book to line the shelves. Political commentator Erlan Golta clashed today with Bryan Theodor, host of the popular late-night "Eye on the Stars." Golta appeared on the show to discuss his new book "Juggling the Monkeys: An Insider's View of the Tower." When Theodor accused Golta of being deliberately inflammatory in his portrayal of Council politics, Golta said

"Are you kidding? I could show you signed orders drawn up to book Commander Shepard on obstruction of justice. And this is from the offices of the Councilors _after_ the fucking Battle of the Citadel." Messages both condemning and applauding the controversial writer have flooded in. When asked about Golta's guest appearance, Theodor remarked "It's always a pleasure. Anytime Golta wants to be catastrophically wrong in front of millions of viewers, I'm happy to have him on."'

Many faces turned to the Spectre some with forks or spoons halfway lifted to their mouths. One crew member Leda of Engineering, who had been deeply engrossed in the 'Waters of Kolono', the newest expansion for'Galaxy of Fantasy,' went as far as to pause her game. All waiting to hear or see what Shepard's reaction to the news would be. Murmurs started to rise:

"Did Shepard know about the warrant?"

"Surely Anderson would have told her. He would not sell her out, not like Udina."

"Why arrest her, when she was doing her job?"

"Maybe it's because she stole the first _Normandy_ to go to Ilos."

"Obstruction of justices? That's preposterous. It was Saren who was the obstruction."

"The Council was embarrassed by a human what do expect them to do? Admit it? Of course they what to shut her up!"

"I can't believe it was after the Battle, they gave her medals upon medals."

"Yeah a second Star of Terra, not to mention the Galactic Unit Citation and the Palladium Star! What nonsense is this where they award with one hand and punish with the other?"

"Politics. There is nothing more than politicians love and hate more in equal portions than a great hero."

"I want a copy of those books."

"As do I." Shepard said, stilling the voices of others. "And for the record, no I didn't know about the orders to arrest me. Corporal." She addressed the blonde young man that always seemed to be lurking in the mess hall. "Go into Nos Austra and purchase a copy of each book before the order goes out to pull the damn things from the shelves."

"Spectre?" It was Lilihierax (though to most he was called Li) who called out. "Do you believe the Council will pursue censorship?"

"Of course they will Li." Kenneth Donnelly said. He was always an outspoken defender of Shepard. So vocal the Spectre surmised that had he not joined her crew he would have been drummed out of the service for insubordination and with him would go Gabby. "They have debunked everything Shepard ever said 'bout the Reapers. I say we kick 'em in the daddy bags and tell 'em next time they need saven' they can go bugger themselves!"

"I'd pay real money to see that." Li said. "'Course if you did that, you wouldn't be a Spectre no more."

"No, I suspect not." Shepard grinned.

"Corporal Gunderson, actually I wish for you to purchase three copies of the book, I will have one of each for myself and I strongly suspect Lt. Williams will desire one as well." Liara said in her soft spoken voice.

"Aye aye." The blonde lad snapped a salute and made to follow his orders as swiftly as able.

The asari turned back to her bondmate and saw a very amused look in those cyan ice eyes. "You are looking forward to this reading."

"It shows that much huh?"

"Just a little. I wonder if 'Negligence' was endorsed by The Wizard."

"Now that is a curious thought." She bit into her warm roast beef sandwich. "We shall have to wait and see."

"I might think you are more curious about this signed document that ordered your arrest for obstructing justice." Leda said. "What I find curious is that as a Spectre you are not bound by laws, rules or regulations. Spectres are interments of the Councils justice so how can you be arrested for obstructing it?"

"Cuz the Council don't wanna be found out for cravens and liars." Ken said before stuffing his mouth with a large quantity of mashed potatoes. "She saved their ungrateful arses and they wanna go and put her in the slammer, that's obstructing justice if ever I heard it."

"Thank you Ken," The Spectre said diplomatically. "I'll have my answers once I ask the questions, for now however I want different answers to different questions. How goes the refit?"

"Oh no. You didn't." Gabby bemoaned. "Ken, don't bore the Spectre with tech stuff."

"Just give me a brief SitRep Ken; I'll get the full report from Tali."

A brief report from Kenneth Donnelly lasted three hours with much interruption from Gabby telling him he was getting too technical and reminding him that Shepard only wanted the basics.

Liara abandoned her beloved after two and half hours and retreated to the quiet security of the loft. When she entered she was quite astonished to find a fish tank aligning the left bulkhead. It held brightly colored stones of every color of the rainbow, three plastic castles, swaying seaweed, and a tethered submarine made to look like something out of a Jules Verne novel. The fish it held were those from both Thessia and Earth that would coexist without devouring each other.

There were Illium skalds, the blue spined fish native to the lakes here on Illium. Thessian sunfish, small brightly-colored fish native to Liara's homeworld. Prejek paddle fish, they were flat blue fish known for their odd locomotion and feeding habits. As a girl Liara always giggled at the way they moved. She recalled her mother saying that not all of the Goddess's creations were graceful but even the ungainly have their place in the universe. Clumsy yes but beautiful also.

There were Japanese koi, or more specifically the nishikigoi with white, red-orange and golden scales that would grow as large as the tank would allow. To many these carp were the perfect metaphor for the human race. They would grow as large as allowed and could quickly dominate their environment and those around them. They were almost bullies.

The tank was also home to Thessian jellyfish and leafy sea dragons that looked more like bits of floating seaweed than a fish. These had always fascinated Liara, and she had always favored them above their cousins the sea horses for their unique beauty. The sea dragons ate plankton so there was no need of snails to aid in the maintenance of the tank

Liara smiled when she saw a red ribbon upon the glass front. She placed a hand upon the glass watching the small Thessian sunfish darting to and fro like sliver streaks of light. She touched the ribbon then saw a small card attached to it. Turning it over she read: 'From your Trusted with our love, may it grant you some moments of serenity. P.S. Chakwas said aquariums are good for lowering the blood pressure and Shiala said they are very good for meditating.' Tali and Ash.

"Oh they are sweet." Liara whispered but only the fish were there to hear her words. Looking at the panel in the middle of the twin tanks she saw an automatic feeder set on a timer. Despite this a long fingered blue hand touched the button causing flakes of fish food to descend into the tank. It was a healthy mixture designed to meet the needs of all species within. Liara watched contently as the fish darted to the top of the tank greedily sucking up the flakes

"What a perfect gift." She uttered aloud. 'My Samantha will enjoy it so.'

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AN1: I like Lady Hawke's default look so I didn't change it, I thought Shepard would look cute with that hair style. My Shepard even sorta looks like her, that and black-haired blue eyed Starbuck.

AN2: text about Matriarch Dilinaga used from Mass Effect Wiki, and text used from Cerberus Newsnet


	43. Progression

Chapter 43: Progression

Sam did like the fish tank. She lost practically an hour simply watching aquatic creatures swim back and forth and in and out of little plastic castles half hidden by wavering plant life. Chakwas and Shiala were right. There was a calming influence about the fish living their simple lives.

'You don't fear the Reapers do you little guys?' she asked them silently, tapping on the glass. She smiled as she watched them dart away from the reverberating sound. 'You go about your little fishy lives with no memories and the little plastic castles are a surprise every time. Sometimes, I wish I could take a furlough inside a simple life…'

"Are you going to confront the Council about this alleged signed document for your arrest?" Liara asked putting her arms around her beloved. Her blue eyes drawn not to the fish but to the couples' reflection upon the glass.

And there it was hard hitting reality like bumping your nose into a pane of glass, with no little plastic castles to make it all go away. "And what proof do I have that it's true? And even if it is which wouldn't be that much of a surprise, what is there to do about it? No doubt the press will inundate me with questions concerning it. Maybe I should just play the politicians' game and talk circles around them."

"My love, you are too blunt and straightforward for such word games. They do not suit your demeanour."

Sam turned in her wife's arms and placed a smooth kiss on teal lips. "That's the beauty of it. No one will suspect it. It isn't that I'm not capable of word games it's just I never found them honest. Hell maybe somewhere in those Prothean memories I can find someone who was very apt at The Game and channel them. Wouldn't that be a kick in the head?"

Liara grinned. "You jest."

"Not entirely, no. I wish to see how The Council scrambles to excuse themselves from these accusations. I suspect Trace is already churning his gizzard believing I had something to do with it. No doubt he believes I went to that C-SEC officer who was on Tevos guard and Erlan Golta."

"One an asari the other a salarian, it is favorable to you that both writers are not human. Had they been The Council will have dismissed it out of turn and censured the Systems Alliance for their conspiracy theories." Liara said slipping from Samantha's hold to a take a seat on the black leather sofa in the 'den' area of their quarters. "Is it just me or is it suspicious that you haven't already been called by The Council to answer allegations that you aided and abetted these writers?"

"Very. Hopefully Anderson will give me a good defense, but I fear his power is only figurehead's charade. He can only do so much for me before they start questioning his dedication to the galactic big picture and have him replaced."

"So what _are_ you going to do? I know you Samantha; I know you have something in the planning. You may not like word games, but I have borne witness to that silver tongue of yours charm even a krogan battlemaster into peace."

"What me plan anything? I leave scheming to the schemers. The Council, the Brass, the leaders, especially TIM, they all have plans. They all scheme. They like ultimate control. Me? I find improvisation better suited to my tastes and style."

"It is said Samantha Shepard: first human Spectre is a child of chaos and change." Liara smiled. "It also explains why there are so many explosions when you are near. It is also why 'Pulling a Shepard' had become quite the euphemism for improvised and chaotic solutions to a problematic situation."

Sam threw her head back and laughed. "What can I say? Still the best thing about chaos is that it's fair."

"Indeed it is." Liara studied the woman before her and said. "So. What _are_ you planning? I know you. No doubt you will put on the charm."

"Oh, I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Spoilers." the Spectre answered cheekily. She crossed the room and gave her bondmate a sensual kiss. "I have to run. I'm meeting Tali for a walking tour of _Normandy's_ hull to see how the armour is coming along." After a brief pause, she added. "You want to come?"

"I think I shall pass. There is much I need overseeing in the labs and I want to investigate our new sensors. There also a few contacts here on Illium specifically Nos Austra, still loyal to the T'Soni Bastion. If we mean to catch Miranda Lawson we will need their information."

"What you becoming an information broker now? With contacts even, I'm impressed."

"Once the T'Soni name was well respected on Illium, as you humans say I mean to cash in on it. Besides my love, the world of intrigue isn't that different from a dig site, except the bodies still smell."

Shepard made a face. "You know with a simile like that, I might have gone with. 'You have to dig deep for facts and carefully extract your finds'…"

"Perhaps two years ago that is something I might have said. Granted, I still prefer lengthier studies to all the explosions but you have a way of influencing others. I believe I have grown a bit bolder and stronger for it." she rose and pressed her body against Sam's, her blue hand cupping the caramel flesh of her cheek. "And that is not at all a bad thing."

"Just don't become too hard and ruthless where I don't recognize you any more." Sam said in a small voice.

The asari smiled confidently. "We will keep each other as soft and as hard as we need to be." she softly kissed her beloved and pulled away. "Now go and have your walkabout, I shall meet with my contacts."

"Take Wrex with you. An asari maiden with a krogan bodyguard strikes an imposing figure."

"I fear I can not. He's out in the field or have you forgotten and so is Garrus. And Ashley left three hours ago for her war games. Lay to rest your fears, I'll take a contingent of asari commandos, those who where close disciples of my mother, I think."

"Oohh! Good choice." Sam nodded thinking that few were eager to face off an entire commando squad of asari. From what the Spectre had heard, Illium was just like Omega but with better shoes.

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Liara decided to wear her new armour. She had to admit she liked the sleek cut, the look of it: white, blue and gray. It was a striking and imposing. It fit Liara perfectly. She especially liked the way the tailed jacket fell from her shoulders and down the length of her back. She was grateful once more to her dear friends Ashley and Tali for designing such things. She stroked her hands down her length of her sides, with the memory of her bondmate helping her with greaves. Samantha's touch had been both loving and sensual. She looked to her reflection in the full length mirror that hung in the ensuite.

"You look good, T'Soni." She said to her reflection smiling.

Her mother never used feminine wiles to achieve any goal. Dressing provocatively had never entered the Matriarch's mind it was simply the design of the holy robes of Athame. The garb had set tongues wagging sort to speak and it was a useful distraction. One the asari found quite amusing. Liara always thought the young males of any species always had an unhealthy obsession with her species. Looking now at her image Liara believed she understood the use of sensual power and intimidation. Her fellow asari respected power of the self, confidence of ones own spirit, strength of the soul and their own sensuality.

Liara loved how the armour made her feel. It was empowering. She loved how Samantha looked at her when she wore it. It was rather strange, the bond flared with more libidinous fire when Samantha saw her in the armor rather than the white lace teddy and thong.

Liara made her way down to the armory to collect both her guns and her commandos. Amongst their numbers were Nual, and Morwen who had accompanied Samantha on Ilos. They were to be members of the flagship team, but when Ash transferred back Morwen was sent to command the beta team. Nual became more a bench warmer, when one of the preferred members of team was left behind for one reason or another Nual took their place. Liara meant to talk with the Spectre about that, the young huntress deserved better than to be a reserve.

A squad of nine commandos all in black and copper colored form fitted armor followed their mistress in her gleaming white and blue. When they hit Nos Austra they drew several looks from the patrons of the Trading Floor to the police. Liara feigned not to notice all the stares. So far she had not broken any laws, nor was she required to register with the local authorities. Of course it would be a bit redundant since the crew of the _Normandy_ had already registered with the port authority. In truth they had to be, the war games, survival training and weeks spent within battle simulations. As well as the refit required it.

"Where do we go now, Doctor T'Soni?" asked Morwen.

"The nightclub called Eternity. The bartender there was quite close to my my mother once. You might even know her yourself, Morwen. She left Thessia a little over century ago and took up residence here. She has been on Illium ever since. But I have established my own friendship with her apart from my mother's relationship with her."

'Or lack there of.' Liara's face flickered a brief flash of remorse. The journals she had taken from her mother's study had spoken of Aethyta with great affection. And why shouldn't they Aethyta was Benezia's true bondmate. And for a brief time Aethyta, Sha'ira and Benezia had shared what a trinity.

It was only after Sha'ira's confession of taking part of siring Liara that the young archeologist took to reading her mother's journals with great relish. She had discovered that not long after her birth there was a falling out between Aethyta and her mother.

From Liara's own encounters with the matriarch she found Aethyta held very different views on matters than other matriarchs and possessed a very free-spirited, laissez-faire attitude to life. She seemed to support the asari becoming more militant and active on the galactic stage. It all started with Aethyta's urgency that asari daughters should help improve society in their wild maiden years instead of becoming strippers or mercenaries.

When Liara had her own falling out with her mother she came to Illium before setting out on her first dig site in the pursuit of the truth about the protheans. She knew the name Aethyta from her mother's disciples and from Shiala herself. Her former mentor had said seek out the matriarch if ever Liara needed aid or someone to simply talk to. All she had to do was tell Aethyta who she was and the matriarch would always be there for her.

Now she knew why. Aethyta was as much as her sire as Sha'ira. Benezia had joined with both of them the night Liara was conceived.

There was a time when she was younger Liara was certain the matriarch was her indeed her sire. But the question was never broached, the topic never discussed and Aethyta never brought up Benezia

Even if the brash never outwardly acknowledged Liara as her own, the prothean expert had a solid and good friendship with her. In a way the matriarch had become a second parent, despite Benezia's wishes to the contrary.

The older asari even admitted her proposal that the asari should try to construct new mass relays was met with ridicule, causing the other asari to as Aethyta said "laugh the blue off her ass". Realizing that no one wanted to listen to her arguments, she left Thessia for a less conventional matriarch's life on Illium. Indeed she became a bartender. In hearing Liara took after her in less conventional careers Aethyta was beside herself with glee. Back then Liara didn't fully see the joke. Now however she did. She was far more like her sire than the mother who bore her or the Sha'ira. Perhaps revealing who was the true contributor that fateful night when the three matriarch and linked their minds in one perfect Joining.

Liara was deeply curious but now certainly wasn't the time to start digging for answers. She had some and it was enough for now.

"Now there's a sight I didn't expect to see again. A T'Soni with a squadron of commandos at her heels." Aethyta's rich timbred voice called out to Liara as she entered the nightclub. "And ones I see still loyal to your mother's bastion." She recognized Morwen, Handir, Edrendil and Ahsuka from their time of being in Benezia's personal guard. That was of course before Benezia screwed up and dropped everything to chase after that turian fucker. What a kick in the quads that decision had been.

"A necessary precaution." Liara said dryly. She looked at this woman who might have become _arda_ to her had history played out differently. "And who better than the sworn disciples of my mother's teachings?"

Aethyta came around the bar and placed a hand upon the maiden's arm. "Who better indeed? I heard what happened on the Citadel. I'm truly sorry."

"Sha'ira told you?"

The matriarch shook her head. "Citadel News and the interview your bondmate gave. I am so very sorry."

Liara didn't trust her voice to speak at the moment. She pushed her pain down enough to recover her composure. "Thank you… _Muinthel_."

The honorific stunned the matriarch as it did the nine commandos flanking Liara.

"I didn't think to hear that from you again."

"There have been many new developments in the recent year. Including the truth of who sired me… perhaps I should call you arda instead. Apparently I have two you and my mother's Third. "

"How did you find out?" the Matriarch asked hesitantly. She saw the burning resentment behind the maiden's eyes. She knew Liara felt betrayed for her silence.

"Sha'ira came forward and spoke the truth to me after Mother's funeral. It was a great deal to take in. Perhaps when time permits you can tell me why in all the years I have known you, you never spoke of your relationship with my mother or you shared a trinity with the Consort. Now however I need another sort of information."

"Let's not talk here." The aged asari led the host of ten back around the bar, opened a door leading to the back rooms, there was an intermediate storage area that had boxes containing packets of snake foods ready to fill either red bowls or blue, given different digestive systems. Further along were crates of booze, again ready to stack the shelves on a moments notice in preparation for the evening's clientele. The corridor ended with a door to the left and right, which were offices for the owner and head bar tender and the one directly in front which might have doubled as a meeting room. Within there was even another door to far right which was labeled in Asarian 'Security.'

Once the last of the guard was ushered in Aethyta turned and faced Liara. "So tell me, my young T'Soni what kind of information does the Spectre want?"

"If you watched the interview then you know who we truly seek."

"Cerberus. An ambitious move and full of folly. You simply can not start capturing and detaining suspected operatives to interrogate them. In addition to the legal and political ramifications it will surely alert Cerberus that you are coming and they will relocate and evacuate."

"We do not hunt the full organization. They are an infestation that spreads like a disease, it would difficult if nigh impossible to completely eradicate the infection. The one we truly seek is beyond our measure for the moment but not one of his most trusted operatives."

"Yes you gave me her name… Miranda Lawson and you mean to take her. When you do what then my little archeologist? Will you bloody yourself with her murder?"

"Not murder. A Spectre holds to no law, therefore there can be no murder. Samantha serves to protect the galaxy; she is justice of the Council. Cerberus and all who pledge loyalty to them are the avowed enemy of the Citadel Space."

"And just how much of this is this vengeance?"

Liara's sapphire eyes became cold burning fire. "Much. There are debts to pay, and they will be paid."

"Can you turn your heart hard and see only black and white as a Justicar?"

"If I must."

"A Justicar will die to protect an innocent. And kill to do the same."

"The Code compels her very life, I know this." Liara crossed her arms in a very Shepardesque manner. "What are you getting at?"

"I know a few names and they are innocent of the crimes against you Little Wing, your bondmate and your lost daughter. But they have connections to the one you want."

"What sort of connection?"

"Blood."

"Family, then."

The matriarch nodded. "The first name is not, the second name is. It is the second name you truly want and the first will get her for you."

"Name the first then." Liara demanded it.

"Lanteia." Aethyta said softly.

"That is an asari name." Morwen said with a deep frown upon her face and a deeper one in her eyes. "What is an asari doing working with a Cerberus whore?"

"That is something you will have to ask her." Aethyta answered.

"We are asking you." the matron practically snapped.

"Cute. You think you can intimate me, girl? I was in battle long before your mother was in dippers. Don't mistake my current choice of career for lack of skill. " She waved the other off imperiously. "As for Lanteia's motives I have no wish to tell you. It'd spoil the fun of asking her yourselves. What I will do however is arrange for a meeting to take place here in Eternity. One of the backrooms will do nicely. You pick the room."

Liara looked at the door marked security. "All the rooms are monitored?"

"Of course. You wouldn't believe the amount of idiots that stroll fresh off the transport and have no idea how things are run on Illium. A while back we had a handful of Alliance soldiers on furlough. They all had crap for brains and were naive enough to believe that we were running red sand. I tried to tell them red sand which we don't sell, isn't illegal on Illium, if you have the licenses for it. Of course they claimed that an undercover cop told them about it and 'they should do something about it.' Turns out that so called undercover cop was using them as 'do-gooder- Shepard-would-do-it muscle' trying to force us to sell the deed to the place. We had the whole thing recorded and handed the OSD over to the authorities."

"Detective Anaya came in with a few of her badges and put the idiots in the cooler until their sergeant came to collect them and hauled their sorry asses back to Alliance Space. Me? I wanted to slap one of them with a singularity hard enough to shatter spines. But customers get to twitching when they see something like that and don't drink as much. Well the krogans do, but bar fights are a practical sport for them."

"Human males are not so dissimilar to krogan ones. They see an asari with a smile on her face and they practically beg to serve her," Nual said contemptuously. So few humans had ever impressed her. Shepard was one. The young huntress held deep admiration for humanity's first Spectre. Then again Shepard wasn't a male. "Young males are so extraordinarily easy to manipulate."

The bartender gave the maiden a sly look.

"This is Illium." Liara said nonchalantly, ignoring Nual's comment. "I'd be very much surprised to believe that things were not being recorded, especially clandestine meetings in the back rooms of bars. Nevertheless we will require the ODS of our meeting after it is concluded."

"It is yours." Aethyta said.

"What no price?" Morwen frowned. She might have served Benezia since she was a maiden but she was born on Illium as was her mother. She had lived here as a youngling. She knew how Illium worked. Nothing was ever free…

"And what matter of it is yours huntress? Is it your task to protect Dr. T'Soni or to interrogate me?"

"Sometimes to protect, questions must be asked and answered. Especially the ugly ones." the warrior countered. It was a common enough statement amongst those serving within the asari military. "An observant huntress is a live huntress."

This gained an appreciated and approving look from the matriarch. She might have put to this matron a question was it the fear of the Spectre's wrath or duty that so motivated such protective action. Perhaps a little of both? Good. Let it be both. In equal portions.

"Now this second name?" Liara commanded in her mother's tone. "The blood? Who is she?"

"When you sent me the holo of this Lawson woman, I saw another face. One nearly identical, save for the years that separate them. Her name is Oriana, a child of nineteen. I had to card her when she first came here with a few of her university companions. She looked to me a child of maybe sixteen years, if that. Having made extremely good counterfeit IDs in the past I know how to spot a fake. Of course any bartender worth her salt can. The ID the girl carried was legit, from the University of Illium no less. Apparently genes are very good in that Lawson bloodline, I'd say nearly tailor made."

"More than you know." Liara said. "Lawson was created in a laboratory. No true womb carried or gave her birth. It stands to reason this Oriana was too. Her family...I had thought Lawson to be estranged from them."

"I do not believe Oriana's family to be the same as the one Lawson ran from." Aethyta said, "Or those hounds of hell would more closely guard the child, if only to place a choke chain on their operative rather the spiked collar she willingly wears. That being said be assured there are eyes watching that family. And they will report all to Cerberus' bitch."

"I'm counting on it." Liara said. "This Lanteia is she one of yours?"

"She is. She has told me she maintained an acquaintanceship with Lawson over the years. And she is the only way you'll get Oriana. As I said ask her your questions. I think you will be more satisfied hearing them from her sweet purple lips than mine." The matriarch said, her eyes twinkling. Oh how she loved to tease maidens to gauge their reactions. Matrons were still more amusing to her when roused. How they circled like the firaxon when conventions were stirred like chum in the waters. Oh how the matriarch hated fundamentalist conformity.

It was habit no doubt that had Liara touch her brow and cup her hand forward in the traditional salutation of a maiden to an elder. "Thank you, _Muinthel_." she said. Though the had a closer relationship to Aethyta than Sha'ira, Liara wasn't ready to give her the title Arda just yet. The maiden didn't know if she was going to give either one the honorific. How ironic-before Samantha Liara had not known her sire, or if she were still alive. Now she had not one, but two. The Goddess certainly works in mysterious ways.

"You want to thank me Liara? Just remember this: If you parlay with darkness make damn sure you do not become what you hunt. A shark never loses its hunger and the riptide will always drown you."

Liara said "Says the matriarch who thinks maidens should become more militant."

As the others left, Liara heard Aethyta utter in the whispered sounds of pure grief. "Don't become your mother, Little Wing."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEMEMME ME

Shepard found the biggest difference between grav-locks and mag-locks in working gravity was the lack of head rushes. There was only a slight vertigo not so dissimilar in Zee-Gee. The Spectre and her Chief Engineer were walking the underside of _Normandy's_ hull taking a casual inspection tour of the warship.

There were times when Shepard missed the old ship even if it was a smaller class of frigate. The wavecrest class had wings like a metallic pterodactyl. It was a beautiful design, Sam had always thought so. Back on Thessia she had the opportunity to see their living namesakes. The animals were stunningly and marvelously beautiful. The true wavecrest was very much like pterodactyls with long sailed tails and skin of brilliant patters and colors. Shepard fully understood why the asari chose the wavecrest for the design of their frigates. It was fast, mobile and very deadly.

Of course all asari starships had their living counterparts in the oceans of Thessia. Cruisers took their design from fraxon sharks, the fighters resembled dolphins. The dreadnoughts were designed after the giant manta ray. Where the massive rays were utterly benign plankton and krill eaters, their dreadnought counterparts was one of the deadliest ships patrolling the stars.

At first Shepard had begrudged the Council in forcing her to change the name, but now she wasn't so sure. _Normandy_…

"Shepard and the _Normandy_," Tali's voice crackled over the headset breaking into Shepard's thoughts, "should never be parted."

"What?" The Spectre asked a little startled the other woman's words had mirrored her thoughts so exactly.

"Oh! Sorry was that aloud?" The young quarian asked, her body language suggested her blush.

Shepard chuckled at that. "Yeah, you're right. Why do you think the Council made me change her name, even if they were the ones to first christen her the _Victory_? You know back in the day when ships were still wood and iron and sailed the waters it was considered bad luck to change a ship's name."

They were speaking while inspecting the hull.

"Maybe that's why the Flotilla has had its share of problems; we change our ships' registries all the time. There are a few exceptions like a ship called the _Qwib-Qwib_."

Shepard cocked her head and laughed. "You have a ship called a ship called the _Qwib-Qwib?_ Really?_ Qwib-Qwib_? Oh that's hilarious."

"If you ever chance to meet her admiral please don't ask about it. It's a sore spot for him. Zaal'Koris vas _Qwib-Qwib_. He say's he's proud of his ship, but I don't believe him. He has faced too much ridicule over it."

"So why call it the _Qwib-Qwib_, in the first place?"

"As you probably know some of the ships in the Migrant Fleet are previously owned vessels from other cultures and that changing their registry information is not always possible. Sometimes you get stuck with a name. I'm sure he'd like to have a valiant ship's name like the _Defrahnz_ or _Iktomi_."

"_Iktomi_? That's actually worse."

"Why?"

"_Iktomi _sounds like vasectomy…"

"I hesitate to ask but what about _Defrahnz_?"

"To humans it's a lot like the Latin word for a part of a male anatomy." Shepard coughed, uncomfortably. Had there been dirt to kick at she would have done so.

"It has something to do with reproduction doesn't it?"

"Ah Yeah..."

"Quarians have a different word for that. I don't think I'll ever look at those two ships the same again." She chuckled.

"Sorry." there was a shrug.

Tali turned to her Commander. "You're pretty good with medical terms."

"Didn't study medicine in any real sense, I had to take a course in advanced anatomy in my last year in high school. I used all sorts of tricks to help me remember inner squishy bits, they always gave me trouble. Some of them stuck in my brain like Commandant von Defrahnz and the ejaculating schnitzel brigade." She scrunched up her face grimacing. "I know, I know it's bad. But hell memory tricks work. Sometimes the dumber sounding the better."

"I used to do the same thing when my father wanted me to memorize facts about a certain system or planet. My mother helped me do so with little nonsense jingles." Tali cocked her head in an expression of curiosity. "So why anatomy? I'd figure you'd something more aligned with your interests like stellar cartography."

"Oh I took that in my junior year. I needed the whopping five credits the biology class offered if I wanted to get into Atris after Macapá. I don't know how it works in the Flotilla but with the Alliance, spacer kids don't have the schooling of an accredited institute; the majority comes from online tutors. You have to work twice as hard to be considered half as good. So I took a lot of difficult courses, tried to keep my grades way up, and pushed myself harder each year. I wouldn't allow myself to fall into mediocrity, to be just another grunt."

"You've succeeded then, _Spectre_." there was a smile in the voice. "It is not the same for us considering for the past three hundred years, we've been 'spacer kids.' We have structured classes. Each ship has schools, both primary and secondary. Then we become apprenticed to our chosen fields until our pilgrimage. After the pilgrimage, our apprenticeship continues on our new ships."

"Good point. So back to why we're out here. How's the refit coming?"

"For the most part exceedingly well. But it might go a bit faster if we had some more hands."

"Who do you need? Lab-coats or grunts?"

"We have all the techs we need, its more laboring hands I have need of. Those who can pilot a ROSE without doing damage to the ship will be very helpful."

"You got it." Shepard knelt down examining a panel on the port side wing. "These are new right?"

"Very good." Tali's engineering voice praised her Commander. "Those junctions are part of the Argus Scanner array. It's already been integrated into the ship's systems. The array will greatly speed up planetary scanning."

"Yes I remember." Shepard nodded. She pointed to what looked like embedded paint flecks on the hull. Now on closer inspection she could see that the ship was littered with them "The Cyclone shields, I assume."

Again the quarian nodded. Long before they were installed, Tali had told Shepard of the rapidly oscillating obstructions of CBT or Cyclonic Barrier Technology was a must if they were going to face off against Reaper main gun batteries. Of course the Spectre said the _Normandy_ was Tali's baby and she was to do whatever it took to protect her. Whatever the cost, they'd find the money and the resources.

Sam proceeded to lie down on the wing and press her naked ear to the structure. This did not seem at all queer to Tali. She was after all an engineer; she had done similar actions herself. Simply listening to the creaking bulkheads, the hum of engines and she knew within a micro-fraction if something was off. What the younger woman hadn't expected was to see someone who was not a technician do such a thing.

"You can almost feel the pulse of her." Shepard whispered. "Feel her heart beating. Even here in the wing."

Tali smiled behind the lavender-pink visor. "Aye, you can."

"I love that sound."

"Are you sure you weren't meant to be an engineer, Shepard?"

"Tali my dear you know me by now. I'm good at blowing shit up, not building it. I leave that to pros like you."

"Oh and what about the dozen or so models I saw in your quarters?"

"Pft. Those toys don't count. Remember 'Speak Commander Dummy?' Besides what you do is a hell of a lot more complicated than put tab A into slot B and glue."

Tali squeezed her thumb and forefinger together. "Perhaps just a little."

Both women shared a laugh.

As she pushed herself up, Shepard looked to her young friend with deep admiration. She didn't think Tali knew just how truly valued she was to her. "You know the _Normandy_ could never run without you."

The girl shuffled a little her body revealing her embarrassment at welcomed praise. "Sure it could, just not as well."

Shepard smiled warmly and placed a hand on the other's shoulder. "I'm dead serious Miss Tali'Zorah vas _Normandy_. You're the heart of this ship. Truly. The Goddess was good to me the day we crossed paths. Oh and both Liara and I want to thank you for the gift, by the way. We love it."

It was hard to tell but under the mask Tali's pale lavender skin hit an all-time burning blush of bright blue. She bit her lower lip just before she leapt into Shepard's arms hugging her tightly. "You are my family, Sam." Tali used the rarely if not near forbidden first name of her Commander and hero. "I'd link suits with you any day."

Sam's hug was that of an older sister before she set the young woman back down on the ship's surface. "I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the phrase." She was a little worried she had sent the wrong signals to Tali. There was no denying she found the young quarian attractive and charming and she cared deeply for her. And perhaps in another life, in another reality there might have been something between them, if Liara wasn't in the picture. But the deep love she held for the young woman was not romantic.

Tali backed away quickly terrified she might have overstepped her bounds. Sometimes human culture still stymied her. It was why she had downloaded a copy of an education vid, "Understanding Body Language: Human Edition' she also upgraded her translator for all human languages. "It…it means the highest form of trust that two quarians can share. To link suit environments is a bonding of sorts. Not like you and Liara share but it is just as important and sacred among my people."

Shepard was touched. To link suits wasn't just about being physical with another; it was allowing yourself to become vulnerable. So vulnerable it might easily lead to severe sickness if not death. "Tali…"

The girl shifted. "I…didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. It isn't always sexually. My mother cared for and loved my aunty Shala'Raan. They are…were not related by blood any more than you and Ash are but they were sisters nevertheless. Just as you two are. My aunty was there for my birth. She said she was sick for two weeks afterwards but it was worth it."

"You haven't made me uncomfortable. Don't be silly. I feel the same way. You are family, you are Liara's Trusted. In a sense that is linking suits…isn't it? And you will when the time is right be my daughters' aunty: you and Ash. As for sisters, you are as much my sister as Ash is. Don't go thinking that you're not. I'd link suits with you too."

Tali nodded, grinning widely.

Sam put her arm around Tali, "Okay now…if you and Ash are as my sisters, tell me, what the hell's going on between you and Garrus?"

Tali wavered. "I…I…I….really don't know."

"Oh come now you can do better than that." Shepard slipped her arm free and crossed it with the other over her chest. "You're what twenty-four? I know you sure as hell don't need the sex-talk so what's going on there?"

"Really, I don't know. Sometimes he acts if he wants to pursue a personal relationship. I wouldn't mind that. But and other times he looks as if he wants to flee. I probably should have downloaded a book on turian body language as well as the one I did for humans."

"Might help. But have you thought of simply asking him?"

"WHAT? I can't do that?"

"Why? Oh please don't tell me you're the damsel waiting for her knight sort of girl. The princess should always save her own damn self and leave the puffed-up-prancing-prince to his horse!"

"Nothing of the sort." Tali might have made a face of displeasure beneath the hood but it was difficult to tell. "And I'm not one of those swooning girls on Fleet and Flotilla either. Um…though I do like that vid."

Shepard snickered. "I'm little partial to Vaenia. Love the sound track Blue Azure." A small blush kept up on the human's face knowing that Tali would not get the innuendo. Unless you were an asari or had one as a lover, azure was just another name for blue. "But I'll tell you what, Ash secretly likes that Fleet and Flotilla. I caught her watching it a few times with her sister."

"It was written and directed well. And it got an award for the love scene…" Tali said defensively. "And they have good music too. 'Fire in the Courtyard' was written by one of our finest contemporary composers. It's one of my favorites."

Shepard only smirked. 'Note to self, tell Garrus about her musical tastes.' "Right…so….Garrus? Want me to find out what's going in that thick skull of his?"

"No! No that will make matters worse. I think he's actually terrified of you. Or rather what you will do to him if you find out he's skulking around your 'little sister'."

"Okay no questions. Look how about this then? Ash and Wrex are mucking around in the woods with their teams and you need people. His team is the closest to us; they are still in the city. I'll recall him and his group they come back here and help out as needed. When your shift ends and I do mean ends Tali, no extended hours this time, I'll simply drop a hint to him that hitting a nightclub say a place like Eternity might be just what you need to do to relax. I'll tell him to do it as a favour to me and you need to be forced away from work before you burn yourself out."

"I don't know…"

"Fine then I'll just tell him 'Look Tali doesn't seem to mind your infatuation of her, so ask her out on a damn date will you?'"

"No. No." Tali shook her head frantically. "The first option is better. I pick that one."

A sly grin appeared on the Spectre's face. "I thought it might."

"You are truly slick you know that? I always admired the way you are able to manipulate and charm others with that silver tongue; never did I dream it would be done to me."

"I have my moments." Shepard winked.

The two moved along the hull down towards to the stern of the ship from there to the smaller secondary wings. "Tali tell me is typical for Cee-Bee-Tea to look like metallic paint flecks? Or is this new tech?"

"It is typical but what you're seeing is because of the Weareth'Bol. They improved the Cee-Bee-Tea with a greater proficiency to withstand blasts that came from Sovereign. They mean to do the same to the Silaris armor. The Weareth'Bol can scuttle a ship or in this case refit it but they aren't so good at heavy labor."

"Right, they work on the molecular level. By changing the molecular composition of something they can demolish it at an accelerated pace or in this case apparently strengthen it."

Tali nodded. "The Cee-Bee-Tea is perfectly infused with the hull of the _Normandy_; and I do mean perfectly. Flawlessly. The Weareth'Bol didn't exactly change the molecular composition of the shields but made sure that there was a perfect blending between them and the ship. Now the shields work at a far greater proficiency. I'd go as far to say not unlike the nervous system of a biotic."

This intrigued the Spectre. "Really? How so? "

The quarian pointed to the hull. "Just look. All those 'paint flecks' are a lot like Ee-Zo nodules in a biotic's body. They harmonize together, working in tandem just like your nervous system does when you summon your biotic abilities."

"That's great." Shepard grinned. "Only hope the Cee-Bee-Tea is working at an L-five capacity and not an L-two."

Tali frowned behind her mask. She didn't find that at all amusing. "Shepard…about the… your treatments…"

"You want to ask me about the Cyan Syndrome? I'm fine and on the mend. It's the reason why Dr. T'Shyn is here. I'll tell the rest of the team, but I know you're concerned. The bond Liara and I share is more prothean than it is asari, and my biotics have greatly changed. They were unstable for a time, before the new implants because of the flux in metamorphosis. Dr. T'Shyn says the gestalt was the catalyst to activating the memories within the prothean cipher, especially those concerning biotics."

"Prothean?" Tali uttered softly. "Your biotics are prothean?"

"Because of the gestalt so are Liara's. It's a little more technical than that, but that's the gist of it. It's why I was diagnosed with CS and part of the reason why…why we lost the baby. Liara was suffering from my CS just as much as I was."

Tali put a hand on the Spectre's arm. "I'm so sorry."

Shepard shook her head. "It's not your fault. It's the harsh reality of war. It's brutal, it's cruel, hard and it sucks. And sometimes it has very unforeseeable events. Like this whole mess with the cipher. I wouldn't change that, the beacons; the cipher, all of it will help me…help us fight the Reapers. The only thing I would have different is the death of my daughter."

"We'll make them pay, Shepard. Cerberus will burn for what they have done. And they have done a lot believe me."

"Hunting down Lawson and Cerberus isn't just about me getting vengeance. Cerberus must be stopped. They have their hands deep into something. I have a gut feeling it's connected to what's going on in the Terminus Systems. Getting Lawson will alert them, alert TIMmy, but we have to do something.

"Then there are the collectors. Tali, you saw it in the memories of the vinculum. The collectors and the protheans are connected. They were living at the same time. Yet over fifty-thousand years the collectors haven't changed. I don't even know how that's possible but we saw it!

"Now Cerberus has a connection to the collectors, I don't know how I know, I just do. Like I said I feel it in my gut. The collectors are big, enigmatic, powerful extremely secretive and nearly impossible to catch. The Illusive Man is an amoral creature of envy, rage and pride. He is intelligent, arrogant and xenophobic. He craves power not simply for humankind but _his_ chosen humans…for Cerberus…for himself. I think he fancies himself the new messiah. And if that is true then Miranda Lawson plays his Mary Magdalene."

Tali cocked her head, "Who?"

"His alpha bitch."

"What are we going to do once we have her?" Tali asked. It was a question that seemed to be on the minds of everyone in the crew. What _do_ you do with the enemy's top lieutenant?

"She will be treated accordingly as a POW." Shepard said stiffly. "In preparation for that I need you do something Tali. It will not be a pleasant task."

The quarian only shrugged. "Clearing out the heat sinks is not a pleasant task but it needs doing. What would you have me do?"

"Make a compilation of all the more intense confrontations we have had with Cerberus. The monsters they made, the justification that their scientists tried to make, even the one who tried to buy me off. I want footage of Rear Admiral Kahoku's body, the transmissions from the distress call from his men where that damn thresher maw was, and our confrontation with Corporal Toombs and that slime Dr. Wayne who tried to deny it all. I'll get you the recordings from Toombs' unit when they were Akuze as well."

"Weren't you on Akuze?"

Shepard shook her head. "Not until the second team: Toombs' unit failed to report in. The threshers were practically dead by then. All we did was reclaim the lost bodies of our troopers. A few had gone missing but it was assumed they were destroyed by the threshers, not taken by Cerberus."

Tali's head tilted a little. Being with the quarian for more than a year now, the Spectre was becoming quite adept at reading the young woman's body language. It was the expression of distress and apprehensiveness.

"What is it, Tali? If you don't want to do this I'll have another…"

"It isn't that."

"Then what is it?"

"Do you recall a while back when we heard there was some issue with the Flotilla?"

"What is it? Has something happened?"

Tali nodded.

Shepard took the girl into her arms, "Tali if we need to go find them we will. Just tell me what happened."

"My father sent word to me that Cerberus attacked one of our ships, boarded her and killed several of my people. They were hunting for a young human biotic: one from the Alliance's Ascension Program. The girl was with two people we met back at Grissom Station, Dr. Kahlee Sanders and that security chief Hendel.

"Father said that a young man named Lemm'Shal nar Tesleya, though now his ship name is nas Ideena, came back with Dr. Sanders because it was believed she had information on the geth. Her knowledge was Lemm'Shal's gift to the captain of the _Ideena_.

"The Head of the Ascension Program?" Shepard frowned. She knew the woman had a connection to Anderson and Saren. Her former captain allowed her to see reports that had been buried for the past twenty years, shortly after she became a Spectre. Highly confidential and controversial the Alliance Brass wasn't going to release it but then Hackett had become involved as had the Council. The Alliance had no choice but to acquiesce to the request or face the censure it had narrowly escaped two decades back. The information was believed to be about Saren and Qian and their connection to the geth. But reading deeper and between the lines, combined with the Intel Sanders had given the Spectre; it was revealed not to be about the geth it was about Sovereign.

But how did Dr. Sanders become involved with the quarians in the first place? It's not like Grissom Station is a major calling port for commerce or intergalactic travel. Its primary function was a school for the gifted and biotics after all. Well Elysium might be an attraction but certainly not the station. And what was Cerberus doing hunting down a young biotic? "More abominations committed by Cerberus. That biotic kid….I bet you anything Cerberus had a lot invested in her, they are not about to allow their asset to slip through their fingers." The Spectre faced the younger woman, appraising the quarian's reactions to the turn the conversation had taken. "Tali, why didn't you tell me your people…your home was attacked before now?"

"I…there wasn't time."

"You know better than that, I'd make the time for you. You know that. Right?" she put a hand on the engineer's shoulder.

There was a shy nod from the hooded head. "I know. That's not what I meant. I know I can always rely on you, Shepard. Ever since you saved me that day in the alley, I knew. When I spoke of not having the time, I meant that I got the call when you were in surgery. You're barely recovered, Shepard. You're already dealing with so much, the war to come with the Reapers, the Council and the Alliance admiralty not believing the truth about Sovereign. They are dismissing and debunking everything you say. The battles with the geth and Cerberus, the loss of your….your baby… It seems so unfair to lay the attack on the Flotilla on your shoulders as well. My people fought and won over those hounds. We took our losses, but we won.

"If you knew…even as you entered the hospital to get your cure, I know you would have stopped the procedure and charged off to face Cerberus for me. Because that's what you do. Shepard….Sam…. you're out here protecting the universe and you protect us, but you have so little protecting you. When the opportunity comes to us, you have to allow your friends…your family to protect you. There are times when I feel that I haven't left the Flotilla. And one day I will return. But I'm needed here now at your side.

"In the Flotilla, on a ship, quarians live as a family." there was a hint of a smile behind the mask. "Often times a dysfunctional family, but a family, nonetheless. On the old _Normandy i_t was the same. We became a family. Now we have new members to integrate into the clan, and maybe it will work. I hope that it does. It's already starting- that sense of community is growing and we are becoming stronger for it. You hold us all together, but sometimes I think you forget we're here to help you hold together. But you can't help those who don't want to be helped. So let us help you."

Shepard was dumbfounded by the younger woman's words, rendering her utterly speechless for the next few moments.

"Shepard?" there was a note of hesitance in the quarian's voice.

"Yeah?"

"So…what happened to your hair?"

Shepard gave a look that said 'Not you too.' but nothing issued from her mouth.

"It's not bad. I'm sorry I didn't mean for it to sound that way it's just….different… But in a good way! Keelah I'm rambling."

The Spectre shook her head smiling "It's alright. Liara happened."

"Oh! Right. She um…did a fine job?"

The human shrugged. "She could have made it look as if I have the mange. I guess looking like a thistle isn't all bad." A snort of laughter followed. "And yes I can go and have it re-styled. But then I'd have to live with the 'you kicked my puppy' face until it grew out long enough to allow her to cut it again. I'll just stick with it."

"Is that was a real marriage is?" Tali asked wistfully. "Doing things for your lover you'd never do for anyone else?"

"Oh yeah!" Shepard grinned. "And you know what? It's well worth it. One of these days you'll get there and you'll see what I mean. What - your parents didn't do things for one another they probably wouldn't have otherwise?"

"I was still pretty young when my mother was alive. I don't recall a lot of what passed between them in our quiet family moments. My mother tolerated the fact that my father never smiled, never laughed and she was actually very jovial. I always thought they made an odd pairing. I think she was trying to make up for his abysmal lack of a sense of humor. He always put the Admiralty and the Fleet above family. As it should be but it would have been nice to see him make Mother smile or laugh…just once."

"Yeah. I actually get that. Though my dad did smile it was rare, I grew up thinking he was a professional grump." Shepard smiled. "When he did smile it was over shiny new engineering toys but hey you take what you can get. And as for guys who laugh, I happen to know Garrus has a very good sense of humor. I'll bet he'll have you in a fit of girly giggles."

"Shepard!"

"Ohh look at that blush. It's so bright I can actually see it behind that visor of yours. So where _did_ you're mind just go? Humm?"

Tali playfully shoved the Spectre in the arm. "Come on…we have work to do."

"Aye, aye." Shepard flipped a playful salute.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

The forest was vast and thick. The gully offered plenty of hiding places. Dozens of ambush sites. If you knew how to use them. It seemed the enemy, quite unfairly, had displayed an unforeseen tactical originality. Okay, not unforeseen, but Ash felt a little insulted. Tactical originality was supposed to be _her _department. Okay Shepard's department but she was the Spectre's protégée. She had learned a few things about improvising and she wasn't too bad herself.

And neither was the enemy.

They were pulling Shepards left right and center. And they were better at it. The enemy position sat smack in the southwest quadrant, beautifully chosen because it covered both fully negotiable ground entrances into the gully. Her commando teams were moving into position, quickly and quietly. Gunnery Chief Phineus Ragnos led his mixed crew of four converging on the northern entrance cutting off enemy reinforcements. Special tactical officer Kex of the STG held the southern entry point with his team of six.

Both squads were well camouflaged, yet even this was a distraction from the true hidden teams of Naga'sadow and Russan Vos high within the trees. She couldn't see them but she knew they were there. The enemy would attempt to hold either side thinking to overwhelm them and become ambushed themselves by the clandestine teams of biotics, techs and elite commandos. Perfect.

From her vantage point within the trees Ash peered over the bough. Waiting for the signal. The enemy down below still were blissfully oblivious. They'd have a rude awaking.

Showtime.

Ash raised her hand, thumb, forefinger, and middle finger extended, and slowly began to count down, folding down her middle finger, index and then…

A whirl and a whoosh, five, eight, times over, zooming down from higher limbs from the very canopy of the forest.

No! Goddammit, no! She was monumentally stupid. In a terrible instant she knew her people had pulled the screw up to end them all. Goddamn dumbass stunt. In her arrogance she hadn't bothered to check above. Just like the enemy below. She felt too damn sure of herself, of her troops.

Dumbass. Dumbass.

"Fucking brilliant Williams." she snarled. 'Won't that make for a great epitaph: _Here lies LT 1__st__ class, Ashley Madeline Williams, smug bastard got her people killed and was a disappointment to Shepard.' _

"Take cover!" she roared.

But it was too late. Even equipped with the new GLs finding cover from enemy fire coming from within the trees was difficult at best if you weren't a squirrel. Mottled green hardsuits and shielded helmets, they scuttled on GLs like so many spiders and moved with the same eerie speed, instantly opening fire. Thin red lasers sights ripped through the thick cloying scented air like some whacked lightshow, hit trees and boughs and bodies. One painted her, and Ash rolled away, brought up her own weapon, fired. Missed. Somewhere behind her rose a cry. Russon.

Russon's group was down. Hit by a dozen biotic pulses. Her squad was now five down.

The gunfire from above was just distraction! Noise to scare away the monsters. Enemy biotics and techs with drones were the true threat. Drones hunted Kex's team. By now there was a near constant barrage his corner. Chances were he was going to lose them all.

Red streaks rippled, searching, hunting, targeting.

Ash found her target and drilled him from a hundred paces. Rolling away from the great ithiliend tree bough to the truck she found new cover. She gave a new look to the massive leaves with a dubious eye. Until she had returned to the ship she had no idea the leaves had such a reaction to humans. But then again the whole time she was out here she had been fully armored in a hardsuit. No unexposed skin had ever made contact with the irritant within the foliage. She got to her feet, found another target. He sagged and remained suspended 'upside down' by the GL harness. There was a certain satisfaction to seeing it.

Drones whizzed through the air, letting off flash bangs. More noise. More distractions. Giving biotics time to do their thing. Singularities tore into Gunnery Chief Phineus Ragnos's team decimating them.

The enemy was using more and more distractions; their strikes were meticulously carried out along side crushing biotic blows. The terrifying thing was it was exactly what Shepard would have done if she was out numbered and outgunned. She'd use a hell of a lot of distractions then use assassin strikes with biotics.

Naga'sadow had bunkered down. She and her group took out three attackers in quick succession. Ash's own team clocked up two more. If they could keep up with them maybe, just maybe—

"Naga'sadow!" Ash barked over the radio. "Target those biotics, neutralize them!"

"Yes ma'am! Idirl deploy the drones-"

The asari toppled as the trees blew outward. The same thing happened in two other places, behind Kex and Ash's teams. A piece of wood ricocheted off William's head, clanking loudly against the metallic surface of the helmet. She reeled back into the truck of the giant tree. A second biotic blast tore Ash off her feet and flung her against the tree bough and plunged her twenty feet down.

There was an endless, weightless momentum. There was a strange Dopplered effect of her name being called out by her sister. Gravity kicked in then it kicked her ass. There was the sound of a dry hacking cough and it took more than a few moments to realize that it was her making that sound.

"I just had my ass handed to me by a bunch of geeky labcoats." She closed her eyes. "Fuck."

Aleena's first aid tent had adopted all the atmosphere and civility of an open bar at a raider's rally. People were guzzling coffee, tea and protean drinks of every description.

Naga'sadow had eviscerated an MRE pack to get at the candy bar and sat on a square shaped rock, a happily munching nucleus at the heart of mayhem. Empty calories or no, you couldn't discount the curative properties of chocolate. The young helmsman was the only satisfied customer in the compound. With the mock battle over; everyone including the female contingent was squirting testosterone.

"That stunt could have killed us!" Ragnos growled. "You nearly killed her!"

"We only did what was expected of us," Chorban snapped back. "You're just pissed off that we won this ordeal. Besides what happened to Lt. Williams was an accident."

"Accident my ass, you egg-head fuck ups."

"Fuck-ups? I don't know what they teach you in boot camp human but we took the necessary precautions with our explosives, and biotics. We had everything calculated.

"Precautions my ass!" Russon butted in.

"I can spell it out for you, jarhead." Chorban pushed the marine.

"Jarhead?

"Muscles are required, intellect not essential. You can string the initials into a word, _jarhea_d."

"You want to take that up with Williams?" Ragnos pushed back.

"She's the one who set the order to do what we were fully capable of-to outmaneuver the stronger foe and we did!"

"No sniveling labcoat bested me."

That did it. A little healthy social exchange between the department branches of the Normandy's military and sciences was fine, but this was getting a little tactile The barely contained mayhem was threatening to become full out anarchy. Aleena made a move for the sneering combatants, pushing a scrambling lab-tech who had been desperate to get out of arms reach of the two bickering heads.

"Shut it! That's an order!"

The bellow stalled arguments, made marines and scientists flinch, provoked ducked heads among colonists and caused Naga'sadow to choke on her candy bar, and trailed blessed silence in its wake. Inevitably, really. Most mouths hung open. No one would ever accuse Aleena or as the crew knew her as Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa of having a build associated with the volume of famous opera singers—alive or long dead. A good diaphragm had its perks.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Now that I have your full and undivided attention, listen up. We have a job to do. Unless you are doing said job, get the hell out of my tent!"

There was a scramble of sound as several of _Normandy's _crew hastened to obey the directive. The rest of the delinquents still gawking at her though mouths had started to close.

"Well?"

"Of course doctor." Naga'sadow said having forced the misbehaving bite of chocolate down her throat. She slipped off her perch and led the exodus out of the habitat. Two minutes later the tent had cleared of nearly all personnel.

To her left there was a strangled moan and a slight ruffle coming from her left. Without even turning Aleena snapped. "Not you."

"I was just…um…trying to get comfortable."

"Right." She meant liar of course. She activated the medical app on her OMNI tool and ran it over Ash's body. "The marines who pulled you out said you had trouble breathing."

"You try falling three stories without your handy biotics to float you down."

Aleena smirked. "Well there is that." she ran the OMNI tool over the Williams' body. "Nothing broken, but you've got severe contusions, and I don't have to tell you those are no fun."

"Yeah no kidding. Just shoot me up with some medigel and send me on my way. I've got a debriefing to hold. Shepard's going to want to know the results, especially for this last one."

"I think she'll be impressed. The crew is coming together."

"Yeah and only moments ago they were going for each other's throats like rabid varran."

"Just wait. When Shepard gets a hold of the helm-cam feedback, she'll say some smooth words out of that silver tongued mouth of hers and suddenly they'll realize they are all on the same side and the enemy is truly and fully fucked." a sly grin crept on the bounty hunter's face that startled Ash to the core. Either that or it was the fact an asari had used such an ill-elocutioned word as fucked.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

AN1: Liara in a white teddy by **masterulukai** found at Deviantart as a reminder Liara's armor is the one she wore in LotSB. AN2: Quotes taken from mass effect novels and yes there IS some influence from 'Little Plastic Castles.' cookies to anyone who knows the reference. Tali is 25 in ME2 so do the math.

AN3: recap: the wavecrest in my head looks a bit like the _Ikran or mountain banshee _more especially the _Great Leonopteryx_ of the Naavi's planet Pandora without tails. (see movie Avatar) Oh and by the way on deviantart you can see all sorts of artwork of unmasked Tali…to me I think the quarian faces may look a bit like the Naavi with silver eyes rather than gold or amber, and of course no tails and not quite so tall.)


	44. Changing the Game Plan

Chapter 44: Changing the Game Plan

The Dark Heart of the most nefarious city in known space, Afterlife is the playground of the worst the galaxy has to offer—and home of their de facto leader: Aria T'loak.

Miranda Lawson had done her best to keep out of the Queen of Omega's sights by keeping a very low profile in the Heart of Evil. She seemed as unimportant as anyone else travelling to Omega. She made a note to purchase a few illegal mods and be seen doing it to blend in should the asari's massive army of informants be on her trail.

It was as much of a slight of hand that Shepard had pulled all those long months ago on Ilos, the change of her ships name from the _Victory_ to the _Normandy. _ Not that the Cerberus operative expected the matriarch to be so easily fooled but it didn't hurt to play the part of the chameleon.

Not that the residents of Omega cared for the assassination of an asari's fetus or the near death of a Spectre's bondmate. But they might care if they thought profit could be gained if they sold someone belonging to Cerberus to that very same very vengeful Spectre. And if there was any hint that Aria T'loak believed Cerberus had anything to do with what happened to that Batarian colony she might be provoked into action, lest they come to her domain and do the same. She would become proactive.

The one of the many skills Lawson possessed was the ability to read people. Frequenting the Afterlife she had watched Aria becoming more and more agitated. And this intrigued and worried Lawson in equal portions. Even the most ruthless leaders have limits. And even the darkest places can get a little bit darker. So when Aria decided to take a tour of the station, Lawson took great note of the matriarch's movements.

Something was happening to give that particular look to the asari. Lawson had seen it more than a few times on The Illusive Mans' face when something occurred within one of the Operations. It was a look he held for almost four months when Shepard had shut down several bases of Operation Stromtrooper.

Something was defiantly amiss. Lawson was highly tempted to tail the pirate queen, but like the Illusive Man, T'loak seemed to have a sixth sense that allowed her the ability of foreshadowing. Which meant she'd know if she had a tail on her than Lawson's objective would come to a very swift conclusion and not a happy one for the Cerberus operative.

Blue eyes scanned the lower levels of the markets. The mind behind those eyes knew something wasn't right, in fact something was very very wrong. Aria didn't live as long as she had by ignoring those twinges on the precipice of her sub-consciousness and it had nothing to do with the lurking Cerberus woman or her organization's personal-grudge war with the first human Spectre.

"I think you're overreacting, Boss." Sanak one of her top lieutenants said trailing after her along with another batarian. Sanak wasn't just one of the Pirate Queen's lieutenants; he was her attack dog, a blunt instrument. "Reports are telling us it's just some Blue Sin mercs. Maybe some slavers—Nothing we can't handle."

Aria didn't slow in her pace, didn't turn as she continued her determined path. "The reports are wrong." It was said in a tone of voice broke no room to challenge her.

"Uh…? You got new Intel?" Sanak's four eyes blinked at once. "What's going on?"

"Not sure. But Omega's my station. I know when something's not right." She paused before a long barely lit corridor that lead directly to Kokomo Plaza's upper levels. Only two of her guns flanking Aria's statement to any would be usurpers was evidently clear. She was not going to be intimidated and anyone attempting to threaten her power was already dead.

"Besides, it's good to make an appearance every now and then. Remind everyone I'm in charge." It wouldn't do to have the three major merc bands or the smaller gangs believe that had power outside what Aria allowed them. Every so often she had flex a little muscle, flaunt Patriarch or a little public execution. Apparently it was time once more to put the plebs back into their place.

Blue eyes narrowed when she saw a rather large assembly below the catwalk the corridor opened up to. So it was the Blue Suns making a push. She should have expected something like this sooner or later.

Below a blonde human male was surrounded by a horde of humans all clutching at each other, terrified. Their fear almost a cloying stink and with good reason. It wasn't the Blue Sun slavers the humans were petrified by but a seven insectiod creatures. Six of them were biped, there was and one massive monster larger than any elcor floating on spindly legs in the middle of the small swarm.

"Damn." Aria hissed upon seeing them. Her mind whirling with a dozen different scenarios on how to neutralize her foe before her lieutenant even opened his mouth to speak. She hadn't spent over seven hundred years on the battlefield and the last four hundred ruler of Omega for nothing. She had a reputation for always being two steps ahead of her rivals. She already knew what they were going to say, or do even before they did it. She always in control.

"Collectors? What are they Blue Suns doing with them?" Sanak questioned. A penitent believer in the Pirate Queen's omnisentient powers the batarian firmly believed his boss had the answers. It was as if she could gleam it from the very air. It didn't surprise him, he knew her to be well over a thousand years old and capable of any incredible feats.

Aria turned her back on the scene below. Her voice now a low deadly growl. A voice determined and set. Her body tense like panther ready to spring upon her prey. "Change of planes. No one leaves here alive. When I hit the floor…" With no warning, Aria sprung up over the railing, her body glowing with powerful biotics. "…send them to hell!" She landed in a crouch.

It was as if someone had set off a neutron bomb in the plaza. A biotic blast so large so powerful it shattered waves of debris and bodies: human, turrian, batarian, and Collector in all directions away from the impact crater.

Then everything happened at once. Cacophony of screams of panic, fear and anger, explosions, gunfire and biotic powers assaulted every eardrum. Even over the vulgar explosions voices rose high and distinctly clear.

One of the Blue Suns, the blonde one screamed "Ambush!" All his men started firering.

Above on the gangplanks, Aria's men shouted: "Fire!" blasts immediately rained down from above shooting at anything and everything that wasn't purplish skinned asari indiscriminately.

"Eliminate them!" roared the collector lieutenant just as he unleashed the power of his own rifle.

From the smoke the massive collector tank moved directly for the pirate queen. She was its only target.

"Make your move." Aria growled unafraid from the center of the crater. Her body shimmered in her own kenotic barriers.

The hulking bug glowed brilliantly. The Goddess-be-damned thing is a biotic! A shockwave of cyan energy tore through the air aimed directly where Aria was crouched. With nearly equal force she had used seconds ago.

Pure instinct motivated the muscles of the pirate queen's body. One second she was in the center of the crater the nests she had tucked rolled and was somewhere else.

"Protect Aria!" Sanak screeched form his sniper's position on the catwalk. "Converging fire! Focus on the big one!"

Smoke cleared. Aria had recovered she was still crouched, muscles twitched readying to leap. She sprung. The collector delivered a backhand swipe with its riffle flinging the asari backwards. The collector followed its initial attack by snagging the Pirate Queen by the throat.

"You are insignificant." It said in a voice devoid of emotion, inflection or even arrogance.

Centuries of reflex took over; a natural biotic Aria was never without a weapon. But this called for something more. She grappled for breathing room, just enough to move, she reached behind her back to one of the many concealed compartments on her wide misleadingly simplistic if not expensive custom made varren leather belt. When she spoke Arian's own voice dripped with cold venom. "Maybe," she whipped her hand out from behind her back, palming a thermal detonator. The next instant she slammed her clutched fist into the maw of the creature holding her.

"But you're dead." It dropped her allowing Aria just enough time to fling the creature from her with a biotic throw so forceful it flew several paces away from her and into his fellows. With a hair's breathe to spare before-

**BA-DOOM!**

Bodies exploded in a blaze of orange. The whole world seemed to smoulder in black fog. What lay around Aria seemed more like the Tuchanka than Omega. Broken dead bodies, blood, red, blue and black splattered over the war zone.

Her body still glowing cyan as were her eyes. "Nobody fucks with Aria." she began walking towards the bodies of the would-be-slaves. "Nobody."

Sanak sprinted through the mire of rubble and smoke nearly tripping as he made for is boss. "You okay?"

Aria ignored the question. "Report." she demanded. Her face splattered with the blood of her victims as well as her own.

"We lost one man. The humans and the collectors are all dead. There's a couple Suns still alive."

Aria didn't even turn around when she gave her next orders. "Finish off the Blue Suns. _After_ you find out everything they _knew _about this deal. I want to know why this happened."

Sanak nodded. He knew better than anyone the penalty for disobeying the Pirate Queen. Death was a mercy. She made examples. And they were always very painful ones. He watched her saunter away as if she just hadn't taken a full biotic blast to the chest, or was pistol whipped by an assault riffle. That perhaps terrified him the most.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Liselle watched her mother stride the Pirate Queen's private quarters. Purple blood cross-hatching her face. The maiden knew it didn't belong to another asari.

The first question that popped into the younger woman's mind was to ask her mother how much pain was she in, how badly was she hurt. But she knew her mother would never tell her. The white and maroon leather jacket was shed and tossed to the sofa in the den.

"See that gets cleaned." she said with out looking.

"Who was it?" Liselle asked, at least she knew she'd get an answer to that particular question.

"Blue Sun slavers. Dealing with collectors."

"Collectors? Here?" Liselle gasped. "Why?"

"I intend to find out. You don't speak a word of this. To anyone."

"Of course not, _Naneth_." a word she only speaks here in these chambers. At her mother's insistence, the maiden kept their relationship hidden.

Aria didn't want her enemies to use the knowledge against her, and she didn't want her daughter to go through life with a target on her back. Not even her children knew how many siblings they had or the fact they had an aunt. It was a measure she took to safeguard those she loved, even if it meant decades of estrangement from those very same people.

Liselle watched her mother shed her clothing and head for the ensuite, no doubt to shower off the grime and blood. She could already make out the bruises were barely forming. Sighing heavily she went for the med-kit, specifically going for the muscle creams and topical oils that aided with the healing with bruises and contusions. She also set a side an epi of medi-gel. She knew her mother never would complain or make an issue out of being injured, Aria was more than capable of taking care of herself but that didn't stop a daughter from being worried.

When her mother came out of the bathroom, Liselle was there to great her in the bedroom, ready with the acquirements of first-aid. "Lay on the bed, _Naneth _and I'll make sure you're presentable to hold court."

Aria nodded. There were very few times when Aria obeyed another voice. She knew her child was worried for her and the show of submitting to medical treatment was an acknowledgment of that concern.

Expert hands administered care spreading the warming muscle cream upon all the purplish busies along the back and shoulders. Aria picked up the traces of hesitantly in the touch and fear in her girl's thoughts.

She turned, touched her offspring's cheek. "I breathe, live and I killed my enemy. I'm fine. Now be done with the worry, _ield,rél._"

Liselle smiled. It wasn't often now that she was an adult, Aria referred to her as daughter. That single word did more for her than all the reassurances the Pirate Queen could have ever had offered.

"News on the Cerberus woman," Liselle suddenly changed the subject. She put the cream aside and moved aside so her mother could rise from the bed. "Just as you suspected she purchased illegal mods mostly from Harrot's Emporium and a few from that salarian black market dealer Ish. It's nothing more than cover just was you suspected. She's just going through the motions."

Aria listened as she clothed herself in new leather pants and soft silk blouse. Each revealed just enough skin to be enticing without looking like one of her dancers.

"And Cerberus's interest here?"

"Reactionary or so it would seem. But that is only the surface. There is something bigger in the works, _Naneth_, I can feel it. And I think she's here to see it first hand."

Aria titled her head. "Of that _ield,rél _you are undoubtedly correct. Something bigger is in the works. Keep your ears open and above all keep this from Johnson. He may be apart of the crew but he still strikes something of a discord I do not trust. Do not mistake my immediate inaction for leniency, Liselle. He lives for now because he is useful but I will put him down like a vorcha the very moment he breathes the wrong way. In fact I will order you to do it and I will not allow you to disappear to avoid killing him."

"I understand."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEM

Miranda watched as the crowed parted as in as if in attendance of a royal personage. Four asari handmaidens, five batarians and three turians filed in two-by-two flanking Arai T'loak. No wonder the crowed parted as they had.

Miranda was close enough to catch the expression of the Pirate Queen which was to one of impartial surveillance she normally cast but one of irritation. The Cerberus operative was also close enough to catch the eye of one of the asari huntresses. That was very very chillingly like the Pirate Queen's. Though mimicking someone was powerful as Aria wasn't unexpected. Several in Cerberus tried to the same with the Illusive Man and only succeeded in making fools of themselves. That handmaiden however did not look the fool; she must be to Aria what Miranda was to the Illusive Man. One to watch, of that there was no doubt.

Word was that Arai bedded her handmaidens; this one seemed to be one her favourites. While no one would think to use them against the Pirate Queen as the de facto ruler would more than like kill the 'hostage' in question rather than submit. At the same time anyone who had made said attempt would find themselves dying over a long period of time, and very painfully. Just because Aria viewed the action as a slight against her, personally. One demonstration was all it took for most of the merc bands to understand this.

Rumours said that handful of Blood Puck grunts trying to make a name for themselves had attempted to hold to ransom one of Aria's handmaidens. The five krogan were captured, strung up naked as they day they were hatched and slowly flayed alive over the period of a galactic standard week: starting with their head plates. The captured asari was shot in the head by one of Aria's lieutenants to push the point that hostage negotiations were not tolerated and defiantly not lucrative.

Miranda pondered this tactic of horror and thought of the Illusive Man's operation on the batarian colony were he had ordered his shook troops to dismember the old and the young without aesthetics not just to terrorize the aliens but to horrify them. And while to a certain extent Lawson understood the Pirate Queen's actions against the Blood Pack thugs she had yet to understand the motive behind the mutualisation of a civilian population that was of no threat.

And the more she thought about it the more she didn't like where her thoughts were leading her.

And there was that blasted '_**Thing**_' again. It had a sneaky way of creeping up on her like sniper, ready to assassinate her since of belonging and duty. She closed her eyes and recited the Cerberus axiom.

'Obedience breeds discipline. Discipline breeds unity. Unity breeds Power. Power is life. Life is Humanity's survival. Survival is Cerberus. Cerberus breeds Obedience_.' _

Somehow those words…were becoming more and more hollow. Miranda hated it. She hated feeling this displaced sense of disloyalty to the one man that gave her everything. Who gave her freedom from an oppressive, power-bent megalomaniac that only wanted her for a legacy. The Illusive Man gave Miranda a sense of belonging, of worth. He allowed her to become apart of something great.

'Such thoughts are perfidious, Meri and beneath you.' She told herself.

Shutting off the rebellious thoughts, Miranda instead tried to focus on her immediate target. Aria. She must have missed it when one of the Pirate Queen's attack dogs handed her a data padd but whatever was on it, cause the asari matriarch, to pause for a long moment. Perhaps it was the subdued lighting to the night club, but Miranda could have sworn the Illusive Man's face himself that the asari matriarch had visibly paled.

Had Lawson been privy to the Pirate Queen's Intel she'd fully understand why there was such a reaction, despite how minuscule it had been.

"It's done." Sanak said handing his boss the padd. "Anything useful in the data I sent you?"

Aria scanned it, and frowned.

Horizon: 643,325

Omega: 853,245

Freedom's Progress: 912,810

Citadel: 4,491,356

Terra Nova: 4,145,412

Earth: 11, 490,225,106

"Population totals. Human only."

"What do you think it means?" Sanak pressed as much as he dared at this moment. After the day's events, he knew his boss's patients were tethered on a very thin, very short leash.

"It means the collectors are after much more than slaves. And Humanity has made a dangerous enemy."

"If the collectors want to take them, then I say let them…."

Sanak didn't finish his words. A fact he knew even before the backhanded blow sent him on his ass leaving him with a broken jaw. Predatorily, Aria walked up his sprawled body, put her boot on his throat effectively pining him to the floor. All it would take was a simple twist of her foot and he'd be dead.

"You're one of my best men, Sanak, but I didn't give you leave to offer your opinion. And don't be so dull." she said it loud enough for any patron near enough to hear her. "See to your post." She never raised her voice, didn't growl, didn't hiss. It was as if she was contemplating what she was going to have for diner.

Then calmly as you please she padded upon silent feet up to her favoured balcony as if nothing had happened. She slipped the data padd into the inner breast pocket of her white and maroon leather coat then ordered a double Serrice ice brandy.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

The brandy slipped smoothly, down her throat with the slow comforting burn. Serrice ice brandy was one of her favourites, always so full of flavourer and body. It was always so robust; the taste lingering on the tongue long after it had been swallowed.

Blue fingers trailed along her throat, feeling the pulse beneath her skin. Lilac lips kissed her ear before nipping her earlobe. The hand that was around her throat slipped and took the shifter and lifted to the lips that had been so enticingly kissing her just seconds ago..

"Hummm, good choice." Liara said straddling Sam's legs who had been sitting upon the sofa in their quarters.

"You know me; I like to spoil myself from time to time." Sam watched as Liara swallowed the expensive brandy, the data padd in her hand all but forgotten.

"So it isn't that you enjoy all things asari?"

Sam shrugged. "Could be."

Liara gave a demure look knowing exactly how it affected her bondmate. She took another sip of brandy before relinquishing it back to her beloved. Sam took a hurried gulp and nearly choked on it when Liara resumed her slow trail of kisses and bites. Sly hands took the data padd and tossed it to the side were it bounded once on the cushion of the sofa before sliding back and beneath it.

Liara's slipped her hands beneath her lover's hoodie. Her lazy-day cloths as the Spectre called them. You can't wear the uniform all the time. Liara had laughed at this because to her beloved never took off her uniform even when she was naked. In fact the black fleece hoodie she was wearing was emblazoned with the N7 sigil over the left breast and the left sleeve carried the white and red blood strip. Liara pulled the sweatshirt up and over Sam's head, even as she continued her assault of kisses and nips.

Samantha returned the passionate kisses with her own, trailing her lips across Liara's crest. In a husky voice she breathed out. "Why is it I'm always the one naked first?"

Liara only grinned. "It is because I have developed quite the obsession with seeing my bondmate in all her natural glory."

"Not unhealthy obsession, I take it?" Sam giggled as Liara trailed a line of kisses down Sam's neck to her cleavage.

"Never with you." Liara took Sam's mouth a fierce dominance. "But I will never let you go."

"It's a good thing I don't want to go anywhere." Sam scooted her hands under Liara's bum and picked her up as she was still straddling the spectre's waist. "Well not counting our nice comfy bed."

"I rather like that idea." Liara sized Sam's lips once more, deepening it. Deft fingers removed the sports bra.

Frantic hands made quick work of removing the remaining clothing. Touches and kisses became a dire desperate hunger, a deepening thirst begging to be quenched. They became fully lost in the succulent richness of each other's bodies. Their minds became intoxicated by the passion within their bond.

Sam's moans provoked the fires within Liara reflexively causing her to deepen their bond. One set of eyes solid black, the other a brilliant cyan. In that instant Liara knew what it was to be fully human, to feel the weight of hair upon her head, to have a dampened nervous system, to feel the soft texture of her crest with fingers not her own. To Samantha it was a wash of color, texture, scent and taste. Her nervous system so alive, so vibrant, so attuned she could separate the feel the silk sheet against her skin, the warmth of breathe along her neck, fingers tailing along the lines of velvet crest, the fabulous friction of fingers pumping within the depths of her core. It was an explosion of sensory overload. When azure was touched it was a super nova.

They cried out in their unified release. It was enough to make them both nearly pass out. Bodies slick with sweat and the honey of their lovemaking clutched at each other, breaths labored and painting, skin too sensitive to touch yet so unwilling to let go.

"I don't think I have any bones left in my body." Samantha murmured sleepily against Liara's neck.

Liara only made a muffled response. Sam giggled. What words did not convey thoughts did: _'I think Eternity has been embraced and then some'_

They lay there entwined in each others arms drifting into unconsciousness. Not even the dull nagging voice that they both had reports to shift through before they were back on duty motivated them in to action.

When they woke, and a shower shared Shepard returned to the sofa searching for the data pad Liara had tossed aside. "Hon, have you seen my pad? You took it out of my hand now I can't find it."

"Have you checked under the sofa cushions?" floated a soft answer.

Shepard cocked an eyebrow, lifted the seat and found the lost item. "Found it." she held it up as a trophy.

"What were you working on last night before I interrupted you?"

"Mission reports. I was going over Ash's reports of her war-games. During the first mission she followed SOP, splitting the non-combatants with military personal. The second unit she Spelt them into units, scientist against military, and the last she had split them into factions one led by scientists but with military aid, the other led by the military but aided by the scientists. There were some pretty impressive results but expected. The last one, I'm a bit curious about though. It had slightly unexpected results."

"What do you mean?"

Shepard shrugged. "It as if the science crew's whole attack plan was completely improvised. It reads like their agenda was to get the better of the other team by one-upping them…literarily. Now this is something I've gotta hear. How on Earth did Ash allow that to happen to her?"

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"Water balloons." Abby answered the question how she overcame a group of highly trained soldiers. "And a bit of commando tactics."

"Excuse me; did you just say water balloons?" Shepard blinked trying to put water balloons and asari commandos in the same context. She couldn't fathom how the two fit together into any equation.

"Oh god, no." Ash bemoaned what was to come.

"Oh now I have to hear this. It sounds rather juicy."

Ash gave another sigh, knowing she was caught.

Abby gave a glance to her sister and smirked in a way that only a sibling could when they were about to spill embarrassing details of their sister's life. "Permission to speak freely?"

"Denied." Ash said quickly.

"Belay that. Report." Shepard quickly overrode her lieutenant. She gave a look to her best friend and junior officer and saw that the younger woman wanted the floor to open up right then and there and swallow her whole

"The summer Ash came back from basic she was a bit full of herself, being a newly minted marine and all. As it happens we had our little cousins came for a visit from Earth so we contrived play a bit of a game to cool off what with the heat and all and at the same time kinda stop Ash from strutting around. Lynn and I and three of our cousins teamed up because Ash was so confident that she could take us all out. She only had Sara and one of our other cousins on her side. They called dibs on bases first and climbed the ladder to the tree house and bunkered down inside. But Lynn and I knew those trees just as much as our big sis so when we all scattered, we circled back around and climbed even higher in neighboring tress and used our old rope swings to go higher.

We had to use our seven year old twin cousins as bait so she wouldn't track us. Ash fell for it. We knew she'd be too arrogant; believing she was top-hunter to look up and see the 'target' had gotten the better of her. She made Sara brake cover and had our twin cousins bombed with a shit-load of water balloons from the tree house vantage point.

But Lynn and I were higher up and snipped Ash and Sara, me with a super soaker bazooka and Lynn with all our water balloons. We startled Ash so much she fell from the tree and broke her arm when she landed wrong but we didn't know that until much later. Sara squealed like a three year old and dodged back into the tree house because after all what can an aikido black belt do against water balloons? Lynn, Korean and I thought Ash was playing opossum on account she didn't cry out when she fell and so we just continued to bomb her with the balloons until she gave up. Even the twins bombed her forgetting they were supposed to be 'dead'.

"I thought of that when Ash had her team took to those big damn trees in the forest, and sure enough it was the water balloons all over again. She didn't look up because she was too cock-sure she was the biggest baddest marine out there on the field. You know because 'it's in the blood'. And well what were a bunch of eggheads with only three asari commandos going to do against full squadrons of soldiers anyhow?" Abby grinned. "I think she completely forgets being a scientist is in the blood too. Mom's side of the family tends to be teachers, librarians or lab-coats. "

She couldn't do it, she simply couldn't do it. Sam had tried to suppress the rising bubbles of laughter as a good commander should but it got the image of a drenched and defeated young Ash bombard by water balloons was simply too funny.

Now years latter she was felled by the same tactic only instead of water it was small biotic pulses. Ash's entire company was dropped, literally.

Ash slunk in her chair glaring at her little sister for the humiliation she suffered. She didn't dare look to her CO in fear her expression would linger upon her face and become insubordination. Still it was a bit funny-felled by a water-balloon tactics and Asari commando know-how.

Shepard grinned not for the thought of Ash being bombard by biotic 'water-balloons' It was the fact her people were working together, coalescing as a full unit. They were using unconventional means and thinking and military strategy as one. For the first time the Spectre truly felt as if they had a chance to defeat their enemies. Pure scientific theory, improvisation or military tactics was not going cut it, but together it was a potent weapon, against Cerberus, against the Illusive Man. against the Reapers.

Garrus's report only cemented that conviction. "I'm not entirely surprised by the results I had with the sim-training but I think a lot of our crew members were. I don't think they realized they had it in them until they were confronted with up-front and personal combat situations. As expected the tech and science crews didn't do well against the stand-up stromtrooping scenarios, even when I had then with a standard baby-sit configuration however they did exceedingly well when confronted with the data-gathering sims and even the hostage extraction scenarios. Pure military groups were a little slower on time but they fulfilled the obligation of data-extraction and of course they were extremely successful when thrown into the neutralization sims and rescue.

"What I think each team mixed or heavy one way or the other discovered is continuity. More so if they came from Wrex's survival course and if they were pitted against each other in Williams' war games there was some animosity with tech verses military but they still cooperated. I think the competitive time-scores fused corporation to the extent they let go of grudges soon after the sims started. Overall I'd call it a success."

Pride beamed in the Spectre's eyes. Pride that her team had the indicative to mount the training exercises and pride in her crew that they had melded together.

"Good work everyone"

For a moment if seemed that everyone seemed to sit a little taller. Then, Ashley spoke. "It's like you said ma'am, we're just doing our job."

Shepard's respect for her people went another ten notches. And she accepted the response her praise had on her people.

"Of course. Shiala, prep the crew once the last upgrade is installed the Normandy leaves port. It needs to be registered as leaving port; however a contingent will remain behind. This group will meet with the target's sister confront her with the truth of Cerberus and take her into protective custody. Bare in mind we are not taking a hostage, this is no act of terrorism in the strictest sense. Lawson will not know of her sister's confinement until after she sees Tali's compilation. Given Lawson is a devote loyalist to Cerberus she will either excuse or attempt explain it all away. After she does we reveal Oriana who will have been listening to the entire exchange.

"A scene will play out with very high drama. We use that as a tool to start interrogating Lawson. We must bear in mind she will have the same training as any N-Seven marine. Therefore she will be highly resistant to any drug-induced or hypnotic suggestions to make her compliant to more conventional interrogation methods. Apart from ordering an asari to 'not be gentle' with a knowledge-meld I have to use other methods, methods that boarder on morality. This might be considered psychological torture, and as such I can't ask you to volunteer for this, I have to _order_ all of you to do this. If you have objections to these orders note them now and they will be recorded in the ships logs."

No one spoke.

Shepard knew no one would. It troubled her and emboldened her. She knew she could trust her team to carry out her orders without question yet the fact they did not stop to consider moral implications of what she as going to do, what she had ordered them to do lay heavy upon her. But she was a commanding officer; it was why she said she had to order them to obey this mandate for the guilt of it lay sole upon her. The fall out of this event was her responsibility. It was her morality to suffer the choice.

Shepard took a small movement before she spoke again. "Liara, what do you have?"

The scientists drew in a long breath then in a near detected very clinical voice and began reciting her accounts at the Eternity Club. "We'll meet with this contact tonight under the guise of a couples evening out. Ash you and your sister likewise have a girl's night out, stay lose, keep watch."

"Specter, if we give leave for the crew to take a day's last furlough it will further the perception that we are on our way to continue our assumed mission of stopping the Geth. Nos Austra hold a great many entertainment venues and truth be told the crew could use this leave before we are back in the thick of it once more. With all the maintenance upgrades and training drills there wasn't a great deal of time to simply relax." Shiala suggested.

"Good idea. Make the announcement." Shepard said giving a look to Tali then to Garrus Liara felt rather than saw the wicked grin spread across her wife's' face and could not help but display one of her own. "If there is nothing else, you're dismissed."

"I'll radio Wrex and order him to recall the troops. Once they return, I'll have medical clear them, and then debrief both on their training and the mission to come. I'll also place them on next rotation though I believe all they will want is a good shower and sleep in their own racks."

"Rouging it out in the wilds is good for everyone, sharpens up those softer corners ship life can leave you with."

"If you fear this crew has become or will become complacent, you needn't. The training sessions became an inspiration. The upgrades we installed were not just for the Normandy but the crew as well. We are ready, Spectre. We will stand up to whatever firestorms come our way or that which we hunt. The crew believes in you, the experiences they had despite how controlled they were they now believe in themselves and each other. They know each are capable of survival, their talents and skills if used properly complement to each other. You knew this when you chose them and they now know it too."

It was within the teachings of Sun Tzu, Shepard and dedicated herself to his teachings as surely as any disciple of any profit.

Before Nos Austra, before the training Shepard knew that there were whispers amongst the troops the scientists had gathered and even her commandos. In-fighting amongst the factions was surely brewing: scientists against the military, not to mention the division amongst the races. The Spectre knew she hadn't lost the full confidence of her crew but it was beginning. And she knew why: Cyan Syndrome. The biotic glow of her eyes could not be fully disguised, but that wasn't all of it.

Exhaustion was another. Chasing after Cerberus wasn't an unnecessary task but it was exhausting her officers causing them to become short-tempered. The death of her child, the attacks of bounty hunters not just on the Presidium but back on Elysium, not to mention the scores of others still out there. No wonder there was whispers amongst her crew, she couldn't blame them.

Securing their loyalty was paramount in obtaining victory. The training and the discipline that came from it was effective method of instruction and perhaps distraction from Shepard's personal family crisis and the CS. Not that the full crew knew about the biotic illness but they knew their Commander was not five by five. It had a silent unsettling effect upon them.

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The Illusive Man read the report and smiled.

The Alliance was now pushing for more human Spectres. His agents in the office of the Prime Minister as well as those in the Pentagon, and Alien Affairs had all forwarded him a list of potential candidates. One name in particular stood out above all others: a fervent loyalist to the Alliance-to the Marines.

It was in the blood.

How ironic that it would be a Williams to be names as humanities next Spectre. She was no great fan of aliens but had a high enough tolerance for them that she didn't come across as xenophobic. And due to Shepard's machinations she was seen just as much as a hero as the Savior of Elysium was. Not only that but Williams was now an awarder of the Star of Terra, and the Star of Palladian from the Citadel. Granted Shepard had earned the honors as well but while many humans saw Shepard's drifting more and more into the asari ways and beliefs as a betrayal, Williams was one hundred percent loyal to humanity. If push came to shove and Shepard was believed and named a traitor to the Alliance, Williams would name her commander so and side with the Alliance…with humanity. Loyalty to humanity was a foothold to being loyal to Cerberus, if only from the shadows.

The Illusive Man's grin grew a bit deeper for he knew Shepard would urge her junior officer and friend into accepting the promotion. No doubt telling her it was well earned and well deserved. Williams would accept and by doing so she would unwittingly become an asset to Cerberus. Williams was a stubborn personality, she'd never capitulate to the soft indoctrination of alien influences that Shepard had evidently succumbed too.

Oh by his own personal experiences the Illusive Man admitted he knew and quite enjoyed the pleasures an asari gave between the sheets. Matriarch Trellani was exceedingly talented. Hell he had her twice this week already, in between his dalliances with Sani Shelani: voted Illium Entertainment's 'Sexiest Human Alive', Skyball Champion Brooke Karrigar, Vela Vicious, and the Fornax Dream Girl of 2184 and of course the "Terra Firma Twins" Staci and Stephi Strong, (who to his delight held no compunctions about incest and ménage à trios.)

Despite the fact The Illusive Man enjoyed his liaisons with the asari he'd never abandoned his efforts to protect humanity's interests and needs for a little blue pussy weather or not she was a very agile Fornax Dream Girl or a major corporate executive.

Evidently Shepard had succumbed to their vices. He found that curious. The young marine was able to withstand the presence of Sovereign, the Prothean beacons as well as other interfaces with mind melds with Prothean devices unlike Saren and yet she had readily yielded to the physical melds of asari pleasures. Though Saren was able to shield his mind from a Matriarch's mental tempering, yet Shepard was apparently incapable of doing so.

It boggled his mind.

But then there was the gestalt Stevenson had reported. The nurse had clearly and distinctly detailed the meld that kept the Spectre alive. Dr. T'Soni maintained a full telepathic union with Shepard's mind had fused them so completely that the asari's body had become Shepard's life support system. The Illusive Man mentally waved the notion aside. Shepard's connection to T'Soni was no longer a factor. The Specter's status however was of great interest, especially now.

Shepard was an icon. Yes. But icons can change, you use them when they are potent and when they are no longer effective you discard them. Causing Shepard's brake down and discord with Council were still very useful tools. But she needed to die the martyr's death. With Williams taking up her dead commander's flag in humanities name was everything Cerberus needed to secure humanities dominance in Council Space. When that day came the colonies in the Tremens Systems then could generate a greater foothold and stronger position to push back any threat to humanity be they batarian slaves, asari wiles, turrian bombardments or Reapers.

The Illusive Man was many things, but he was no fool. Dominance for humanity could not be achieved with colonies going mission tin the Terminus Systems or the looming factor of the Reapers. And to fight such a threat he needed the icon of Shepard. He needed her primed to chase after the missing colonists, to stop the attacks. The Reapers feared her, The Illusive Man and seen enough been in enough wars to know when an enemy fears you. It wasn't just Udina after Shepard's blood. The Collectors were very interested in getting their claws into her, it wasn't just her figurative blood they were after. They wanted HER.

And then there was the evidence that Jacob Taylor had found on Freedom's Progress. The quarian kid Veetor the team "rescued" had recovered though injured and delusional had managed to piece together astounding evidence that the collectors were the ones invading and kidnapping human colonists.

Though intensive and persuasive interrogation _interviews_ with the boy had revealed he had gone to Freedom's Progress on his Pilgrimage. To aid a colony build and maintain a stable life was proof he could do the same on a ship. He had value. His gift it seemed was to open up trade negotiations with the colony. Apparently there were sections of the planet that grew enemio-dextrose foodstuffs, uneatable to humans but very necessary for the quarians. Apparently he had radioed to his people to start the negations which explained why there was a small detail of quarians planetside when Taylor and his team hit dirt.

According to Taylor the quarians fired first as soon as they spotted the Cerberus insignia on the armor. Taylor said though he attempted a peaceful resolution the aliens were unwilling to open up a dialog and became hostile and had to be neutralized. Taylor's report also stated that the kid they detained had reprogrammed the colony's entire complement of mechs IFF to attack any organic being outside the control bunker.

Once Taylor's squad destroyed the heavy mech, he led the assault on the bunker, found the kid rambling about monsters and they were going to come back for him. The kid was rendered unconscious, prudently taken into custody, and his OMNI tool confiscated.

The kid was obviously suffering mental trauma from what he had witnessed but The Illusive Man insisted his people harvest all they could from him before they released him. Unfortunately the subject had died of pulmonary failure due to the stress. The body was discarded along with his kith on Freedom's Progress.

The Illusive Man let it slip that a squad of dead quarian troopers were found by a rescue team when Freedom's Progress had gone silent. He'd allow the space born vagabonds retrieve their deceased as a token of good faith on humanity's part. What came after it might be mildly entertaining but it was of no further concern to Cerberus as far as the Illusive Man was concerned.

What was a concern was the fact he didn't know what the connection between the collectors and the Reapers were. But clearly there was one, a deep one. Perhaps they were indoctrinated as much as the geth had been. Dr. Chandana was investigating that prospect with the derelict Reaper they had uncovered orbiting the brown dwarf Mnemosyne in the Thorne system of the Hawking Eta cluster.

Why were the collectors so very interested in humans? And in such qualities? They had never taken so many species before. What were they looking for? No, what had they found? There was something in humanities physiology that set them very far apart form the other races. There was something so evidently but elusive. Now that was irony.

Going over the list of names once more The Illusive Man's mind circled back not to Williams but to Shepard. Perhaps her interaction within prothean devices and the asari were key to why the collectors hunting her. Were humans closer to Prothean then other races? Was that possible? Outward physical differences aside what was in the core of DNA that sparked the collectors interests… not just the collectors. The Reapers. The better question then what did the Reapers what with humanity. It wasn't revenge. The battle over the Citadel had a dozen differences races pooling together to bring down that monster.

Shepard. The prothean devices and the gestalt they were tied into some greater puzzle, a conundrum, the Illusive Man had yet to unravel. Like a black hole it all spiraled into one central mass.

The Reapers were well aware of Shepard; because of her they became well aware of humanity. The living ships had send out whole armadas of Collectors to harvest humans. Were they attempting to find more like Shepard? No, no that wasn't it. It was something more basic. Something on the molecular level, but what? And why?

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AN: Scenes taken liberally from Mass Effect: Incursion


	45. The Show-Me-State of Misery

Chapter 45: The Show-Me-State of Misery

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Lanteia didn't know what she aught to expect when she entered the Eternity Lounge. But when Matriarch Aethyta sent a message her that she had important information concerning one of her more illicit human contacts, it was a summons she could not ignore. The Matriarch was not one to be easily given to over dramatizations; whatever alerted her was to be taken quite seriously.

As an agent for Nos Austria's most Predominant information broker, the young maiden was trained not only to take in her immediate surroundings but also those that occupied it. Her mind cataloged a young quarian female on a date with a turian male, two dark maned human females obviously sisters hovering at the bar. There were also a couple of off-duty huntress commandos obviously on furlough, in addition to some of the bar's regulars. Approaching Aethyta at the bar she noticed one other asari: and this one startled her. She was dressed in deep maroon armor; her forehead was adorned with the jeweled pieces marking her as a servant of the Justicar Code.

Trying to ignore the pit of her stomach from retching up her last meal Lanteia managed to capture Aethyta's attention. "Matriarch, what's going on?"

"Nothing you need to worry about, if you give your cooperation." Aethyta whispered passing the maiden a tall glass of something green. "Drink it, it will settle those nerves."

Lanteia took one more look at the Justicar that disappeared into one of the backrooms. A private meeting then. No law abiding asari had anything to fear from a Justicar. She was here to harvest information that had to be it, if she were there for anything else, Lanteia would already be dead. She took the glass previously offered and gulped down the strong contents. There was no avoiding one's fate; best thing was not to run from it but towards it.

"Which room?"

"Last room on the left." Aethyta took the now empty glass and placed it on the rack to be later slid into the dishwasher. "Look kid, go in there, get it over with, don't provoke her and you'll have nothing to worry about."

'Don't provoke her?' the asari shuddered, why would anyone willingly provoke a Justicar? She'd done some foolish things in her years as a huntress but deliberately antagonizing a Justicar wasn't going to be numbered amongst them.

Last room on the left…Lanteia hit the door chime announcing her presence.

"Enter."

The voice was younger than she imagined it would be. It sounded more like a maiden's and not the tone of a seven hundred year old matron. Bolstering her courage she opened the door, and stopped dead.

A human? A HUMAN!

"What is the meaning of this? What do you want?" she started to go for her weapon but paused she saw the human's hand flare blue, but it was the blue glow in the eyes that once more stopped her in her tracks.

"I am Samantha Shepard of the Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." Shepard presented herself before Lanteia, fully garbed in her imposing blue, white and silver Spectre issue armor. Of course being so very well armed was also quite the statement. A very powerful one. And that little show with the eyes proved she was a powerful human biotic.

"A Spectre? What does a Spectre want with me?" the maiden's tone hinted at a panicked fight or flight response.

Shepard jumped on it almost immediately. "You are known to have consorted with an avowed enemy of Council Space. What I want to know is why an asari willingly aids and abets Cerberus agents."

"I have done nothing of the sort." Lanteia said defensively.

"Don't lie to me. You work with Miranda Lawson, she is a wanted woman. Now, you can either aid us in her apprehension or you will be incarcerated. I will take her into custody regardless. You of course realize the penalty for allying yourself with Cerberus carries a capital punishment."

"I never helped Cerberus!" the woman shook her head.

"Helping Lawson, helps Cerberus. There is no difference." Shepard said keeping her voice as cold and detached as possible.

"She is a…_was _a friend. I helped her out with a personal problem that had nothing to do with Cerberus. At the time I didn't even know she was apart of them. I've done nothing wrong."

"That personal problem wouldn't happen to concern her sister Oriana would it?"

"You…you know about her?"

Shepard's eyes hardened, "Now you tell me of your connection to Lawson, then you will contact her and inform her that her sister is in danger. The sort of danger that will provoke Lawson into action and come for her. I warn you should you betray me in anyway; it will go very badly for you. When you walked in here you passed many of my crew, in fact save only five patrons the entire night club is filled with those under my command or willing to work with me. This is your only warning, now be a smart girl and do the right thing."

Lanteia's mind flashed to the Justicar who was even now just down the hall she had no way in knowing that Shepard had meant Matriarch Aethyta.

"If…if she, Miranda believed her father was after her sister she'd come for her. But she won't just act on my word, if another told her she would not hesitate."

"Who?"

"An old lover of Miranda's, by the name of Niket. An agent in her father's organization. He and Miranda had a long time relationship; he helped her escape her father, when Miranda was but a teen. From what I understand shots were fired. Miranda's father would think of nothing of killing her, and he would pay nearly anything to get his hands on Oriana."

"Why? What is so special about this girl?"

"Legacy." Lanteia answered. "Miranda's father is obsessed with it."

Shepard thought about the files she had on Lawson and her extensive genetic modification. How she was seemingly perfect in every conceivable way, looks, mind and biotics, she'd even live half again as long as the average human. Two hundred years…. To long married to TIM if you asked the Spectre.

"So Daddy drops loads of credits to create the perfect specimen of humanity and when she runs off he creates another. That doesn't tell me why the kid is here."

Lanteia considered lying to the Spectre, but then Aethyta's warning flooded her mind with wisdom. "Miranda rescued her sister, I…I…helped to with placement of the child into a human family. They were desperate for one of their own but were unable to naturally produce one."

"You mean you traffic in stolen children." Shepard sneered. "But that's SOP from Cerberus. They think nothing of kidnapping, assassinations and freaky Frankensteinian science: in fact they condone it whole heartedly."

"I don't sell children!" Lanteia snapped. "I was helping out a friend. I didn't even facilitate the adoption that was Cerberus. Miranda went to Cerberus, they set everything up. I happen to be friends with the family that took the girl in, and I'm friends with Miranda. More of an acquaintance if you want to get technical."

"So now you admit cooperating with Cerberus."

"No! Not Cerberus. Miranda Lawson, a child and two acquaintances that desperately wanted a child. Spectre, I am telling you the truth. I keep tabs on the kid every now and again. Oriana knows only that she was adopted but not her prehistory with the Lawson legacy or that she even has a genetic twin sister."

"Be that as it may, the facts remain that Lawson is still a fugitive: one you have contacts with and one I want. Involving this man Niket involves too many variables. Simply contact Lawson and I urge you to be convincing."

"Before I do this, may I ask one thing Spectre?"

Shepard gave a slight title to her head indicating to the other she'd humor the inquiry. "Go ahead."

"Why use Oriana at all? The child is not involved with her sister in any way. Like I said she knows nothing of Miranda."

Shepard grinned. "I said you could ask a question, I never said I'd answer it. But I will guarantee you this; no physical harm will come to the kid by me or any in my command."

"If you take the girl by less than covert means Miranda will know that her father was not the one to abduct her…"

"I'm counting on it. You can tell her that Cerberus killed my child, something I will never forgive them for…leave the rest unsaid, allow Lawson to draw her own conclusions."

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Miranda was never more glad to leave a place than she was Omega Station. With the success of the Shocktroopers with the bartarians and Aria's reaction to the mysterious event on the lower levels, The Illusive Man had recalled Miranda back to his side.

Lawson couldn't help but wonder if her boss was rethinking his plans of sending a team of his tank-bred troopers after Shepard to test her or was he going alter those plans. Considering the attacks on the colonies in the Terminus Systems she wouldn't be surprised if The Illusive Man did. Yes Shepard was humanity's best hope to push back the Reapers but she wasn't their only one. Wasn't that whole point of the Shocktroopers, the WNISCE and the ELF-HAARP? All they needed was someone to lead them. There were qualities within Shepard that was wholly unique to the Spectre.

Since The Illusive Man's obsession with Shepard, Miranda had devoted tremendous amount of time studying all she could about the woman. How she thought, how she worked, her strategies in battle from basic training, to her time at Arterius academy to the battle over the Citadel. For a time, Miranda felt as if she were living inside this woman's head and knew every aspect of her and yet was no closer to understanding her motivations.

A solider and duty, this Miranda understood, devotion to a belief this too, she understood. Attempting to prove yourself to gain approval to a father, again Miranda could relate to this. But this woman who had less than a stable home life, had schooling of such mediocrity it was practically laughable. So laughable, Miranda openly scorned the thoughts of computer tutorials and being a spaceborn vagabond and yet this woman Shepard had become an icon. Miranda knew only that she had become great only because of her of her tailor made genes; Shepard was great because of whom she was.

There was a small petty part of Miranda that was jealous over the fact that there was a quality in Shepard she would never have, a quality that had others follow Shepard into the very jaws of hell without hesitation or question. And that was what puzzled Miranda the most and had The Illusive Man so obsessed. And if her boss was correct, the Shadow Broker and the Collectors were as equally obsessed with Shepard.

Shepard was the keystone.

But why?

Rubbing her eyes, Lawson looked longingly to the luxury bed with its white silken sheets and black down-filled comforter. She rose from behind her desk and the state-of-the-art computer terminals and sighed contently as she sat upon the bed's cushiony surface. This was going to feel so good, Miranda thought as she fell upon welcoming embrace.

It felt as if she had just crawled beneath the covers when the comms buzzed. Grumbling she sat up send a jolt of biotic power into the intercom and fell back beneath the covers. Three minutes latter there was a frantic knocking at the door to operative's private quarters. Snarling Lawson threw back the covers, snatched the silk robe lying on the back of a chair near the bed and stormed to the door with a vengeance.

"What is it, Chambers?" She snapped.

"Sorry to disturbed you ma'am but communications seem to be down in your quarters. You have a priority message." A young red-headed woman in black and white Cerberus issued BDUs stood before the door. Typically such a greeting would have intimidated anyone else, but Kelly Chambers had long grown accustomed to Operative Lawson's more taciturn personality.

"I find it hard to believe The Illusive Man went through regular ship's channels."

"No, Ma'am it isn't The Illusive Man, it's marked from Illium, personal and confidential and high priority."

Miranda's face paled three shades whiter. "Thank you; patch it through to my terminal."

"Yes Ma'am, already done, I just came to inform you of your call."

"Very well, you're dismissed, yeoman." Lawson didn't even wait for a reply before she hit the panel on the side commanding the door to slid shut on the young woman's face.

Lawson's immediate gut reaction was to think of her baby sister Oriana, some trouble had befallen the girl. After all this time had her father finally discovered where she had hidden her?

No…no if that were so Niket would have told her…he wasn't on Illium. Something do with Shepard?

Intelligence reports indicated the _Normandy_ had left Nos Astra four solar days ago. Shepard was well on her way to parts unknown, either continuing her hunt for the geth and Prothean relics in which to fight the Reapers or she was perusing her quest to annihilate the bounty hunters sent after her by Udina.

The biter-acrid taste of adrenaline and fear filled Miranda's mouth, she knew her gut was right, it was Oriana. Something had happened to her sister. Swallowing any emotion Miranda activated her personal comm-channel to see the blue worried face of Lanteia.

It was Oriana….

"What happened to Oriana?" Lawson demanded of the asari.

*The Spectre Shepard, found her and took her.*

"Shepard?! " Miranda yelped, "How did she even know about Oriana? How could she know about her? You told her!"

*No, she already knew about Oriana. She even knew where to find her. She knew we shared a connection just not what sort of connection. She assumed I was working with Cerberus! She was ready to blow my head off for that alone. She filled the bar with her people: her flagship team and a score of asari commandos. That woman is obsessed with terminating anyone connected to your people. You're a dangerous woman to be connected to and not for the reasons you want. I want nothing more to do with you Miranda Lawson. Not any more. We're done.*

"Lanteia, I understand…"

*No you don't. Shepard… is a very angry, very vengeful and very powerful. I felt a tiny touch of her biotics, just a touch. All she did was flare a smidge of power but it was enough to understand what she can do. Her powers are like those of a Justicar. A Justicar! A human with the biotic power of a Justicar…that prospect is…." Lanteia paused attempting to regain her composure. But you could see it in her face; in her eyes she was terrified of the very idea that a human was capable of phenomenal biotics without ridged Code of the Justicar to hold the storm at bay.

*I've seen that news report, Cerberus sent assassins to murder her bondmate and a baby within the womb just to get a rise out of the Spectre. Well now you have it, and _she_ has your sister. Good luck with that, you're going to need it.* Lanteia cut off communications not allowing Lawson to utter another word.

Miranda fell back against the chair hard, surely Shepard wouldn't hurt Oriana. She couldn't…wouldn't, Shepard was one of the good guys. A paragon of virtue. They had rules… Strict rules…she wouldn't hurt Oriana. She wouldn't.

The Wong/Shepard interview, yes Lawson had seen that newscast too. The words now filtered into her mind, taking residence like a phantom haunting an old house.

"_In any given government there are those who desire their so called heroes to be nothing but puppets. When these individuals do not capitulate with those elements' demands they strike in what they believe to be the paragon's weakest point._

"_Cerberus doesn't waste what it can use. And why not use non-humans to hunt down the first human Spectre? This way the light of accusations seems improbable at best at worst ludicrous. _

"_I am now well aware of who is hunting and why. I intend to bring the battle to them, lest more innocence suffer such as the death of my unborn daughter will not happen again. I have no intention of acting impetuously however as they desired to provoke in me a more renegade reaction. I shall bring the full force of my office and authority down around their ears. In knowing who they are, I know where to find them, and I will come for them."_

From the Spectre's words, to haunting echoes of words spoke by one Miranda respected the most: The Illusive Man, and though they were not spoke to her but Donnel Udina Miranda had been in the shadows listening as per instruction. At the time, Lawson had applauded and admired the machinations and manipulations of her boss over Shepard, over Udina:

"_The weak will always need heroes. Let them have Shepard, let them mourn for her. Those who do not support her… worship her; already despise her for her supposed turning away from the Alliance. Either they will see her as the Spectre so tormented by visions of the end of all organic life, that when her wife is murdered she snapped and they will pity her. Or they will see a woman turned cold by aliens, by an alien wife, they will see only her cruelty, her malice, her vengeance and they will disavow her glory, her honor. Both however will blame the beacons for scrambling her mind, and humanity will rise above the fall of one its greatest lionized yet tyrannical heroes."_

The plan had been to turn Shepard into Julius Caesar a heroic iconic leader one moment, a tyrant who needed to be put down the next. Of course her assassination was political and career wise.

"_We shape the events around her life, her quest to insure that she does. In turn Cerberus will be the sanctified Senators that put the end to a tyrant that threatened to destroy the glory, honor and life of the Empire. She will be placed on the wrong side of history in the end."_

The idea was to push Shepard to the brink so she must turn to Cerberus to complete her mission to defeat the Reapers. But instead of loosing face with the public at large, the Alliance Military and the Council she had become a tragic hero, one the plebs sympathized with and rallied behind. Shepard's rage of the loose of her child and the near assassination of her bondmate had indeed become monstrous.

Miranda starred at the blank computer monitor, Shepard had taken Oriana as bait this much was obvious. The best thing Miranda could do for her sister now was to ignore the trap and carry on with the task The Illusive Man had set her to. A direct confrontation with the Spectre would end Oriana's life. Of this Lawson was positive. Shepard had held her bondmate as their child's life was aborted by a natural reaction too much trauma to T'Soni's body. No doubt the Spectre wanted to return that anguish in kind. Miranda was to witness her sister's demise, to hold her dying body in her arms with no hope of salvation; this was the terrible vengeance of the Spectre.

If the Illusive Man was told of this new development, Miranda knew he would say that personal attachments were a weakness, her sister was expendable, more than that Oriana's capture was exploitable. He would expect Miranda to use this open invitation for confrontation to get to Shepard, to manipulate the Spectre into joining Cerberus.

Cerberus had been all Lawson had been devoted to since she was sixteen and the Illusive Man had saved her from the fate of being her father's slave, now at thirty-five there was no other life imaginable.

_**Obedience breeds discipline. Discipline breeds unity. Unity breeds Power. Power is life. Life is humanity's survival. Survival is Cerberus. Cerberus breeds obedience. **_

More and more Shepard's phantom presence had begun to eat away at the maximum that Lawson had lived by for nearly two decades. No it wasn't Shepard, it was The Illusive Man. This thing with the bartarian colony and the shocktroops: even though there was a part of Lawson that understood the necessity of installing horror and terror in enemy forces, to do so to non-military targets….children was hard to assimilate. As was purposely killing a fetus just to force Shepard into become a renegade was another.

The doubts had started on Omega…

Miranda snarled at her own weakness of thoughts of insurrection and disloyalty. Maybe The Illusive Man was correct, one's conscious was like a stone in the shoe, you could not imagine the relief you feel once you got rid of it.

But this was Oriana….Miranda had battled her father's mercenaries, defied the Lawson legacy just to see her twin safe and free. Cerberus had helped to make it happen; now that very organization was the very cause of what may well be her dear sister's demise.

No not Cerberus. Cerberus was her salvation, it always had been. Shepard was true threat. Shepard was one planting seditious thoughts into Miranda's mind, she was the one causing her heart to question her loyalties. And it was Shepard who mad with grief held Oriana.

A tiny part of Lawson's hindbrain whispered as a serpent speaks of sin: '_But who was it caused her to become so mad?'_

'_Shepard… is a very angry, very vengeful and very powerful…Cerberus sent assassins to murder her bondmate and a baby with in the womb just to get a rise out of the Spectre. Well now you have it, and she now has your sister_.'

Miranda, reopened her computer and frantically began to open up programs, she hacked directly the Illium University CCTV, particularly footage of Oriana's sorority house.

Instead of trolling for hours she input Shepard's features into the facial recognition program. Forty-four minutes later, she finally she came up with a positive ID. Timestamp on the footage marked it twelve minutes past 20:00 hours. Shepard appeared in full Spectre regalia. Blue and white armor with the winged insignia of the Special Tactics and Resonance stamped upon her paladins. Not only was she heavily armored but equally armed with an assault gun, and something that looked like a rocket launcher on her back, upon her right hip a Spectre issued heavy pistol. Mustered behind her wasn't her typically flagship ground team but twelve asari commandos armored in their favored black and copper-colored hardsuits.

'Why choose only asari commandos….' Miranda pondered but as soon as the question entered her mind, it was as quickly answered. Illium is an asari world, of course she'd bring in a full asari strike team. A Spectre leading a contingent of asari commandos was less likely to draw in the authorities than a unit of human warriors storming one of Illium's most prestigious universities.

Miranda watched the monitor feed paying back Shepard entering the manner, an hour and half later the Spectre was exiting with Oriana clutching a small suitcase desperately to her chest as it might protect her against the fear coursing through her veins. Her sister was marched into an awaiting troop shuttle; Shepard was the last to board. Before she did however she turned, looked directly at the CCTV camera and gave a mocking two fingered salute, obviously knowing that Miranda was going too hack into the security footage. The Spectre was deliberately taunting Miranda. The smile on the Spectre's, face actually sent a chill down Lawson's typically unshakable spine. Seconds latter the shuttle took off.

The message was clear: 'I have your sister, now what are you going to do about it?'

"The only thing I can do Commander Shepard, walk deliberately into your trap."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEMEME

Oriana looked at Spectre Shepard; she wasn't nearly as terrifying now as she was when she first met her two hours ago:

Suzy had opened the door the house going off at the mouth as she typically did when she those she considered beneath her class failed to perform as she expected them too, in this case it was the pizza delivery guy.

The Spectre pushed past her blonde sorority sister into the foyer as did the twelve asari Of course Suzy had piped up claiming her pre-law knowledge that Shepard had no right to take anyone into custody without a warrant. Shepard had snapped back that if Suzy actually studied her precious law books she would know that Spectres move with autonomy of the law.

Macey the fan girl that she was couldn't keep her eyes off the Spectre. Of course the mousey girl carried a galaxy-sized crush on the woman ever since she was a lieutenant on Elysium. Apparently Macey's older brother had served with the Shepard during the pirates' attack on the planet. Macey had been just a young child at time, but she grew up worshiping Samantha Shepard. Macey had been gushing her admiration for the Spectre even as Oriana shuddered in fear.

Shepard took a step forward, "I'm sorry Miss Solheim, this must seem quite frightening to you, for that I apologize. But it is necessary that I take you into protective custody. Miss Solheim, you will go with one of my lieutenants and collect a few changes of cloths and any personal effects, though I will have to confiscate any Omni tool you have for the duration, then you will come with me."

"Why? What's going on? I don't understand!" Oriana pleaded, her fear clearly showing itself on her face. "I've done nothing wrong!"

Shepard gave a small reassuring smile. "You are not under arrest, let me make that perfectly clear. But you are being removed to protective custody for your own safety. There are links between you and an underworld-covert agent, more I can not say here." Shepard gave a look to the now twelve gathered sorority girls. "Suffice it to say you are no longer safe here."

"What agent? I don't know anyone like that!" Oriana whimpered. "I swear!"

"They know you Miss Solheim that is what is relevant."

"You're scarring her. All of us." another voice piped up. It was Jordan. Of course it was Jordan. The young salarian was always into something a bit illegal, bootleg VIs, vids, sims, Omni games, she was even a subscriber to the Wizard. "Please can't you tell us more? If this about the thesis guy…Ori only knew the guy through another guy…from a girl from her orchestra, but he isn't with any covert organization."

"Don't be an idiot, Jordan; this is far more serious than your bootleg crap or cheating! Do you really think they send out Spectres to arrest someone for cheating." Suzy said sarcastically.

"She is correct this far more serious than a mere misdemeanors and minor felony charges. Cerberus is the enemy I speak of, a covert rogue black-ops organization that thinks nothing of sacrificing whoever and whatever they feel impedes their ascent to glory and galactic domination. Whether you know it or not you have a tie to one of their top-agents. Enough has been said. Lieutenant Nual escort Miss Solheim to her bedroom, oversee her packing, you have ten minutes." Shepard said with a slight annoyed edge her voice.

"Aye aye." the asari titled her head in a manner of her people's salute. "Miss?" she gestured for the human girl to lead the way to her room.

"Can I at least call my parents?" Oriana pleaded. "If you're taking me into witness protection, shouldn't you take them too?"

"You may call them once we return to my ship. I assure you, your parents' safety is being seen to, they are not in any immediate danger. The same however can not be said for you, you are the target Miss Solheim. In fact your presence here may very well endanger your parents as they could be turned into a barging chip for your surrender to the enemy.

"When they discover you are in the hands of a Spectre, they will make no move against them as it will be a useless gesture. This enemy will not waste resources chasing after unproductive avenues. " Shepard said attempting to sound as diplomatic and reassuring as possible. "We can delay no longer. Gather your things, we leave ASAP." Again the Spectre used the voice of command causing the young woman to immediately jump and obey.

As Oriana left the girl Macey spoke up. "Spectre, we all know about you being the Hero of the Citadel, and my family was there on Elysium when you stopped the raid, and even my cousins owe their lives to you because what you did at Eden Prime. Is…Cerberus working with the geth like that turian Saren did?"

"They are the avowed enemy of the Alliance and Council Space. They are my enemy."

"I remember, now..." Suzy said whispering softly, "from the newscast with Emily Wong…Cerberus agents killed your baby. You said they were working with a whole list of bounty hunters!"

Macey elbowed the blonde in the stomach. "Now whose being the idiot?"

"I'm not being an idiot. These same bounty hunters are they after Ori? Why would they be after Ori? Are they after her for the same reasons they went after your wife and baby? That's why you came for her isn't it? To make sure the same thing doesn't happen to her."

"Wait…wait if they're coming for Ori, wont they come here? We're not safe here are we?" Red said.

The Spectre folded her arms over her chest, "With Miss Solheim gone the bounty hunters have no call to come here."

"Maybe we should call the authorities," Suzy said meekly.

"Now you're back to being the idiot, Spectres are the authorities!" Macey snipped.

"But she only cares about Ori…"

"My care is to my duty." Shepard said chillingly. "Taking Miss Solheim into my protection is that duty. With her gone from here, those that mean to us her will have no cause to come here, I assure you."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEEME

Now that Oriana had time to think of it, the Spectre had worded her intent most strangely. Over and over her mind replayed the Spectre's wording. Something in them…it was more than knowing one's prey. More intimate. It was as if she knew with absolute certainty that her parents, her sorority sisters and friends would not be harmed by those that meant to use her. Oriana's grey eyes fell on the Spectre's electric blues. They were so haunted, so distant, so filled with pain. In that instant Oriana knew precisely why her loved ones and friends were safe, Shepard would never harm them. Shepard meant to use Oriana to entrap this Cerberus agent.

As they approached the wavecrest class warship, the young scholar could not help but gasp and the sure eloquent lines of the Normandy. This may not be the same ship that was the battle over the Citadel but she was no less awe inspiring. Oriana always liked the look and inventiveness in asari starships. Then of course they were engineered by a race of people who believed aesthetics and functionality should go hand-in-hand. Oriana also liked the fact that unlike a lot of human and turian ships this was in way a phallus.

The ship docked and with standard docking all were led though a decontamination zone before they were allowed out of the shuttle bay. After dismissing her troopers, Shepard checked in her weapons and armor with such practiced precision it took less than two minutes before attention was turned back to Oriana.

"This is a military vessel not a diplomatic one, I'm sorry but we don't have VIP quarters. However there are quarters available to you within the chapel. This ship carries a multi-species crew and as such they have religious and psychological needs. Our clergy double as our ship's councilors as well as religious guides as such it affords them certain privileges such as private office space and quarters. Father Genativii has agreed to allow you access to his private chambers for your own use." Shepard said leading Oriana towards the chapel.

"I… I thought you might lead me to the brig."

The Spectre cocked her head, "Why ever would I do that? You are not a prisoner; you are in protective custody…witness protection if you will. Of course if you prefer a cell in the brig, I can arrange that."

"No!" the young woman said. "No, that's quite all right, though I never slept in a church before. I'm not exactly religious. I mean I've gone to Mass on Christmas and Easter. Only because Mum makes me go with one of her super guilt trips but that's about it." Oriana shrugged shyly.

Shepard chuckled. "It isn't exactly a church as much as it is a sanctuary. As I said with a crew like this we must cater to a wide variety of religious faiths. The clergy we have on board is of the faiths of Athame headed by Priestess Kerubiel Resh, but she also presides over the asari mainstream religion of Sari. The Buddhist faith headed by Brother Xedrix Nyriss." a small smile. "Some think it strange that turians have taken up Buddhism or even Confucianism, but they have with great passion."

"I know, I have a turian friend back on Illium and she's into Confucianism. I thought it strange at first but considering turians belief patterns it's not all that surprising they follow Confucius or Buddha. So um this Father Genativii what is he?

"Personally he's of the Church of England, but he oversees other Christianity beliefs. And the three of them together overlook all the other faiths of our crewmembers. Nevertheless you should be fairly comfortable here. The quarters are little more than broom closets but they're private. You'll be given free access to the observation lounges, PT room and the mess hall as well as the med-center but I will insist that you will be accompanied by a guard."

"The _protective_ in protective custody." Oriana gibed.

"Just so." Shepard said. "Miss Solheim you are a civilian on a highly classified military ship. This is standard procedure irregardless of your status here." Shepard said.

"You mean as your bait?"

To her credit the Spectre didn't deny it. "Miss Solheim…Oriana this is a discussion we need to have in private. It will not be easy for you to hear, but to understand your role in all of this you must. In fact I can show you. I'll start with the dossier I have on Miranda Lawson. After that if you want to know more it will be your choice."

"Miranda Lawson…is the underworld agent that has ties to me, isn't she?"

"A greater one than you realize. And yes she is the agent of the enemy. And despite how extraordinarily overly-melodramatic it sounds she is in fact the right hand to one of the most evil men to ever walk this galaxy."

"You're not the sort of person prone to over-exaggeration are you?" Oriana said in a very low whisper.

"No, I am not. Nor am I the type of person to over-dramatize a situation." Shepard responded. She led the young woman from the chapel to the lift to finely come to the Loft. Once fully secure the Spectre handed Oriana a data padd containing the Shadow Broker's complied INTEL on Miranda Lawson.

Shepard watched for a moment as the nineteen year old dove into the files of the data padd before she moved to the upper tier of her quarters, went to her desk and from the bottom draw pulled out a dark brown bottle and a single tumbler. She set the glass before Oriana and filled it. She set the bottle of whiskey beside it, knowing the girl would soon need it.

Trembling hands dropped the data padd onto the table as predicted the tumbler was taken and its contents quickly drained as was a second glass, a third and the forth was taken from her and set aside.

"You may wish to hold off on that." Shepard said with gentle admonishment. "If I recall I came before your dinner had been delivered."

"Huh?" Oriana blinked her vision already blurry from the heady strength of the whiskey.

"Your friend who answered the door mistook me for the pizza delivery guy. Too much booze on an empty stomach is a recipe for one mother of a hang-over after you pass out."

"Passing out doesn't seem like a bad idea." Oriana muttered. She picked up the padd once again. "God…I have a twin sister. An actual twin sister." she laughed but was more of a hysterical sound than one of joviality. "You realize how…comic book stereotype this is? I have an actual _evil_ twin sister. She's an evil twin! What's next, a big bad with a jolly pirate nickname?"

"That is closer to the truth than you realize. He calls himself The Illusive Man, and he is overlord of Cerberus."

"Elusive…"

"No Illusive. More than likely he claimed the name after a fictional figure in a twenty century set of books by Raymond E. Frost called Riftwar."

Oriana thought for a moment, despite the fog in her head from the alcohol her mind clicked on familiarly of the name but not from the source Shepard had stated. It was something she had heard Macey talking about when they watched the Wong/Shepard interview.

"I remember…now! Years ago, there was an anonymous extranet manifesto that warned that an alien attempt at human genocide was inevitable. It was just after the First Contact War. The manifesto called for an army…a…a…_Cerberus_ to guard against invasion through the Charon relay."

"You know your resent history well." Shepard smiled her approval. "Then you also know that it was derided as "survivalist rhetoric written by an illusive man", the manifesto and its anonymous author soon fell off the media radar. Then in 65, brigands stole antimatter from the SSV Geneva, the sole figure arrested named his sponsor Cerberus.

"Throughout the 60s and 70s, alleged Cerberus agents assassinated politicians, sabotaged starships bearing eezo, and conducted nightmarish experiments on nonhumans and humans. Denounced as human-supremacist, Cerberus calls itself human-survivalist. Counterterrorist experts speculate Cerberus may have changed leadership with it recent shift to stockpiling ships, agents, and weapons. I don't. I think all along the leadership has been with one man, who had changed his fortune, but not his overall agenda: the subjugation of all nonhuman sentients. And he will use this looming conflict with the Reapers to do so."

"But how can he or Cerberus have become so powerful? I mean the sort of wealth to buy politicians, covert agents, people in the press, ships…bases, it's astronomical."

"The Illusive Man hides his finances behind shell companies, like Cord-Hislop Aerospace."

"But…but that's the company my parents work for!" Oriana yelped. "They're a major starship industry based on Earth. Their branch here on Illium is small but they get a lot of custom. Dad works in their PR department, Mom's one of the execs. You're telling Cord-Hislop is a part of Cerberus? My parents work for Cerberus?! "

"As do countless innocents who have no clue that it is a Cerberus front company." Shepard said keeping her voice clam. "There are many such companies, and many more companies that Cerberus has legitimate stocks in corporations like Binary Helix and ExoGeni. While not Cerberus, the Illusive Man has major shares in them, and not just finances but agents as well. I've shut down more than a few of their operations during my hunt of Saren and his Reaper master: Sovereign."

"I have to warn Mom and Dad! They'd never side with some like the Illusive Man. They despise the people in the Terra Firma party. My Dad won't even talk to his brother because my uncle voted for that scum bucket Charles Saracino."

"Oriana, think for a moment. Right now your parents are safe because they don't know who they truly work for. We have to keep it that way for a time."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Oriana I am." Shepard answered her voice once again soft and reassuring.

The girl nodded. "Tell me about this Miranda. About Cerberus and what you want from me."

"I'll answer those questions but in not in that order. What I need from you, you are already providing. As you puzzled out, I am indeed using you as bait. But I will never place you in harms way."

"But you want this Lawson woman to think the opposite, don't you?"

"She already does."

Oriana frowned at this. "You sent her a message? Already? When?"

"In a manner of speaking a message has been sent." The Spectre grinned. "Lanteia said she monitors your progress, she has since you were a babe-in-arms. Lawson keeps fairly close tabs on you. Stood to reason as soon as Lanteia reported that I had you, Lawson would hack into the security system of the university. I sorta…flipped her off when we left your sorority house."

Oriana just stared at the older woman. Layers upon layers, now Aunty Lan was mixed up in all of this? How? Aunty Lan is asari. No way in hell, an asari works for a radical pro-humanist group like Cerberus. But before she could open her mouth Shepard held her hand out to forestall any forthcoming questions.

"Any questions about Lanteia and her connection to Lawson, I will answer later. Suffice to say Lawson now knows who has you and she believes she knows why. But that is only half true. She knows you're bait and will come irregardless, more than likely defying her lord and master TIM, to do so.

"As for your other questions about Lawson, personally I know little more than what is in that dossier I showed you. Now regarding Cerberus, that, I can tell you a great deal more of. But Oriana, it must be your choice. What I tell you, what I show you will change your life and how you see it a great deal. You cannot erase it, you can't delete from your mind and you can't go backwards. What they do isn't pretty, it isn't moral or lawful, and in no way is it ethical. It's visceral, brutal, cunning and sickening."

"Show me."

Shepard gave a very slight bow to the head. It might have been easier to force away the words of warning from her conscious as she deliberately lead this child-woman into the path she wanted, but that opened far too many doors. If you started with small indiscretions of principles, then you'd go to slightly bigger ones, then larger ones, then major…and then you'd forget there was a line between right and wrong as it vanished completely.

Shepard needed the voice in her hindbrain screaming at her that was she was doing was unethical. Oriana believed it her idea to watch the footage of Cerberus, the seed had been sown. Once the girl saw the footage, she would demand an active part in the apprehension of Lawson and the confrontation that was surely to follow. It was all coming together as the Spectre had planed.

She sat near the girl as she watched the playback of Tali's compilation. The quarian had outdone herself. The vid opened with the impaling of one of the settlers on Eden Prime by the geth then it switched to the husks on Chasca. It was voiced over from the logs Shepard and her crew had recovered from ExoGeni.

_**Private Log of Dr. Gamorle: I don't trust this Cerberus group. They may pay us well, but it this gets out before we've developed an antidote….its just not smart. They won't tell us what they want the samples for or why they wanted them delivered to the Matano System. My records show nothing of interest out there. **_

Tali made sure to show visceral battles with the husks, including the crew's own chatter.

"_**By the Goddess…the whole planet is…dead!"**_

"_**Cerberus did this. Those cocksuckers! Skipper, tell me we'll make them pay!"**_

"_**Cerberus must have passed through the colony just before the colonists transformed. My gods they wanted to see what the dragon teeth would do. They meant for this to happen! Just like on Akuze they deliberately set this up."**_

Shepard's voice had been the last to speak. Tali had used it to fade into the battle with the thresher maw and the trap set to ensnare Admiral Kahoku's men.

"_**Shepard, this is Admiral Kahoku. I found out who set that trap for my men, the ones killed by the thresher maw. Damn I hope you get this message. Its group called Cerberus. They are an Alliance black-ops organization. Top Secret. Highest level of security clearance. They vanished a few months ago. Dropped right off the grid. Nobody knew where they went or what they were up to. **_

"_**They've gone completely rogue, Shepard! They're conducting illegal genetic experiments trying to create some sort of super solider. I…I don't have any proof. But I found the coordinates for one of their research worlds. I'm uploading them with this message. They're completely out of control. Somebody needs to stop them. I've done my part, now it's up to you. This is….this is probably the last you'll hear from me. Cerberus is after me now. I need to disappear before they find me."**_

Tali blended scenes of the battles from each of the three research faculties on Binthu in the Yangtze System. Battles with the rachni, thorian creepers and Cerberus agents.

The last was the form Liara's helmet's battle-cam. "_**By the Goddess...it's Admiral Kahoku!"**_

Tali had made the scene dark for a few moments them brighten with the white text reading:

**Not sure if you will receive this, Doctor, but it is imperative you make your way to the safe location. Your history with our organization has been leaked. Your base in the Newton system is no longer secure. I repeat, make your way to the save location immediately. **

It changed then with Shepard's own battle-cam's point of view when the team had confronted Corporal Toombs who held a human male at gunpoint.

"_**Stay back! I've got no grief with you. All I want is this bastard."**_

"_**Please! He's a mad man! Mr. Toombs you're insane. You need help." there was a scientist in a white and red labcoat with his hands out in front of him pleadingly, upon the sleeve of his coat was the black and gold concentric diamonds of the Cerberus insignia. **_

"_**It's Corporal! Corporal Toombs! You don't get to lie!"**_

"_**You can't prove any of this. This man is delusional. Shoot him!"**_

Toombs continued ranting, his anger palpable._** "They took me! See, they were running tests on the thresher maws. They **__let__** those things hit just to watch and study. I woke up in a holding cell. The scientists were delighted I had survived. Now they had someone to run tests on."**_

"_**What did they do to you Toombs?" **_It was Shepard speaking now, her voice as calm as it had been when she had first spoken with Oriana_**. **_

"_**You can't believe Toombs. He doesn't have any proof! I demand a fair trial**_." the Cerberus Man's voice was pitched near hysteria.

"_**He was there, the bastard! He knows the truth! They treated me like a lab animal. I only escaped because somebody destroyed Cerberus their big organization. This man deserves to die, Shepard, for everyone else in my unit. Are you with me?"**_

"_**Let's make this pubic; he'll answer for his crimes in court**_." Shepard took a hesitant step forward, her voice gentling.

"_**Weren't you listening? He was a part of a secret origination. I don't know what Cerberus is, but they will never let their operation become public. This is the only way! Are you helping me or are you killing me?"**_

"_**You're better then this Toombs. You're not like them."**_

"_**Don't tell me who I am, you weren't there! You got away with a few scratches and a scary reputation. The rest of my unit died and I was tortured for years, Shepard! You can't judge me, you don't have the right!"**_

"_**Toombs, if I could have helped out on Akuze, I would have. We were dispatched too late, your unit already fell. We belies there were no survivors. All I can do is help now. Let me. I'm a Spectre, if you do this is murder. I am the law, I can give you justice, but you have to let me."**_

"_**Okay. I'm no murder. They can't make me one. Just as long as he goes to trial. Maybe the screaming will stop now. I don't know."**_

"_**Those basterds can't hurt you any more. I promise you." **_Shepard touched her earpiece, coming with the Normandy._** "Joker tell the Fifth Fleet we need a ship for pick-up."**_

The scene ended with Toombs staring morosely at the floor as Williams shoved the scientist out the door. Once more the scene went black this time another vice was heard a recording of Major Elena Flores.

"_**Sigma twenty three is almost fully operational, the barracks and storage lockers are complete and we've begun stocking the munitions. It is highly unlikely the Alliance will patrol in the nebula. I suspect our only risk will be from the pirates, and who will believe them? It looks like we will have space for two reinforced platoons of Cerberus commandos."**_

"_**Again with Cerberus." **_William's voice cut in _**"Who the hell are these guys?**_

The second entry was played_**: "The package arrived to day ready for field testing. I'm told they've been fundamentally similar to the units being developed in Noveria. They promise this batch will be stable. Something about them being in close proximity to the master control unit**_

"_**We've discovered a group of pirates setting up an anchorage in the neighboring system. I think well try deploying them there first. **_

The last entry was played_**. They've escaped containment. Clever bastards. We treated them like animals when we should have treated them like P.O.W.s . They're spreading, boarding the supply ships and sending them to random destinations. They will be all over the cluster in a week. General, if you recover this message my advice is screw the rachni. They're too smart. Use one of the other projects. Flores sighing off…for the final time.**_

"_**Another batch of experimental rachni gets loose. These things should come with warning labels." **_Ashley scoffed_**. **_

"_**Yeah, we may look like creepy-looking space spiders but we're sentient, do not remove us from Mommy's side or we will go mad." **_Shepard's words though seemingly filled with levity had a cold edge to it.

The next scenes were frantic and rushed as Shepard's cam depicted a wild dash through the station, racing for the airlock along side Liara and Williams. The only way to neutralize the threat had been to set off the timer of a bomb near the Flores' computer. They had only two minutes to reach the airlock though masses rachni warriors and cargo that created a labyrinth out of the hold.

Following those Tali had continued the barrage of images: The collection of Prothean mummies on Ilos, the assault on the ship of the Migrant Fleet, a quarian lad whose face plate had been smashed, his face so deformed, and afflicted with illnesses that it was impossible to discern anything more than mass of swollen flesh. A young human girl, obviously a biotic being hunted down by commandos in white and black armor emblazoned with the Cerberus diamonds.

Atrocities after atrocities, so many that not even Shepard knew how Tali had come to them, let alone how she managed to meld them together into this horrific montage. It made her physically ill to watch it along side her captive.

Oriana rose suddenly from the table. "I'm going to be sick!"

"Top of the stairs, straight ahead." Shepard pointed to the ensuite.

A few moments latter a tearful, shaking girl repapered, her face dripping with water she had obviously splashed on it. Gingerly Shepard approached her and led her to the sofa where she sat the younger woman down, and waited in silence.

"You should have told me…warned me! Why!? Why did you show me that?" she wept.

Shepard swallowed down the bile taste stuck in her throat. She could not tell the girl that to be honest she didn't know exactly what was on that vid. She had to own up to it. "I had warned you what you will see, will change everything." the words were softly spoken.

There was a longer moment of silence. Then: "Miranda Lawson my twin sister…she is a part of this? Willingly? She…she condones this?"

"She is the right hand of the Illusive Man, Oriana." Shepard said simply. "They want to create super soldiers, the ultimate human biotic. Cerberus may have even used your sister's genetic tailoring as a template."

Another long moment of silence. "Then why am I not with them? Why was I given to a family? My Mom and Dad love me; they've always made sure I was happy and safe. They made sure I didn't sluff off on my violin lessons or school simply because I got board with it. They are not…not Cerberus."

"No you're parents are not Cerberus. As to why you are with them and not a specimen or asset in their laboratories, I can not fully say. Maybe there is something redeemable in your sister. She took you from your biological father because to him the only thing you were was a legacy and power. To your _true_ parents you are the jewel of their hearts as it should be. Perhaps giving you away was the only good thing Miranda was capable of doing."

"Redeemable? But if she's the right hand of this vile creature that calls himself the Illusive Man…then is there any good left in her? She's Cerberus; she may as well have killed your baby! How can anyone like that be redeemable?"

"Oriana, do not mistake my purpose. I need to capture Lawson, to take her in because she is so very close to the Illusive Man. But you are her redemption or at least she believes it. I need to use that connection. I am sorry it must be this way, but it is the only way I can think of without more lives being destroyed. Will you aid me?"

"If I say no?" a meek whisper.

"Then you will be released back to Illium."

"But that won't ever change what I saw, what I now know."

"No it won't."

More silence.

"I wish you hadn't shown me. I wish I was still ignorant. But I'm not. I know now and if I turn my back on this, I'm just as evil as she is, aren't I?"

"No not evil, that is something I don't think you are capable of, Oriana. But you do have a chance now to do something about the darkness that lurks in humanity. You can help me reclaim some of humanity's true values."

A sigh. "You want to know something? My Dad…he's descended from the Schindler Jews. Bet you didn't know that. He didn't convert to Mom's faith. Makes the holidays wired sometimes. The whole time growing up they said I can choose my own path. Guess that's why I'm not very religious, I don't want to hurt either of their feelings by choosing one faith over the other. But if… way back then Oskar Schindler didn't step up, didn't do the hard thing, the right thing…." the girl paused, taking in great greedy gulps of air to steady her nerves. "I'll do it. I'll help you stop Cerberus!"


	46. Calling Out the Bitch

Chapter 46: Calling Out the Bitch

"Attention on deck!" shouted Gabby as soon as she saw Shepard enter the barracks shared by all engineering staff.

Tali was sitting with her crew and by the looks of it they were playing Skillian Five. Though engineering division all shared quarters, Tali as chief engineer was afforded a cubicle of her own rather than just a rack. It gave the young quarian engineer a sense of familiarity with her old life on the Rayya, before her Pilgrimage, before the war with Sovereign, before knowledge of the Reapers. That seemed like a life time ago.

"Give us the room." Shepard commanded. Her orders were quickly obeyed, and the others scuttled past. Once clear, Shepard's expression became softer, filled with concern.

"Tali, I wanted a moment to talk to you. Specifically about the compilation you put together."

"Was it not satisfactory?"

"More than merely satisfactory, Tali. You did a remarkable job. Actually that's why I wanted to talk to you. I saw it the once with the Solheim kid, but you had to put it together. You had to watch it a lot more than that. How are you doing?"

"I've adjusted." Tali answered. "But don't ask me to do that sort of thing again." There was an edge to Tali's voice, Shepard had never heard before and yet it did not surprise her to hear it.

Shepard nodded and causally folded her arms over her chest as she leaned against a bulkhead that speared two rows of bunks. "I understand how you gained footage of Cerberus's attack on the _Ideena_, but that kid….the one with the broken helm he wasn't a part of their crew, was he?"

The image of the man flashed in both women's' minds. He had been stripped completely naked, but his body was not a representation of his race. It was impossible to tell what he may have looked like.

A deformed mass of flesh that made up the man's face was lumps, bruises, cuts and bum marks. All his teeth had been kicked out and one cheekbone had been caved in the other cheek gaped wide as if someone had slit it lengthwise from the lip to what could only be the quarian's ear. One eye was swollen shut, while the other… The other had both upper and lower eyelids savagely torn off by a pair of pliers.

It was an ancient method of torture: in addition to the excruciating pain of the brutal removal, the victim would go slowly and agonizingly blind as the exposed eyeball became dehydrated.

His body had been equally abused. His fingers and toes had all been broken, most yanked from their sockets. Every inch of exposed skin showed signs of being beaten, cut, burned or dissolved by acid. More to this was a kind of loamy, gray growth which had spread out from the quarian's wounds and spread across the skin. Cerberus's sadistic torture had not been all the poor wretch had suffered on top of it all he had contracted some kind of alien disease.

"His name was Veetor'Nara nar Neema. I was told he was on Pilgrimage. He chose to aid a human colony in the Tremens Systems, called Freedom's Progress."

Shepard knew the name. What had happened there haunted her mind. The buildings left standing, untouched by battle and yet all the colonists had suddenly vanished with no clue as to how or who had done it. The Council suspected slavers. And because the colony was in the Terminus Systems, the Council had no jurisdiction.

"Cerberus found him, tortured him and dropped him back there? But I don't understand why not just space him after they were done with him? Why do such a thing unless they wanted us to know who had done this to him."

"I don't think Cerberus wanted to us to know it was them, it was only chance that the _Neema_ discovered the truth. Veetor managed to send a coded transmission back to the Flotilla. In it was footage of the attack on the colony. A sergeant Prazza vas _Neema_ was sent with a squad to investigate when the colony went dark. My father said Veetor managed to set up a trade negotiation with the colony for foodstuff. No one is quite sure how considering he was never good with people, they made him nervous and unsettled. Um anyway like I said the colony went dark, Prazza and his squad landed at the same time as a team from Cerberus.

"From what information the crew of the _Neema_ could piece together, Veetor had bunkered down in a warehouse and activated the security mechs to protect himself from the next wave of intruders. He had no way of knowing he was not only attacking Cerberus but our own people as well.

"Prazza was known to be a bit hot-headed more so after Cerberus's attack on the _Ideena_. No doubt when he saw their signals he went on the immediate offensive. Before Veetor was captured by one of their agents he had cameras feeding live transmissions back to the _Neema_."

"Tali, why am I only finding out now and why didn't you tell me sooner?" Shepard's tone suddenly became very hard edged. "Didn't we already have this discussion?"

The girl shifted from foot to foot. "You were on Illium at the time, and this Intel came directly from the Admiralty. Shepard, my father gave me this information, not because I'm his daughter but because we're hunting Cerberus. I don't even think they told the Alliance what was discovered.

"Academically the Flotilla knows that the Alliance isn't responsible, but Cerberus is a part of humanity, understandably there are trust issues. I…I meant to tell you…"

Shepard placed a hand on the younger woman's shoulder. "Tali, I promise you this, Veetor will be avenged. But you tell me everything, understand. You're a member of my team, an officer of this ship. Until you return to the Flotilla you are known as Tali vas _Normandy_. Remember that."

"Aye, aye" Tali responded, regretting she had given Shepard the impression her loyalties were questionable. "Shepard…I…."

"Nothing more need be said, Miss vas _Normandy._" The Spectre smiled in a way a commander does when a gentle reprimand was received and understood.

Tali did the only thing she could do. She saluted. "I wasn't given any more information. Veetor was tortured for information those bastards thought he might have and dropped back on Freedom's Progress. My Father said they were given an 'annoyance' tip that a team of quarian marines and one tech were found dead.

"When I asked for security footage from the _Ideena_, my father asked why I needed it. After I told him, he also sent me footage the recovery teams took in addition to my request. He said to tell you that when we find those that did this, when we find Cerberus we are to send them to whatever hells they fear. If they don't have a hell we make one for them."

"Hell only works against those who have a conscience, Tali. Cerberus agents have no conscience; there is no hell for them. They will get their comeuppance but I won't lose my soul over it, I won't let you lose it either. But I won't be soft on them.

"I owe my daughter justice. Veetor and the victims of the _Ideena_, Admiral Kohoku and countless others deserve retribution. I have never wavered in my duty, I won't in this. You have my personal guarantee, Tali."

"I know." Tali nodded. Even through the tinted helmet it was easy to read the young woman's expression. It was one of absolute trust. No, it was more than that it was devotion.

"Tali, there is one more thing I want you to do, concerning the vid you made. I want you to talk so someone in the Sanctuary about it. I don't care which of the clergy you choose, they are all accredited councilors. What you had to expose yourself to because the orders I gave you, I know it hit you. I didn't want you to deal with it by yourself."

Tali shifted; clearly ashamed she might be viewed as weak minded.

Again Shepard placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "If you think for one moment I haven't talked to someone about the crap I've seen or done you're mistaken. I've joined grief support groups to deal. A wounded mind is like a wounded body, if allowed to fester and becomes gangrenous it destroys. It's foolish to allow that to happen when you have the means to heal. Make sure it doesn't happen to my best engineer." There was a hint of a smile in the eyes that held concern. "Promise me Tali, you'll talk to someone."

"I will."

Shepard nodded and turned to leave the barracks when the quarian's voice called her back.

"Shepard? Thanks for caring."

The Spectre again nodded. "You're my crew; a commander's first duty is to her ship, her crew. And you're more than that, Kiddo. You're family. Mine and Liara's."

It could not be seen but Shepard knew there was a large smile behind the mask. "Since we're five by five, I have to go. I have a date with a mat and a padded wall."

Tali giggled. "I could do with a little exercise myself. Garrus said something about reach and flexibility… I don't know what that means exactly, but I think he wanted to teach me a few sparring techniques he learned in C-Sec. Down and dirty fighting of the lower wards sort of stuff, not the fancy moves Shiala and Aleena are showing you. Of course that would be silly as he and I are not biotics. Still I think I might enjoy it."

'That's not all he wants to show you, Kiddo.' but that part Shepard kept to herself. "Give'em hell Tali. Just make sure you come out on top. Pounce on him if you have to, it'll sure surprise the hell out of him."

The Spectre could have sworn there was a blush behind that tinted visor, but then she couldn't be a hundred percent sure.

"I…I think I can manage that." There was more scuffling of feet and hand wringing which caused Shepard to grin. "I've taken several antibiotics and 'herbal supplements' to bolster my immune system…." Tali coughed nervously. "Just so…um…he doesn't have…the…er…the advantage."

"Rriiight…" Shepard smirked. "Reach and flexibility…I'll have to remember that next time I 'spar' with Liara. Though I don't think I'll be trying that with Aleena. "

"Oh Keelah! That's not what I meant! Not exactly, anyhow."

Shepard draped her arm around the younger woman, whispering conspiratorially "Relax, Kiddo. Have fun." With that Shepard left murmuring about delicious prospects of introducing reach and flexibility to her Angel Eyes.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEME

Oriana having limited access to the ship took full advantage of the areas she was allowed within. Once such room was the PT arena. A gymnasium specially designed by asari engineers for biotics to train and compete, allowing them to sharpen their skills. To use the ability to throw, pin or block objects were basic skills for any biotic. More advanced biotics used spatial distortions to destroy objects with rapidly shifting mass fields but to do so on a ship and do it safely certain measures had to be taken in order not to bring harm to the ship's structure. The walls of the biotics' training area were padded so opponents when thrown would bounce off and land uninjured

It reminded young Oriana of the gym she belonged to back on Illium called The Cube. The Cube was a franchise introduced by the asari to the larger populace for a twofold purpose. One was to make money; the other was to monitor the progress and ascension of non-asari biotics mastery over their powers. The gyms were very wide spread there was at the very least two on every asari controlled colony world and at least a half dozen on the Citadel.

Oriana presumed all asari ships had such gyms or rather as the military called it physical training arenas. Here the girl had hoped to watch the true masters of biotics train. She hadn't expected to see Shepard facing off one of the ship's doctors. Of course all asari were natural biotics and some were better than others, but it was a surprise to see a physician be such a powerful biotitic. The woman could have been a huntress, with her command over her talents. And to see Shepard in action, even if it was only PT, was a real treat.

She sat and watched as the famous Spectre faced off against the physician at the instruction of a fairly pregnant asari. Oriana was more pulled in by the 'coach' whom seemed to be suffering from some sort of odd skin condition. The commander's purple skin was slightly mottled around the soft neck folds with green. Her flesh tone nearly matched that of Dr. S'thasa.

Growing up on Illium, Oriana was so accustomed to asari that she hardly gave notice to the different skin pigmentations, which was as varied as it was with humans. Asari tended to be predominantly blue, just as humans were tanned, but there were those who were purple and some even and more rarely green. But Oriana had never seen an asari who had mottled skin like Commander Shiala.

Up until a century ago there had been a skin condition that afflicted humans called vitiligo. It was a condition that caused depigmentation of sections of skin. It occurred when melanocytes, the cells responsible for skin pigmentation, died or were unable to function. Its exact cause remained a mystery and it was rare – the incidence galaxy wide was less than one percent. It was possible to treat it with gene therapy in utero, if the condition was detected. Of course not all cases were caught early and if parents or in the case of the asari -parent, did not wish to undergo the risk of treatments to their unborn child, it left the possibility for the condition to show in later years.

So distracted by her run-on thoughts of the changes in skin pigmentation, Oriana was utterly taken by surprise by the sudden flash of biotic powers clashing. A flare of blue-white energy pulsed and vibrated as a beating heart. Such was the power of two warp fields clashing together.

Shepard was holding off Dr. S'thasa or was the physician holding off the Spectre? Neither one gaining ground nor losing it. The web of power slithered and writhed as a living thing. Snaking around the combatants like blue elemental serpents.

"What is the highest technique you hope to achieve?" Shiala asked as she circled Spectre and huntress as they dueled.

Oriana listened with attentive ears to the lesson not of biotic power but at the core of the philosophy of asari martial arts. It seemed this was the true contest.

"To have no technique." Shepard shot back, still withstanding Aleena's continuous bombardment of warp-throws. Her barriers were strong, but no barrier was invulnerable.

"Good." Praised her mentor. "What are your thoughts when facing an opponent?"

"There is no opponent." Shepard struggled to resist Aleena's throw. She felt her body slide back. It was taking all of her willpower to maintain the barrier.

"And why is that?"

"Because the word 'I' does not exist." Shepard gritted her teeth, sweat streamed down her face, her eyes now solid cyan. Soon she would have very little left.

"Continue." Shiala commanded, deliberately forcing Shepard to extend the very boundaries of her biotics.

Oriana was astonished the relentless stalemate was allowed to continue. Surely no one could withstand such continuous onslaught. No one could maintain that power… Oriana was considered to be a very powerful biotic for a human, but there was no way she could maintain that kind of abuse.

"A good fight should be like a small play, but played seriously. A good huntress does not become tense, but ready. Not thinking, yet not dreaming. Ready for whatever may come. When the opponent expands, I contract. When she contracts, I expand. When there is an opportunity I do not hit." she pulled back her hands causing the pulsing mass energy to condense not unlike the shock waves of a super nova.

Aleena suddenly felt her body lift and fly back against the far wall with such a force impact that had it not been padded, her spine would have been broken. "It hits all by itself."

Stunned, the bounty hunter staggered drunkenly to her feet. Her world spun around her and she promptly fell back down, right on her ass.

Wide-eyed, Oriana felt her mouth hang open at the martial display. She rushed to help the physician to her feet, but by the time she got there, the asari was already standing. Aleena ignored the human girl despite she was well aware she was there The huntress tapped deeper into her reserves and used a biotic rush to cross the distance gulfing between her and her opponent with tremendous speed and power. The Spectre tumbled to the mat by the sheer force of the impact. Her whole body felt like mashed potato slopped onto a tray.

"Remember Spectre, the enemy only has images and illusions. Behind which they hide their true motives." Aleena said stalking toward her prey, her body shimmering in element zero. "Destroy the image and you will break the enemy. Fill yourself with desire and see only illusion, empty yourself of desire and understand the great mystery of things."

Shepard handsprung to her feet, her body glowing brilliantly as she gathered energy into an eezo barrier to shield herself. What remained she readied to strike.

"The hit you refer to is a powerful weapon easily misused by the huntress who deserts her vows." This came from Shiala. "A huntress has to take responsibilities for herself and accept the consequences of her own doing. This code is not only taken by all asari huntresses no matter which city-state they serve but it has been adopted by the Spectres as well."

Aleena slammed a singularity into Shepard's barrier. The Spectre was strong enough to hold back the attack. Barely. She pushed the assault back, and once more they were at a stalemate.

Shiala steeped forward and grabbed the hands of both women, instantly breaking the contest. The air shimmered in element zero, erupting and silenced. "Enough. This contest will not be won. It can not, not in the way you are fighting it.

"When you face the enemy, you need emotional content." Shiala said, pointing to her head. "Not anger. Strike with meaning. Do not think. Feel!" She moved up to Shepard and pointed her purple-green finger to the ceiling of the room. "It is like a finger pointing to a constellation." Shepard looked at the finger, just as Shiala knew she would and smacked her rather hard on the head, for such obvious folly. The human winced at the sudden blunted pain, but stood firmly rooted at her spot. She was far too much the marine to react adversely to the corporal punishment. "Don't concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory. Do you understand?"

"Aye _Orthori_" Shepard bowed her head respectfully as a student to her mistress. For that was that _Orthori_ meant: Mistress.

From her new corner Oriana turned to the woman who had escorted her to her rooms back on Illium. Part of her wondered how the ship's XO answering to the command of the Spectre, could in turn become Orthori over her. Growing up on Illium she needed no translator to understand Asarian. It was her second language; she knew what the word meant, for she after all had her own.

"Lieutenant Nual, isn't it?"

"It is. Is there something you require?" Nual said evenly.

Now that the main attraction was finished the asari commandos took to the mats. Shiala commanded them to bring out the drums in preparation of the echo game.

The girl shook her head. "No, not really. You're just one of the few faces I recognize."

"Oh. Of course."

"In your training you don't hold back or pull your 'punches'."

"Only very young maidens starting the training in school do so. As huntresses we train the exact control over our biotics. If you instruct your mind and body to withhold power in training you will react thusly when in battle. It is the same reason when we fell an opponent in training we never offer to aid them to their feet. Or you will do so automatically on the battlefield without conscious thought of having done it."

"So that's why no one offered to help Dr. S'thasa to her feet after she hit that wall?"

"Precisely. Even if you had managed to offer her help when you came over here she would never had accepted. The enemy may have secreted away a weapon and you will be accepting help right into your death."

"But don't you risk maiming or even killing your sparring partner, or being equally hurt?" Oriana pressed.

"Only those who have mastered their skills to this level, unleash their strengths. It is a show of greater power to contain the strength with which you strike. How fast, how hard, how little to strike is the display of that skill. It is how we train as younglings. We devote thirty years studying the martial arts and that is before we decide to become a huntress. We are young when we choose the military, and from that point on we dedicate ourselves to sharpening our minds and body for that sole purpose. Our commando units are nearly unbeatable. One-to-one we are practically unstoppable. Woe to those that face an asari Spectre. And those that chose the life of a Justicar are far far more proficient."

"I've never seen a unit fight, but they say your commandos possess profound tactical insight, a hunter's eye and a dancers grace and alacrity. The turians say the asari are known to be the finest warriors in the galaxy."

"They also say that fortunately there aren't many of us." Nual smiled. "We do not need numbers when we have skill and the true understanding and complete mastery over biotics."

"Spectre Shepard held her own against Dr. S'thasa." Oriana felt slightly smug pointing this out to the asari. Sure the proficiency of the huntresses was remarkable but Shepard was all human.

Nual grinned then. "The Spectre is a special case. She is unique… I have seen her in battle, bore witness to feats of great biotic prowess. She was touched by the Protheans and they left their mark on her."

Oriana looked to the raven haired woman with captivating blue eyes in new wonder. There were so many stories about her, most of which she had heard from Macey still, until now she hadn't quite believed many of them were real. How could she? They sounded so fanciful and mythic. It made the Spectre out to be some demigod.

"Our enemies will not stand. Shepard is a Council Spectre. She swore loyalty to them, and we of the T'Soni Bastion of Armali have sworn our allegiance to her."

Oriana digested the words. That Shepard commanding platoons of human marines was to be expected; even having the aliens on her flagship team following her was equally expected. To gain the unwavering loyalty of asari commandos, turian marines, and salarian STG was something else.

She was curiously watching as the commandos set up a circle with drums and set up a secondary ring with smaller taiko like drums. She had never seen such a set up before not even in the _dagro-túr_ (dojo) she belonged to. Her _Orthori_ mentored her and a handful of other non-asari in the art of biotics, so why did they not teach her this?

She thought was all out of reactions, but when she saw Shepard flipping, twirling and slipping hurling biotic pluses into the vertical drumheads which had been hit with pebble sized beads. Shepard was echoing the ricochets of the beads sticking the drums; it was an amazing to watch.

"My _Orthori_ never taught me this."

Nual scoffed. "Of course not, you're a civilian and not an asari."

The girl frowned. "So only commandos are trained this technique?"

"It is a training regiment our novice huntresses begin with and as commandos continue to drill in to keep our reflexes honed."

Oriana's eyes never left the martial dance the Spectre was throwing herself into body and soul. It was an awesome spectacle to behold. "But…but Shepard isn't asari."

"As I said she is unique. She is accepted amongst my people."

"Why because she married Dr. T'Soni? I know plenty of humans who married asari. Are they accepted as well?"

"No. Not as you mean. When I say Shepard is accepted amongst the asari, it isn't that she took one of us as a bondmate, but because she underwent the greatest trial a youngling undertakes in her first footsteps as a maiden. The Great Hunt."

"The Hunt?! You mean she hunted one of those massive sharks?" Oriana's eyes widened. "Kyra, Datlin and Malicho my sorority sisters talk about it. They went through it together. Datlin said she barely made it through; Malicho has a scar along her side from where the shark swam past her. Are you saying Shepard underwent that trial."

"She did."

But…that's so deep in the ocean, the pressure alone…it would burst human eardrums. Asari had the ability to breath underwater and their third eyelid allowed them to see. Oriana knew that the trial required the would-be huntress to be completely naked armed only with a ceremonial dagger and biotics. Surely Shepard had been allowed goggles, earplugs and a rebreather.

"And before you ask, yes she is the only non-asari to ever been granted the honor and privilege of the Great Hunt. It is not because she married an asari or even embraced our religious philosophies, as I said before she is unique."

Somewhere in her hindbrain, Oriana recalled Macey saying something about that tabloid reporter Khalisah Bint Sinan al-Jilani saying that Humanity's first human Spectre was more asari than human and she had gone completely native. Ironic the reporter said considering Shepard's maternal heritage was Salish. The string of curses that came out of the normally shy and docile woman's mouth surprised all her sorority's sisters. But then again Macey was very protective of her hero and would hear no slander against the great Commander Shepard.

Sitting in the gym Oriana in part understood Macey's fascination with the Spectre. Watching her perform this afternoon was an eye-opening experience.

"This all can't be to go against Cerberus." Oriana whispered watching the training continue. "Can it?"

Nual turned to the young human, "To cut off the true head of the hound a force such as this is necessary. Cerberus however is a tertiary target."

"All this for a tertiary target? Then who….or what are the first and secondary targets?"

For a moment Nual seemed to hesitate. Then she said: "The primary objective it stop the Reapers. Despite what you may have heard on the news, Sovereign was not the only dreadnought. It was not even geth. There are more of them, and they are coming. We must be fully prepared to meet them. And so we train, continuously, until we are at our utmost state of perfect readiness. "

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

"Seven. Six. Five. Four." Williams was counting down. Around her a squad of marines both human and turian were stripping and putting back together assault rifles. All of them blindfolded. The young lieutenant walked around the soldiers watching them with an extremely critical eye. "Three. Two. One. You're done. Now!"

The metallic racket of assembly stopped.

Williams marched up to a young blonde corporal. She looked at him, the weapon in his hands. Her dark brown eyes, hardened. "Marine."

"Ma'am?"

"You satisfied with that gun?"

Beads of sweat beaded upon the marine's upper lip.

"You satisfied with it to save your life? The life of your squad?"

"Yes ma'am."

Williams said nothing as she took the muzzle of the rifle and pointed it at her chest. "Fire."

"Ma'am…" the boy swallowed hard. He shifted the gun but Williams replaced it against her chest.

"Fire your weapon, marine!"

He fired, jumped when there was only a hollow click.

Williams reached down on the table picked up the assault rifle's firing pin. "Redo it, Corporal. One thousand times."

"Yes Ma'am!"

One turian marine snickered at unfortunate human. Williams marched up to her, got an inch from her face. "You find something particularly funny?" She picked up the corporal's rifle and pointed it at turian. "Is your rifle in order?"

"Yes Lieutenant."

"Has your trigger ever slipped?"

"No Lieutenant."

William's finger which had previously been flagging the trigger now coiled around it. "Accidental discharge can be... detrimental. Has this rifle ever gone off when not supposed to?"

The turian's mandibles flashed out in irritability. Despite the two training exercises she was one of the few turians who still resented having to obey a human. "What are you doing ma'am?"

"Answer the fucking question, jarhead. Has this rifle ever expended an accidental discharge?"

"No ma'am."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes ma'am." fear now settled in the woman's mind. On board a turian ship she could expect to be struck for the hint of insubordination she had given Williams.

"What?"

"Ma'am no Ma'am!"

Williams grunted

"What is friendly fucking, or friendly fucked?"

The marine sucked in a bit of air, "Friendly fire."

"I think I'm going to have to retire because I didn't hear you!"

"Ma'am, when a target is hit by a marine that is a friend or friendly. It is called friendly fire, Ma'am."

Williams stared hard at the other woman who was a head taller than she was, but at the moment the turian felt three heads shorter. "That's right. It can happen during drills if the rifle is not properly maintained or is hot. Isn't that right squad?"

The troopers in the room all answered as one "Ma'am, yes Ma'am!"

"Golden Axiom of the marine corps. This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one is mine." she moved the safety off. "Without my rifle, I am nothing. Without me, my rifle is nothing." She turned to the rest of the room. "I don't hear the words!"

The room shouted the axiom. "This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one is mine. Without my rifle, I am nothing. Without me, my rifle is nothing!"

"The deadliest weapon in the world is a Marine and their rifle. Every Marine is, first and foremost, a rifleman. All other conditions are secondary. Is there anyone in this room that believes poor rifle maintenance is a fucking laughing matter?"

"No Lieutenant!"

"What about you, Jarhead? You still find it funny?"

"No, Lieutenant."

"Outstanding!" Williams's response oozed mockery. "I'm so glad you don't find it funny. In fact you find it so not funny, Jarhead that you're going to dismantle and assemble your rifle alongside your brother in arms. One thousand times. We are all marines here! One marine fails we all fail. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?"

"Yes Lieutenant!

"We are defined by three core values, not by our species." Ash found herself unconsciously straightening her back. "Honor. Courage and commitment. The integrity of these values in installed in all of us, in our training. We are held to the highest ethical and moral standards, not just on this ship but as marines. We act in the manner befitting our station. Respect is a part of that station both given and received. To do less makes us less.

"Courage. It defines us. It is our forge of mental, moral and physical strength. It gives us the ability to overcome our fears and accomplish our mission. We stand fast, and hold the line. We face the challenges that would stop others, because we are marines!

"It is because we are marines that we gain our sense of commitment. We serve. We do our duty. When we enlisted, we swore an oath to protect with dedication and determination. Our resolve will always be tested. They send in the marines when the task is nigh on impossible because we finish the mission.

"Semper Fidelis. Humans know what this is. It means Always Faithful. This is the pledge to the mission, to each other, to the Corps. We make it to those we are sworn to protect. We make it to this crew, to this ship. To the mission. To Shepard. DO YOU COPY?"

"We copy, lieutenant." the room answered as one.

"Outstanding." this time her comment was not laced with sarcasm. "The rest of you….remain and keep count. And while you are doing so, you will repeat the axiom. One thousand times."

All heads glaringly turned to the turian woman. Had she kept her mouth shut, they would have been out and hitting the mess for chow. Of course the idiot human male who forgot his firing pin was no better. There would be hell to pay back in the barracks after lights out. And that was the point. They fought as one; bled as one and they would discipline each other as one.

Wrex had been loitering outside the armory watching the whole affair. When Williams vacated he was there to greet her. "You handled that skull-face fairly well, but there are better ways when dealing with insubordination from their kind."

"You know Shepard doesn't like it when we use racist slang."

"Shepard aint here."

"Her ship, her rules. She's always here."

Wrex nodded. "You got a point. So do I. A krogan shows that kind of disrespect you headbutt him. You know what to do with a human, but a turian? You sweep their legs and sent their scrawny bird-bones to the deck. Make them eat a bit of dirt."

"I think I made my point clear enough." Williams said. "I didn't need to send her to the deck. Having a hot rifle pointed at your gut by a CO, that's not something you soon forget. That kid in there won't forget his lesson either."

"You pulled a Shepard in there."

"I like to think I added my own flavor to the mix." Ash grinned.

"A bit of the point there, eh Williams?"

"Meaning?"

"Carve your own path and stop following in Shepard's shadow. She casts a hell of a long one, and she's got a set of quads on her, I haven't seen the like in a long time. Time to start casting your own shadow, kid. You want to make Shepard proud, she's your battlemaster, I get that. Make her more proud if you actually become that leader she's training you to be.

"You took the initiative to set up them training exercises. You're pulling the crew together just as much as she has been. And right now Shepard's mind is on a whole other game."

"Cerberus put a marker on Liara, killed her baby, of course her mind is on other objectives."

"You're not the XO of the ship but you're the Two-I-Cee of the flagship ground team. Shepard's hand-picked team. More than that, you've been named Shepard's Trusted. That aint no small thing, whelp. It aint just to stand up as a witness to wedding vows. It means you're one of two guardians of her family. I been thinking, our Spectre might have forgotten she's included in that. She's forgotten her firing pin. So question is Trusted of Shepard, what you going to do?"

For a moment Williams had no voice. "We stick to the mission. We acquire the package, gain the Intel and hit the target."

"And what target is that?" Wrex pressed.

"The Reapers. They are the primary objective, that's never changed. But it is imperative we neutralize this distraction. Cerberus is the immediate threat. They have painted Shepard and Liara. We will not be able to pacify them entirely, not now but we can strike back hard enough they retreat."

"And Shepard?"

"I'll do my duty. I will not fail her or our mission. And I won't let her fail herself. Just like you won't. Like the others won't."

The mammoth krogan nodded his great head, "Now you're talking like a Trusted. Like a warrior casting her own shadow." Wrex clapped Ash on the shoulder, causing her to lurch forward unsteadily on her feet. "There's hope for you yet, Williams. You just remember that when you talk to her, in case you know you have a one-to-one."

"Yeah. Right." Ash nodded, rubbing the spot of Wrex's "love tap". "Do the others feel this way? Tali? Garrus?"

The hump on the krogan's back lifted in a krogan shrug. "There aint' no telling what's in that head of that bird-boned C-Sec drop out. And the kid, I think that's sorted out soon enough. Then again she's T'Soni's Trusted. Aint none of us lost faith in Shepard, Williams. Don't think that. But I know pain. I know the pain Shepard's feeling. I lost five children to the genophage. I know this pain well. It's easy to become blinded by rage. I know what it's like to let it eat you up, and spit you out. And I know that if it chews you up good enough, you lose them that's closest to you. You gotta cut the poison out before it reaches the heart and kills, ya. But it aint my place to set her to rights, aint my duty to take them blinders off, I aint the Trusted." Wrex's ruby eyes looked solemnly at the young human woman. "But this old battlemaster will always cover Shepard's six in a fight; bird-bones and the kid will too, you know that. Aint no cause to question it, girl."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEM E

As soon as Miranda stepped onto the CIC of her ship, Yeoman Kelly Chambers greeted her. "You have unread messages on your private terminal Operative Lawson."

Lawson wanted to glower at the younger woman; she was far too chipper at this time of the morning. On top of that, Miranda hadn't slept a wink, she hadn't since her sister was taken.

Without a second thought Lawson opened up her messages. Normally she would have taken them in her quarters, but none of them were marked priority nor confidential as would come from The Illusive Man. There was one that gained her attention however; it was headlined with her I-Partner Connections id. LawBringerCR2. She would have deleted it for spam, but her instincts told her to open it. She prided herself on being an excellent judge of character. Her assessments were always right on the money. Besides she could only think of one person that might called themselves S³? Spectre Samantha Shepard. The origin of the mail came from Omega.

And so she opened it.

As soon as she did a rather lively if not antique tune belted out over the entire comm system.

"_Who let the dogs out  
(woof, woof, woof, woof)  
(woof, woof, woof, woof)  
(woof, woof, woof, woof)  
(woof, woof, woof, woof)_

Who let the dogs out (woof, woof, woof, woof)  
Who let the dogs out (woof, woof, woof, woof)

(woof, woof, woof, woof) 

Miranda snarled and hit the delete, but the music continued. It was intolerable. Cerberus computers had so many firewalls they were impervious to spam-bombing and virtually impossible to hack!

_When the party was nice, the party was jumpin' (Hey, Yippie, Yi, Yo)  
And everybody havin' a ball (Hah, ho, Yippie Yi Yo)  
I tell the fellas "start the name callin'" (Yippie Yi Yo)  
And the girls report to the call  
The poor dog show down _

__

Who let the dogs out (woof, woof, woof, woof)  
Who let the dogs out (woof, woof, woof, woof) 

Lawson tried muting it, the comm-system would not respond to her commands. The music continued pipe through the system, now the whole crew was looking at her. "Chambers, don't just stand there gawking like a fool, shut the comm system down!"

_Who let the dogs out (woof, woof, woof, woof)  
Who let the dogs out (woof, woof, woof, woof) _

Kelly was frantically attempting to obey the order, but no matter what commands she typed into the holographic interface she couldn't shut it down. "I'm sorry ma'am. Somehow a virus got into the system."

"That's not possible! The firewalls installed into the system cannot be breached." Miranda growled shoving Chambers away from the comm-system and started frantically inputting commands into the comm-systems mainframe. "They were designed by the Illusive Man himself, he wrote them."

_I see ya' little speed boat head up our coast  
She really want to skip town  
Get back off me, beast off me  
Get back you flea infested monger _

"Apparently they are not infallible. Whoever wrote that virus is better." Kelly raised her voice over the music blaring still from the comms. The refrain was now repeating, and to her left she heard one of the crew members say:

"Hey I like this old timey music."

The woman next to him nodded. "I know what you mean. It has a beat you can just sing along too."

Both of whom received sharp pointed glare from Lawson when they began barking in time with the chorus.

Lawson finally managed to isolate the virus and purge it from the system. "Shepard's little quarian pet." Miranda sneered. "It has to be. Shepard isn't that skilled at tech, not at this level." She couldn't help but admire the skill of the alien vagabond. She was good. Very very good.

"It appears Shepard is calling us out." Kelly said with a bit of admiration in her voice. "Or more specifically you out. The Spectre has a bit of a rock star's presentation doesn't she?"

"I'd say more juvenile." Lawson snapped. She was not at the best of times a patient woman and this prank was enough to send her typically frigid personality into mercurial explosion pure anger aimed any anyone in her line of sight. "This is completely unbefitting of her heroic legend. Spectre indeed! This stunt only proves nothing more than she is a posturing child throwing a tantrum. It is as if she is back in some low brow junior high school. She holds the blind almost religious devotion of her troops and yet she pulls something like this?"

'_Who let the dogs out_? How unimaginable was that to use a song (no matter how old) with the lyrics containing the word dog in it and connect it to Cerberus? This from the Hero of Elysium? The Savior of the Citadel? This iconic woman reduces herself to playing silly juvenile pranks? That made no sense at all. Any respect for Shepard, Miranda held was quickly fading. But her hindbrain picked up on the hidden message within the song, or the rather meaning behind Shepard's intention. '_Who let the dogs out_?' Who allowed Cerberus? '_She really want to skip town._' Left Illium-gone to Omega, if the origin of the mail could be believed. '_Get back off me, beast off me. Get back you flea infested mongrel'_ That one was fairly self evident.

Chambers who held a degree in psychology knew this message was far more than a junior high school prank. It was without question a deliberate attempt to antagonize Operative Lawson, with the metaphoric equivalent of a slap in the face with a gauntlet, nevermind the beaded operatic white glove. Kelly knew that if she pointed out to Operative Lawson the logic she saw in this maneuver, she'd not only be heavily reprimanded in front of the rest of the CIC staff, she may well end up transferred. But there was a logic to it. Not only was the gauntlet now thrown it was picked up just as Shepard intended, with Lawson completely undervaluing and underestimating her enemy. It was a tactic directly out of the Art of War. Shepard as far more cunning and far more dubious than Operative Lawson gave her credit for.

"Maybe that's what she wants you to believe," hinted Chambers in a humble whisper. The young redhead knew that if she knew something and kept her tongue the Illusive Man would demand why. He terrified her more than Operative Lawson. She waited for the backlash but Miranda Lawson stood smoldering in her anger and humiliation.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

Liara smiled conspiratorially at Chorban. The message had been sent, the salarian guaranteed that until the 'Dogs' completely scrubbed the system every time Miranda Lawson sent or received e-mails the song would open and play. The virus underwritten in the binary base code of the song would become as a Trojan horse and latch onto the matrix of the comm-system that opened it. No doubt Cerberus's firewalls would prohibit the Trojan from spreading from one computer to another, but the damage to Lawson's private terminal was the end goal.

More accurately it was to send Lawson into absolute distraction or as Joker might say absolutely bonkers. It was a tactic it seemed favorable by the human military to play music the opponent finds exceptionally annoying, very loudly and continuously in effort to drive the enemy out of hiding. According to human ancient lore the continuous playing of trumpets even brought down walls. The only walls, Liara was interested in bringing down was Lawson's sanity.

Chorban had a brilliant mind. After all he had developed new technology capable of not only scanning but recoding bio-readings of the Keepers. Something that had not been accomplished since the re-discovery of the Citadel. It wasn't that the asari a millennia ago were incapable of creating similar devices. It was their philosophy that prohibited them from pressing the investigation into the keepers. After a dozen died or self-terminated during the first attempts to discover more about strange little aliens, the asari proclaimed them protected sapient entities, not trained beasts. It was illegal to disturb the insectiod beings from their work.

Chorban however held no such beliefs was willing to push the boundaries even the ethical ones to discover the truth of the Citadel's custodians. The eighteen year old scientist could not allow things to rest, he had to know and Shepard's own curiosity had gained the better of her and so the scanning of fifteen keepers on the Citadel had commenced. Chorban was still working on the data but what he found thus far was astonishing. His invention and development of the scanner and his research was the primary reason Shepard had recruited him. And so far he had been a valuable member of the science crew. One Liara came to rely on.

And it was he that Liara had gone to when she came up with an idea to challenge Lawson. They had the bait yes and there was no question that for that alone Lawson would come for them. And her bondmate had ensured the Cerberus bitch knew it. But Liara wanted to push Lawson to the edge, into stupid and rash decisions. It was like sending small mass effect pulses into the water to tease and disorient the fraxon shark into becoming the prey rather than the hunter.

Liara longed to do more to the woman that represented the people who took her daughter. Her heart still ached for the flutter of Sparrow's touch. Absentmindedly her hand slipped to her empty womb where once she had felt the soft kicks of her child. The absence stabbed at her soul, the pain of the loss constant.

How ironic was it that Cerberus was as the humans say dogging their heels? Even as the Reapers were closing in about them these hunters were bound and determined to make an end of the very one who had any hope of stopping the monsters from the dark. The only one who could unify the races into a force great enough to destroy those that decimated the Protheans.

"We had our fun, now back to work." Liara said her tone had a surprisingly cool edge to it, which startled even the asari on hearing it aloud. "The footage we were given by the Flotilla concerning the attack on Freedom's Progress proves the Collectors are involved.

By now the crew had adapted to the idea that the Collectors were slave-servants to the Reapers. Now there was proof of the knowledge previously locked away in Shepard and (via the knowledge bond) Liara's minds.

"Collectors… sapient parasites…indoctrinated slaves." Chorban said. "How long before the indoctrination starts to fail due to mental instability just as it did with the Protheans?"

"It may have started already. In the memories of Regent Izu-Chuan we saw the unique weapon, something she called seekers. They are a major concern. They swarm upon colonies like locusts. They have been and are used to immobilize their prey. The Freedom Progress footage shows how effective this is. We need a way to combat it and the toxin they emote or we are already defeated."

"They are bio-engineered just like the keepers. It is safe to assume they were not constructs of the Collectors but the Reapers." Chorban had no issue believing the hypothesis. His own findings taken from the keeper scans proved as much. In fact it proved much more than that. He knew without a doubt, before Vigil's declaration that the Citadel wasn't really made by the Protheans. Before he knew the name Reapers he had determined via his scanning research the great space station was made by something far older than the enigmatic Protheans.

His quick mind surmised the keepers were introduced by the Reapers to be its organic custodians. Once more his independent project echoed what Shepard and her crew knew because of Ilos, the keepers were supposed to react to...something, some signal or something...about every fifty thousand years. He had documented that you can measure genetic variances; it's a bit like comparing rings on a tree to see the drought years.

Before Shepard recruited him he had sent his findings to the Council hoping to gain an audience. He wanted to prove to them what Shepard was saying was true. Around the last time this signal went off would be around the time the Protheans disappeared. And it was scheduled to go off sometime around the time of Sovereign's attack. Of course now he knew why it hadn't. Shepard had stopped it. By stopping the signal she had stopped the great mass relay that the Citadel was from opening and allowing thousands upon thousands of Reapers through. They could not engage in a war with the Reapers by conventional means.

"This is one of the nasty surprises I knew was coming. We must find away to shut them down. Or adapt our armor to withstand their attacks. So far none of the Prothean caches we discovered offer any true aid in that area. But I do have an idea, Dr. T'Soni."

"Lay it out."

"Integrated armor with subsonic frequencies to mask our bio-readings."

"Cloak us, like the Normandy's cloaking device? Are you certain?"

"Certainly difficult to make. But the upgrades should confuse detection. Making us invisible to swarms. Well in small numbers. In theory."

"In theory? That sounds promising." Lira said sardonically.

"Experimental technology. Only test is contact with seeker swarms."

"And if it fails, we lose more lives to the Collectors."

"Seekers seem only interested in humans. Left young quarian alone. I know quarian environmental suits. They are not set up to mask life signs unless geth involved. Investigated this prospect, used as a base to create shielding from seeker swarms. Also incorporated detection tech from keeper scanner. May have to send a non-human team to investigate."

"Shepard will never agree to that. She will assume responsibility and test the upgraded armor herself. If swarms are not interested in non-humans then how can we effectively test the upgrades?"

"Be easier if we had specimens to collect raw data from."

"We don't. We start making the prototypes with what data we have. Reversal of the keeper scanner's maybe the keystone, a place to start."

"Agreed." Chorban nodded.

"I wonder if it is not advisable to ask the Wereth'Bol for assistance."

Chorban's eyelids blinked. "Communication with them is difficult. They speak only to biotitics. Even then their language is circular."

"But they were created to destroy the machine devils, these seeker swarms may very well be the Reapers variant on our micro-allies. We must be open to ideas, Chorban even the smallest chance of hope of success is a chance worth investigating."

The salarian nodded. "I suppose you are correct. After all it was said to be impossible to scan the keepers and yet I invented a device that does. One must be able to test the boundaries of theoretical knowledge and accepted hypotheses. One of my professors was always fond of pushing scientific discovery. You'd like him, Dr. T'soni. His name was Mordun Sullus. Old for a salarian, past fifty!"

Liara was about to suggest they contact him, but upon hearing his name she recanted. "Then he passed?"

"Not at all. He has a clinic on Omega."

"Perhaps it is time for a reunion?" Liara prompted.

"I'll make the call, Doctor." Chorban smiled. "In any event it will be good to see him once more. Even if you have to put up with the Patter Song, while he works."

Liara's half frowned in curiosity. "The what?"

"He likes the human music of Gilbert and Sullivan." a three fingered hand rose in the air. "Don't ask."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

"Samantha, I must ask why are you truly going for Lawson?" Shiala asked of the Spectre after they had retreated into the captain's cabin. Shiala had expressed a desire to speak with Shepard in privacy, a wish the human had granted.

"To bring down the enemy you must first destroy their infrastructure. Miranda Lawson for Cerberus, the collectors for the Reapers. They will fall. They must fall."

"So this is only tactics? Nothing more?"

Shepard didn't care for the implied tone the newborn conversation was developing.

"Extrapolate." The single word became an order.

Shiala nodded her head once. "Then I shall speak freely either as your XO or as your _Orthori._ The role is irrelevant; the words will be the same. However I need to give you context."

Feeling this was going to be a long conversation, Shepard led the matron over to the sofas. Before sitting herself she went to the mini-fridge took out two high glucose energy drinks and a couple of protein bars. After PT drills Shepard was always a bit hungry, and her body needed refueling after extraneous use of her biotics. She had learned early on a little pick-me-up delayed any adverse reactions. The draining feeling was not unlike those experienced by someone with low blood-sugar. Being irritable and lethargic was something no soldier let alone the ships CO could ever afford.

Shepard sat down, tore open the protein bar and took a rather sizable bite from it. Asari recipes always seemed more palatable than the variety the Alliance military came up with. Shepard always found they had the consistency of gravel and tasted of old mildewed cardboard. For herself, Shiala opened the juice bottle and indulged into a long drink before she once more found her voice.

"The Lady Benezia would tell her acolytes, 'we are the sum of our actions; we can sow harmony or discord: Dissidence and harmony are a part of the same tree. Tyranny is just as dangerous coming from within as without. One must examine the source. Your abilities are so above those around you there is the temptation to set everything right by might alone. That is tyranny within. Soon you may come to realize that indirect action is too ineffectual. You may feel it necessary to enforce your will so the crime never takes place and you become the oppressor when all you wanted to do was to make things right. This too is tyranny within.'"

"Are you telling me I am in danger of becoming a tyrant or that I already am one?" Shepard set down the empty wrapper of the protein bar, her sapphire eyes smoldering with frozen fire challenging the asari.

"Read into my words what you want. What I am saying is that you changed things. There is no going back."

Shepard snapped, rising to her feet. "I am a Spectre, sworn to bring down evil, traitors, criminals, the enemies of Council space. Before that I served the Systems Alliance. I am an N-Seven marine. Until my dying breath I shall always be an N-Seven marine. What do you expect me to do, Shiala?"

"Endure. You can make a choice. No one can make you choose to do the right thing."

"The right thing?" she moved into the area behind the sofa that separated the loft from the 'living area' to the bed. "Cerberus is a force of pure terrorism; the right thing is to shut them down. They are malign. They need to be put down like the mad dogs they are."

"I wouldn't say that terrorism is malign, because I don't think any form of warfare is malign. I think it is atrocious." Shiala said with the perceptive wisdom of the Matriarch she would not be for another five hundred years. "But it's a peculiar that one form of warfare should be regarded suddenly as being not on."

"I will not allow Cerberus to go uncountable for their actions. I will not let them free to rampage. The Illusive Man is subtle deceitful creature. He is a cancer … a sprawling parasitical shadow deep in the heart of racism."

"I did not say you should allow them to go free."

"Your words circle on themselves, _Orthori."_ Her anger now under control, Shepard returned to the sofa and sat down heavily.

"I am not speaking of you. But your bondmate."

"Liara?"

"You know your beloved far more deeply than I, but I've known her for hundred and seven years, and I've known her mother far longer than that. The T'Sonis always pay their debts, and Liara has the temperament of her parents. The three of them, Benezia, Sha'ira and Aethyta. Especially Benezia and Aethyta. "

That gave Shepard pause.

"I've disrupted a deep thought. I can see it growing dimmer in your mind."

"I'd forgotten about Aethyta. Liara speaks of her only as muinthel_._"

Shiala sighed "That maybe. But you know she was the bondmate of Matriarch Benezia, Sha'ira the third in a trinity. The Consort was to Benezia what Ashley might have been to you and Liara. Mostly you. And when Benezia conceived so late in her matriarch years it was a risk, she was not as fertile as she might have been back in her matron years.

"She and Aethyta conceived of the idea of a trinity to insure Liara was created-a three way Joining. I believe that both the genetic memories of Aethyta and Sha'ira's lines can be traced to Liara. There are some movements, the way she carries herself that is very defiantly the Consort. And than there is the hidden rage that could only be Aethyta."

"Yeah I sorta started to notice that too. I assume you're going someplace with this." Shepard was still defensive as ever when it came to her bondmate.

I will attempt to explain. When I joined in a knowledge-bond with you, I learned quite a bit about you, Shepard. More perhaps than you desired me to know."

Shepard became guarded. "What did you learn?"

"All you knew was peripheral knowledge of the Spectres. They answered only to themselves, laws and regulations did not govern them. It was a drastic switch for a child raised by naval officers. You were granted early enrollment for enlistment. Records show you were eighteen, when in fact you were five months shy of your birth date.

"Apparently the marines allowed it to slide, perhaps because of your mother, perhaps because of your own inherent talents. I know that you didn't care; all that concerned you was ensuring you did your duty. That you were a _Shepard_ your mother's daughter. not Sheppard that would mark you as your father's child. You hold with near desperation to remain true and honest to your conscience and to the high code of honor you set for yourself. To be a guardian, a protector.

"In short order your service to the Alliance changed when you become a Spectre. The Alliance had no intention of allowing you to slip free from their command and yet you had. You chose to remain with the Spectres rather than your career with the Alliance Military, with the N-Sevens. Something you still take enormous pride in, and in fact you're quite protective in case someone dishonor the legacy. "

"That's common knowledge." Shepard said dismissively, relaxing a bit.

"On the surface yes, but what isn't common knowledge it that you fear to waver from the path you set yourself, you fear the dark within. That fear motivates almost all your actions. You keep the _dark_ incarcerated. "

Shepard's teeth ground against each other. That was not common knowledge. Though it did explain the strange expression Shiala held after the bond was severed. Shepard had always believed it was because she had assumed Shiala had never melded with a human before. Now it was much clearer. Separating her thoughts from that moment Shepard said: "What did you learn of Benezia or Saren when you linked with them? You _did_ learn something or why drag this out?"

"Of Saren? The birth of his hate for humans. Yes his brother was killed by humans during the First Contact War. But what is not exactly known is how General Desolas Arterius died. It involved a relic and three humans. Two males: Jack Harper, Ben Hislop and a female Eva Coré."

Shepard's mind pounced. "Relic? What sort of relic?"

"At the time I don't think they truly knew what had, they related to the legend of the Valluvian Priests. But after Sovereign, Saren knew it to be Reaper. It changed all three of them, Desolas, Harper and Hislop. And a dozen of others were all altered, like Saren was at the end."

Desperation flashed in the human's eyes. "What else? There has to be something more!"

"There is no doubt, but I do not know it. The transfer of knowledge is accidental save for Matriarch Benezia and what she deliberately gave me."

"And what was that?"

"Liara never knew her siring parents until the day of her mother's funeral when your mother forced Sha'ira to step up and reveal her identity. Benezia…was a strong woman, with a strong mind. She was capable of sealing a part of herself away even from Sovereign, but she allowed me to see that which she hid for a hundred and six years. Perhaps because a part of her regretted sending me to what would have been my death, one I volunteered for. Had it not been for you, it would have been. Matriarch Benezia gave to me the greatest of all knowledge."

The pit of Shepard's stomach churned.

"I told you once before the T'Sonis have a fierce anger in them that is slow to burn out. If a T'soni sinks her teeth into her quarry they will tear it apart, not unlike the shark. You saw it with Matriarch Benezia and it killed her. Do not allow Liara's anger to overcome her. For it will, until she is blind to all else, even you.

"The scientists say that gaining traits from our siring parent is drivel, but Liara's siring parents….are both outspoken and stubborn, and has been known to rebel against the norm. And each of them holds a unique wisdom, a gift of words that some choose not to listen to, many have not. It was the reason both of them left Thessia. One is simply more refined in going about how she handles things, people events happening around her than the other. But both are very much very similar. It is why Benezia chose them.

"Liara has that gift, she too has rebelled against the norm, or else she would not have become an archeologist, continued digging in old ruins in solitude, isolated from kith and kin for decades. When you capture this Miranda Lawson, Shepard….either Liara's rage or her isolationism will gain the better of her if you allow it. You cannot."

"They killed our child! Her rage is more than justified!" Shepard snapped.

"It is, Spectre. But at what cost? Her soul's peace, the children yet to come, your love for one another? Remember the fate of Ksad Ishan…Vigil. Her rage destroyed it, until there was naught left but slag. She did not think, she reacted. To save you yes, but she did not hesitate. Rage consumed her.

"Let true justice not vengeance be served. You intend to confront Lawson with the vid you had Tali create and then have her answer accusations with Oriana listening. And if all goes according plans that girl will by youthful impetuousness face Lawson and demand more answers. Seeing her younger sister, knowing she saw the vid and heard the denials that surely will follow will crush Lawson's spirit, allowing you to get into her mind."

"Yes, that is the intention."

"Do you think Liara will allow Lawson to live? Do you think she will forgive you if you allow another traitor to slip away with her life as Merkson had? You eased that travesty, with the knowledge that Stevenson was going to be executed and Merkson will never clap eyes on his get and will spend his life in prison. But Lawson is a pure representation of those that killed your child. Will you let Lawson go after this? Can you?"

"Lawson will not be freed. She will go to prison."

"Please tell me you are not as naive to actually believe that! Cerberus will never allow it. And by sending Lawson to prison you will condemn many more to death. Cerberus will send another agent, an assassin to free her. This assassin or possibly more will come after us of course. We are prepared to face them; after all it is a specialty of asari commandos. And the flagship team will never allow them success. Question is how far are you willing to go to protect this Lawson woman from a Cerberus assassin or your bondmate?"

Shepard turned from her mentor to cast her eyes upon the aquarium. Its blue light cast an eerie glow to her caramel skin. "Do you know when I dream, I no longer dream as a human? As my true self? I dream in the thoughts and the voices and memories of the Protheans. When I dream at all and am not just plagued by nightmares."

"Tell me."

"What can I tell you that you don't already know? You are haunted by these same dreams and more."

Shiala nodded "You already know I suffer as I did when I was under the thorian's control, with the headaches and muscle spasms. I fear if I were back on Faros I'd be sharing these sensations with other Thorian victims."

Shepard nodded. But Shiala suffered far more.

"My dreams are vivid from my time with the thorian, not just the cipher. Then there is the changing of my skin pigment. Aleena deliberately changed hers to go undercover. Me…." the matron did not need to finish the sentence.

Shepard's eyes became soft and saddened. It had barely begun but as soon as Shiala noticed her normal purple skin was changing she sought medical attention. Now she was starting to match the deliberate cosmetic changes Aleena had undergone in order to disguise herself. Doctor Chakwas and Aleena suspected Shiala's affliction might be due to trace amounts of spores still present within her body. Dr. Volkhavaar assured both mother and Spectre that Shiala's daughter was not in danger. However there was the theory that fetus was partially responsible for the matron's contrition. By the time Shiala's daughter was born the mother would be green just as her clones had been.

Shepard had been pulled in to the medbay and given the full details. At the time Shiala had offered to resign and remain in an advisory role only. Which meant Ash would have to retake the position as XO. Before the Spectre made the decision she had to know the details, was the matron's illness making her incapable of performing the duties as Normandy's executive officer. The answer was no. Was she comfortable with remaining as the XO? The answer was yes. Shepard's response was as long as Shiala wished to remain in her position, it was hers. And so Shiala remained at her post.

"And there's more. It is not my pregnancy that stops me from fully training you; my biotics have become more unstable. I dare not use them."

"Shiala…."

"No. Please. Say nothing. There is nothing that can be done." What she didn't say was nothing that could be willingly done. Abortion was utterly out of the question. Even if the fetus could be extracted alive and placed in an artificial womb, the procedure was exceptionally risky. It was a risk Shiala was utterly unwilling to take.

"Your Prothean dreams." the asari changed the direction of the conversation. "You were already suffering from nightmares before the cipher. Once you gained the memories your nightmares and dreams became far more vivid. I dare say as vivid as mine."

"Haunted by dreams from memories not your own. Yeah that can screw with your mind. Waking and in those first few moments your words are your own but not in their delivery." Shepard snorted dismissively. "Well maybe yours, but certainly not mine. I'm not typically an eloquent speaker. Inspiring the troops to march is one thing, being the more continuously loquacious sort is another."

"Says the woman with the silver tongue." Shiala responded in the same dry humor. "But I know what you speak of. Feeling the words issue out of your mouth and knowing they are not fully your own. It is much like being locked away in Reaper indoctrination, though it is not."

"It's more like prothean indoctrination." it was a repetition of words, Shepard had said before on a central theme of her worry that she was influenced by the shades of the protheans.

"T'is only the memories, your thoughts are still your own, Shepard. Be mindful my friend, turmoil lingers and it will as long as you hunt Cerberus. Their glowering shadow takes form; they watch your actions ceaselessly. They are not so mighty yet that they are above fear. Doubt ever gnaws at them. They fear you Samantha, fear what you've become. Their slaves strike hard and fast against the worlds of non-humans. The attacks on the quarian fleet and the quarian boy on the human colony and countless others are the proof, and they will not stop.

"Cerberus will use their puppet Udina to destroy any alliance between our peoples. They mean to make a shadow war; you will be forced to defend your union with Liara-to extension with the asari to the masses of humanity. For they whisper in the dark you no longer know the color of your blood. Cerberus and Udina are tightening the noose. But for all their cunning, we have one advantage; we have the deep secrets of the Protheans. They may know we possess it, they may even suspect that we use it to save all organic lives. What may not have entered their minds that you will even see those who wish your fall saved from the Reapers.

"But first save your bondmate from herself, Samantha. Do not allow the darkness of her rage to overcome her. Do not allow it overcome you."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEME

_AN:1 I know in previous chapter I gave Oriana the family Baldwin but I changed it due to the trivia notes on Miranda where her last name was going to be Solheim due to the blonde look but TPTB changed it to Lawson. So I changed Oriana's last name to pay homage to what would have been Miranda's name. And did a bit of editing myself with pervious chapters fixing some errors and continuity issues and to change a few things to coincide with what we all know is in ME3._

_AN2: Veetor's torture adapted from Ascension. With Shepard not on Freedoms Progress, there was no one to stop Cerberus. Jacob fans…not to worry…._

_AN3 yes I have done some revising. in past chapters as well to reflect things in cannon. _


	47. Harvest

Chapter 47: Harvest

Omega.

For something that was supposed to be the ending of things, it sure as hell had birthed a great deal of beginnings. Blue Sun slavers harvesting humans for the Collectors, Cerberus agents lurking about, a plague in the Kokomo Plaza. And now the presence of a Council Spectre on the hunt. That was far too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence. They were all linked that was blatantly obvious. The Question was - how?

The Collectors came, and then the Cerberus agent not long after she left a plague broke out. The logical leap was to assume Cerberus had something to do with the plague that had no affect on humans. There was a small part of Aria's mind that wondered if Lawson had been here to set the plague in motion or to simply oversee those who were to incite the epidemic or observe the onset of its early stages and report back to her master the Illusive Man?

And now a Council Spectre had set foot in the Pirate Queen's dominion. Not any Spectre but none other than Shepard. The Hero of Elysium and Eden Prime, the Saviour of the Citadel, was coming here. Her daughter murdered within the womb of her bondmate by Cerberus. Aria understood that kind of retribution, anyone touched Liselle or any of her other daughters, she wouldn't stop until her vengeance was sated. She didn't begrudge the Spectre a bit of payback; hell the Pirate Queen was feeling generous enough to even point Shepard in the right direction.

Aria wasn't a bit surprised when Sanak came back mumbling the human Spectre was impertinent, insufferably arrogant and pretentious, but then again she was human. They were all like that. Like many batarians, Sanak despised humans for simply being human. Aria thought it short sighted, it was like assuming krogan were all slow witted and blood thirsty. Of course those that said that never held discourse with a female, especially one of their clan leaders. Sanak was hired for his ability to follow orders, not hold a dialogue.

Aria T'Loak knew she would not wait long before Shepard came to her court. They all eventually obeyed the summoning. No doubt the young human wanted to get a feel for the land as it were. Typically she and her entourage, in this Dr. T'Soni, in fact Normandy's flagship ground team were with her in addition to a squad of asari commandos. What did take Aria a bit by surprise was the appearance of her younger sister, Aleena. Of course she was in disguise, her beautiful violet skin was green, as were her eyes, but it was Aleena. When the Pirate Queen first heard that Aleena had been 'taken care of' she had assumed her sister to be dead. Seeds of vengeance began to take root, but then her network of informants said they thought they had seen someone matching Aleena's description but they weren't quite sure. And now Aria knew why. This caused T'Loak to become increasingly curious, not only by Shepard but why her sister seemed to be truly devoted to the human. Because once Aleena was outed to be a bounty hunter the smart course would have been to terminate the threat. So why hadn't Shepard? Did she see an opportunity in Aleena, or had Aleena seen something in the human?

The Pirate Queen's mind circled back to the Collectors presence on Omega. Were they somehow connected to the Reapers, the human Spectre was always ranting about? Aria knew from Tevos that the Council had completely dismissed Shepard's claims that Sovereign was a vanguard of a race of sentient starships that had previously wiped out the Protheans and other uplifted sentients of their cycle. The Council maintained it was a geth dreadnought, yes they may have repurposed a derelict Reaper ship, just as many races had done with Prothean finds. But it was no monster from beyond dark space bent on the extinction of all organic life.

But there was cause to wonder. The Collectors wanted human subjects, in fact with reports on the human population of various colonies including Earth, they wanted them all. For what purpose? Whatever it was, it was going to be big, and if it was going to be big, Shepard was going to be deeply involved.

It was already big. Collectors harvesting human slaves, a highly contagious and lethal plague that doesn't afflict humans, Cerberus on location and now Shepard on the hunt. There was always something going on, on Omega.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

"Shepard, before you meet with Aria there is a few things you should know about her. As I said before I ran with her crew a century or so ago, I know how she operates." Aleena whispered pulling Shepard into an alleyway away from prying eyes and inquisitive ears. "You've met a number of matriarchs, right?

"Yeah, Councilor Tevos, Sha'ira the consort on the Citadel, Matriarch Lidanya commander of the _Destiny Ascension_, a few others who presided over the decision to allow me to take the Great Hunt, and for a moment Matriarch Benezia when she escaped Sovereign's indoctrination. Why?"

"Because Aria is absolutely nothing like them. And she'll use your expectations of matriarchs against you. Trust me. Talk to her as your normal self Shepard, not like you're addressing one of your admirals. Give her respect but don't pander. And for the love of the goddess don't address her as Matriarch!"

A bemused grin teased the corners of Shepard's lips. "Anything else I should know?"

"She's my sister."

Shepard snapped her mouth closed with a click of her teeth. "What?"

"We are sisters."

"Wait a minute Aleena; I thought you said your elder sister was a CEO of a major operation out here in the Terminus Systems."

"I'd say Omega is a major operation."

"Don't get coy with me now, Aleena." Shepard snapped. "Your sister is the fracking Pirate Queen and you didn't think this is information I needed to know? Tell me why I shouldn't just dump your ass on this station?"

"No good reason why you shouldn't." the bounty hunter said. "You are beginning to think in the ways of the enemy, you no longer need my counsel. That being said, I am more of an asset on your crew than left behind. Should you allow me to stay I will continue my role and I will do that which you can not do."

"What is that?" The Spectre was now nose to nose with the bounty hunter.

"Allow the dark-within out of its prison. Yours is still incarcerated; you struggle to keep it there. Even if you touched it, tempted it, you have not fully embraced it. But mine has long escaped the internal penal system. I have learned to use it indiscriminately when I need to, as my sister does. You need not with yours. You may keep your scruples fully intact.

"Aria raised me since I was a young maiden, after our mother was murdered by one of the Dantius sisters. I learned how to harness my biotics to become a huntress. She gave me a code to follow. You don't kill children, or pregnant women. Keep innocents out of the line of fire when you can. A grateful innocent can be a commodity to later harvest. Make sure you take a trophy or two to show your strength when it is questioned or doubted.

"Use all skills at your command and exploit every expectation your enemy has against them. Convert those you can to your cause, neutralize those you can not. Neutralization isn't always death. Dignity is a commodity many covet and in the dark reaches of the galaxy it is a commodity very few have. When you have it, wield it as a blade against those that do not. Think like a woman of action; act as a woman of thought.

"She taught me that sometimes it is better to disappear than be forced to kill someone." Aleena's voice became soft, wistful lost in the past.

In its hearing Shepard turned her attention to Wrex who was bartering or to put a finer point to it bickering with a batarian merchant at the Omega markets. Shepard recalled the asari and old battlemaster had been more than old friends, they had been lovers. And rather than finish the mission to kill each other on that old salarian space station because of the contract a volus diplomat held, Aleena had disappeared. Though not without the fleeting taunt. 'Better luck next time.'

"Your sister thinks I killed you." The Spectre said. "I boasted as much."

Aleena shook her head. "All you said was that I was 'taken care of' yes it plants seeds of the assumption you killed me, which was why you worded it that way, was it not?"

To that Shepard nodded.

"As for Aria's thoughts, I 'took care of that'. I allowed a few reports slip for her eyes only that I'm alive under your command albeit undercover. You can count on her playing on it though, just to see if you squirm. Aria isn't unreasonable, in fact quite the opposite. And she will make for a very very powerful ally. She responds well to a more witty-sarcastic charm, up to a point. Be clever but don't be belligerent. And …no overt military bravado, that will be one of the quickest and surest ways to irritate her."

"Right. Got it. I can pull out the charm on this one." Shepard smirked.

"I surely hope so. Be witty but not flirty. If you get her to warm up a bit, she may even let you in on a few things."

"Like what?" Shepard couldn't help the intrigue that crept into her voice.

"Like answers to questions about herself. Information is a very prized commodity to hold. Or better yet access to a few of her resources which is even more of a prize."

"It is indeed." Shepard said, her eyes were drawn to her bondmate.

For a small moment Sam entertained the idea that Liara being some sort of information broker would be a hell of a lot safer than roaming the galaxy with her on the hunt to stop Cerberus, going after the Collectors and diving into the fray against the Reapers. But when it came to Liara, Sam Shepard was ultimately a selfish woman; she wanted her beloved with her. Liara gave her strength to face any enemy, including the Reapers. A bit of a cliché but it was the truth all the same. Liara T'Soni was her heart.

Liara felt the tingle of the bond. She turned with a warm sweet smile upon her face as she met the blue eyes of her beloved. '_I know your thoughts my heart. Even if I were to become the Shadow Broker, I'd spin my web aboard the _Normandy_, though I may have to ask Tali to create one of her drones to act as my assistant. I will not leave you, Samantha. Vanquish such thoughts from that stubborn mind of yours_.'

Sam couldn't help but smile. _'Yes dear.'_

'_Oh very funny, Shepard. I now know the context of that phrase.'_

'_It was Joker wasn't it?'_

'_You believe I'd make a good information broker? I know I'd be a very __**good**__ information broker_.'

'_Thinking of a career change, T'Soni?'_

'_It is tempting.'_

'_Hmm…my bondmate the next Shadow Broker… One enemy at a time my love. Let's not get too ambitious.' _

'_Still, I can use the contacts my mother harvested over the centuries as my own sources. If you need an information broker, you need but say.' _

'_Liara, if you're serious about branching out, go for it. We need all the angles we can get if we are going to defeat the Reapers. But seriously you want to do this I'll back you Angel Eyes."_

'_This is a discussion for later, My Heart. For now concentrate on the Pirate Queen. Heed Aleena's words concerning Aria. Treat her as a matriarch without treating her as a matriarch.'_

'_How the hell do I do that?'_

'_Do what you do best. Make it up as you go along.'_

'_Meaning I should improvise. Phft, child's play.'_

Liara laughed aloud causing more than a few heads to turn in her direction.

Their conversation lasted a moment but long enough for the bounty hunter to catch on to what that the Spectre and Prothean Expert were doing. "Yeah, I'd keep that little trick to yourselves for now." Aleena said drawing Shepard's full attention back to her.

"Hey, relax I know how to play poker" Shepard's voice carried a hint of arrogance to it.

"So does Aria. And right now you need to be the ray, not the shark."

Shepard frowned not catching the inference. "What?"

"Nevermind. Look do with Aria as you did with me before you knew what allegiance I held and you'll be fine more than that you'll gain her respect. And that is a commodity definitely worth having."

"What role do you intend to play in this, Aleena?" Shepard asked.

"I go in cloaked, avoid her men, but be there at your side, watching. Get her to give you a private audience, I pull the reveal and Aria suddenly becomes a little more interested in your overall mission. Like I said she's a commodity worth having and when you go up against the Reapers, you'll want her on your side. People you'd never expect pay her a great deal of respect. You're going to want those connections. I can help crack open the door but it will be up to you to open it all the way. Aria won't do it for me, even as her sister and if you use my connection that door will slam shut faster than getting spaced through a hull breach."

"I got it." Shepard said. "Alright come on, step two. We'll hit the markets later. Mustn't keep Her Majesty waiting after all."

There was a massive line outside the doors to Afterlife. All of them waiting to get in some hopefuls tried dropping the name of the Pirate Queen to the elcor gatekeeper claiming that Aria was waiting for them. Of course this tactic didn't work.

When Shepard approached the double doors she was clearly identified. "Go in Shepard, Aria is waiting for you," a batarian bouncer said opening the doors to the night club to the Spectre and her entourage.

The passageway was meant to look perhaps like the gates of hell. Holographic fires burned along the bulkheads which cast a gloomy if not damning ruby haze.

"Homey." Tali jibbed. "It sorta has this whole infernal thing going."

"Yeah, I was going to decorate the Loft like this but hellfire is _so_ last year." Shepard grinned.

"I'll put up with your toy ships and dolls but I draw the line holographic flames." Liara said in a wifely tone.

"For the last time they are NOT dolls! They are action figures! Mint condition, and I might add, still in their boxes. They were given to me by that shopkeeper on Elysium if you recall. And I don't play with toy ships; they are models-perfect miniature replicas. Putting them together isn't play, it's micro-engineering skills at work. Putting them together builds up one's patience. And besides you have those weird-ass cabbages from Ilos…you don't see me calling you a hobbyist botanist because you tinker around with those things."

"My 'cabbages' are safely sealed in a hydroponics container. I do not tinker, I nurture."

"Uh-ha."

Ash, Garrus and Wrex all looked at one another and started chuckling. Tali actually snorted behind her mask. And there was a ghostly snicker somewhere off to Liara's left.

"What?" Both Liara and Shepard said in unison, each possessing a rather befuddled expression on their faces which caused only more laughter amongst the others.

"Nothing Skipper." Ash grinned. "Just thinking how married you two sound."

Maybe because we are?" Sam shot back.

"Honestly do none of you have nothing better to do than to torment us?" this came from Liara.

"No." Wrex's lips pulled back in to a crocodilian smile.

"Oh come now," Garrus's mandibles flickered in a turian's equivalent of a smirk.

"You're not trying to deprive us of living vicariously by your matrimonial bliss are you?"

"I do believe we are the butt of a joke, Samantha." Liara huffed.

"At least you're catching on, Doc." Wrex barked out laughing. "You're not the easy target you used to be."

They were all still chuckling when a group of batarians decided it was a good idea to get into Shepard's path. "Whatta' you lookn at human?" He was surrounded by six others all armed with shotguns and heavy pistols. And most of them were drunk.

Behind her Ash silently withdrew her pistol, Garrus, Wrex and Tali their shotguns. Liara and Shepard's bodies glowed cyan. Well hidden under the cloaking device, Aleena was prepared to act if required.

*Pirate world, pirate rules.* the bounty hunter whispered into the Spectre's earpiece.

Time to bring out the nasty. The dark headed Spectre nodded in understanding.

"Are you that fucking stupid?" Shepard spat stepping forward. "You blind in all four of your eyes?" she sent out a small pulse that sent Leader stumbling back into his cronies. "Don't you see how well armed we are, and I'm not talking about the firepower at my back."

The leader teetered forwarded, his hand reaching for his gun but in his drunken stupor his hand slipped twice before he got a hold of the butt of his gun.

"Our mistake," one in the back said. Even drunk he was smart enough to pull back.

"Boss, I say we let these ones go." another with only three eyes said.

"Yeah alright. You're off the hook for now, human." the leader sneered.

"Oh you're generous." Shepard said facing the leader, sarcasm dripping from her lips.

"You trying to be funny or somethin'?" Boss Man sneered.

"No. Council Spectres don't have a sense of humor that I'm aware of." Shepard grinned.

Behind her Shepard heard her team snickering. They didn't let up on the hold on their guns but they all saw the fight go out of the batarian hoodlums.

One in back grabbed Boss Man's arm and shook it, "We want no trouble from a Spectre."

"They gots no jurisdiction here." Boss Man burbled, his speech slurring due to the amount of alcohol he had guzzled down.

"Spectres don't have to follow the rules, even Aria's. They go after their quarry like a rabid varren. Smart thing; don't get between her and her prey Boss, lest you become her prey." Three Eyes pointed out.

"She's trying to make me the fool!" Boss Man groused. "Human scum!"

"You don't need any help from me, four man." Shepard shot back almost benignly.

"That's right!" Boss Man growled back puffing out his chest.

This caused the _Normandy_ crew to laugh and even a few of the batarians as well.

"Fuck you Spectre, you aint worth the effort." Boss Man attempted more bravo but even his men saw through the farce. Most decided to abandoned him to his fate if he was stupid enough to engage the wrath of a Council Spectre.

Deciding to ignore the man and his waning lackeys, Shepard led her team into the bar without so much as a backwards glance to the batarian thugs. The inner doors opened with a blast of techno music, the cacophony of voices trying to be heard over the pulsating rhythms.

Navigating through the throng of bodies was little different than any other nightclub Shepard had been to, well save here there were far more guns. Finding Aria's 'audience chamber' wasn't that difficult. It was the one balcony that offered the spectacular view of the entire night club. It also has a small squad of guards. One on either side of the first stairwells, another pair on the second landing and four more along Aria's seat of power.

Behind her on raised platforms was double the guard's number in asari dancers. On the outside they were just was they seemed—strippers. But Shepard trusted her gut that said, they were far more than mere eye-candy-they were commando mercs and utterly devoted to their mistress. The threat you could see armed turians and batarians were one thing, they were the eye-candy. The true threat was the hidden weapon, the one you didn't suspect and thus came quite a shock to you when you ended up on the wrong side of Death via a warp-field flung at you so hard it ripped out your spine.

Presiding over all of them was the woman herself. Aria T'Loak. Her back was turned to Shepard a clear sign she did not consider the Spectre to be a threat, and she wanted Shepard to know it.

"That's close enough." Aria's voice was strong, commanding and brooked no room for disobedience.

There was a part of Shepard that reflected back to her first meeting with the Consort, even the words were the same. She too had her back to the newly minted Spectre not out of a show of prowess but something much different. It was as if the matriarch was attempting to read Shepard without her eyes getting in the way of what she saw. Odd now that Shepard was reflecting she realized Benezia had done the same thing. Her back turned to the human when she first spoke about being a mother. The Spectre's hindbrain locked away the curious behavior of the matriarchs to question Shiala later; right now her full attention had to be on the Game she was playing with T'Loak.

There was a minuscule nod of her violet head. An action that prompted immediate action by one of the batarians in the upper floor.

"Stand still." Garlak activated his omni tool but he no more than took a step in Shepard's direction when her team all drew their weapons. Which in turn caused Aria's men to draw their own arms.

"Try it and you'll be scanning from the inside of your colon." Shepard's voice dropped an octave.

Aria laughed, she actually laughed at the comment. "I'd actually pay to see that. But regardless no one talks to me without getting scanned."

Shepard turned to the batarian. If there was one race she despised most it was the batarians. After hearing what they had done at Mindoir when she was sixteen, the darkest part of her believed they got what they deserved at Tofan under Major Kyle's butchery. Her loathing for them went deeper after the Skillian Blitz.

After what they were going to do at Terra Nova, there was a part of Shepard that agreed with Williams when the younger woman had once said at the time: 'if the Reapers want to wipe out an entire race let if be the four eyed honourless slavering mongrels. They're nothing more than dirty-rotten cockroaches.' For herself, Shepard resented having allowed that mother-fucker Balak go free, but the lives of the hostages were far more important. She'd catch up to him one day and then he'd answer for his crimes.

Shepard tilted her head to the left as she spoke knowing it was a great insult to the batarians. "If you're looking for weapons, you're not doing a very good job." she pulled out her pistol before flaring her body in dark energy.

"Spectres on Omega…that catches attention." Aria said. "You can't be too careful. That could be anyone wearing your face."

"I was told you were the one to talk to if I had questions." Shepard dismissed the male before her as insignificant, again a subtle insult to his batarian pride.

Garlak's lips pulled back into a jowly snarl of contempt that he dare not allow to be heard in his voice when he spoke to T'Loak. "They're clean."

Only then did Pirate Queen turned around, she swaggered the three steps separating her from the Spectre. "That depends on the question." Aria answered glibly.

"You run Omega?"

Aria chuckled. Clearly amused she turned once more with her arms outstretched as if to indicate the entirety of the space station. "I am Omega!" she slowly spun on the balls of her feet facing the Spectre, and looked up from under hooded eyelids. "But you need more. Everyone needs more something. And they all come to me. I'm the boss, CEO, Queen…if you're feeling dramatic." Her voice became almost a dismissive whisper, "It doesn't matter. Omega has no titled ruler and only one rule." She slinked to the leather sofa, crossed her legs seductively and with the hands in her lap, her lips pulled into a smile. "Don't fuck with Aria."

Shepard grinned back "I like it. Simple. Easy to remember."

Aleena was right Aria was not your typical matriarch. She never heard those she had met use profanity before, especially not human profanity. That moment of shock was exactly what the Pirate Queen was going for. It was exactly what Aleena had warned Shepard about.

"If you forget there is always someone to remind you." T'Loak shot back giving a pointed look to Garlak.

"And I send your sorry ass out the nearest airlock," Garlak growled.

"No one spoke to you four man!" Wrex snarled getting into the batarian's face. He knew how this Game was played. It was a bloody pissing contest between the lackeys not the principles. "Our boss lady talks to the Queen here and you bugger off like a good little muzzled junkyard varren and we like her good pets keep our distance." With that he smacked his head hard against the batarian, sending Garlak stumbling back

"You fucking shellback!" Garlak leapt up but was stilled by a single shake of the asari's head.

"Show Shepard's people to the bar." she flicked her hand, again a show of her 'royal' demeanour. "Their first round is on the house. Make sure they have at least two more."

Wrex bowed his head to the Pirate Queen then to Shepard before turning and leaving the dais, he was slowly followed by the others. Only Liara hesitated.

Aria's lips curled into a smile. She had known Wrex from long ago when he and her sister had been one time lovers. She even liked the old krogan. With a nod of her head, the Pirate Queen gestured for Shepard and Liara to sit next to her on the sofa. The Spectre did so making sure she pushed past the batarian as if he were nothing but a bit of furniture in her way. Garlak of course had no choice but to obey his mistress. He had clearly been dismissed.

"So what can I do for you, Spectre?" The Pirate Queen said as if the earlier scene had not taken place.

"One scan and we're down to business?" Shepard said taking her seat. She relaxed with one arm over the back of the sofa and her left leg resting top of her right in a figure four, less refined than the asari but just as much at ease.

Liara sat as poised as she had been when she was first in the comm-room aboard the first _Normandy_ a year ago. Only this time she sat very close to Shepard, so close in fact their legs were touching. Sheer display on the scientist's part and one that amused Aria. 'Maidens are always so possessive of their first lover. Not even a matron yet and she's claimed a bondmate.'

"Spectres only come to Omega if they want something. Bodies, goods or leads. Your role in bringing down Saren, Sovereign and the geth was note worthy. I'm curious, but Omega doesn't really care who you are, Shepard." Aria said watching the couple closely. It seemed a little odd to her that it was the maiden T'Soni and not Shepard that bristled however subtle at the slur.

She would not allow it to show but there was some actual concern within T'Loak's mind over Shepard's presence. She was by now the most iconic Spectre the Council had. She was a message that was evidently clear. The Pirate Queen ruled Omega with an iron fist. Her influence stretched far beyond the station, delving deep into the Terminus Systems and beyond even that. It went deep into Council space, with agents on the Citadel and the Council itself.

Omega was well beyond the jurisdiction of the Council but it wouldn't stop them from sending a Spectre for her. The agents of Special Tactics and Reconnaissance were not bound by treaties, laws that shaped intergalactic policy. She knew if the Council truly discovered how deeply involved Aria was in events on the Citadel they would send a Spectre to assassinate her. And who better to send than the one who killed their best agent? Did Shepard realize she was a message? Aria was patient and careful. She had lived well over a thousand years, that was not a feat you accomplished by exposing yourself. And so she waited. She listened. And she tested.

In Shepard's ear piece, Aleena whispered. *Let her have this one, she gave you the last move with the bastered Garka.*

"I need an empty warehouse. Or something like it." The Spectre said as if she had not just been insulted.

Of all the things Shepard could have asked for, Aria had not expected that. She didn't show it but she was taken by surprise. And that didn't happen often. "Why?"

"Staging ground to entrap a Cerberus agent."

"Cerberus?" Aria shifted in her seat a little. Now things were getting interesting. Though she wasn't a bit surprised that Shepard was hunting Cerberus. But did she know one of their agents had already been here? "An ambitious target. What else do you want from me?"

"Nothing." Shepard said honestly.

T'Loak wasn't buying it. "No. You want me to _do_ nothing, which is very different from nothing."

"So it is. Very well I want you to _do_ nothing."

"And if I do this…nothing, what do I gain from it?"

"The deep gratitude of a Council Spectre. From what I hear gratitude is a commodity worth banking."

Aria looked past Shepard's right shoulder to the exact spot Aleena was standing, still very much cloaked.

"Indeed." The Pirate Queen conceded the point. Or rather the inference Shepard had made that Aleena was somehow her adviser. Yes it was a leap of logic but it was…well…logical. Once more it seemed from the Spectre's tone of voice that she wanted Aria to know that her sister was taking such a role. "And if I do something?"

"Then you will not have the deep gratitude of a Council Spectre."

Aria was actually starting to like this human. "Tell me your plan, and I will let you know if I will _do_ nothing."

"It's already in motion. The agent is coming here, no doubt about that. I'm here out of a courtesy to you, mm" she almost said matriarch but stopped herself in time. "I have no intention of causing a…_disturbance _within your dominion without letting you know about it. But it will happen. I rather it did in a controlled location to avoid in unnecessary violence that might otherwise touch the innocent."

Again, Aria caught the thinly veiled reference of her teachings to her sister. "This is more than a strike of vengeance against the death of your daughter." She lifted her green eyes not to Shepard, or the cloaked Aleena but to Liara.

Shepard nodded. "It is. I need answers; to get them I need the agent alive. Overzealous minions can get you friendly fucked. I'd rather avoid that."

Aria chuckled. "Yes they can. Very well Shepard, I will _do_ nothing. For now. As you said gratitude is a commodity worth banking. I'll give you a nav-point location on your omni-tool for your little battle. How you get there is your own problem. Now is there anything else?"

Shepard contemplated asking more of Aria. Asking her not to become involved in police action against Cerberus had been a coupe but how much more could she push the Pirate Queen of Omega? Shepard had never been one to back down when the odds were not in her favor, and she wasn't actually disfavored by T'Loak.

"Actually yes. I'm looking for a Professor Mordin Solus" Shepard said decisively.

"The salarian doctor? Last I heard he was trying to help plague victims in the quarantine zone. I always liked Mordin." Her words were followed by a smile that actually generated warmth, unlike the previous expressions which were far more cool. "He is as likely to heal you as shoot you."

"What can you tell me about him?" Shepard asked still sitting back and relaxed.

Liara leaned forward watching the older asari's body language, Aleena was right her sister was quite unlike the matriarchs she knew. It was almost as if she was still in the middle of her matron stage. When Aria shifted her body to lean closer to Shepard, Liara noted that Solus truly did have the Pirate Queen's attention and admiration. She cut a glance back to her bondmate and noticed that Shepard had picked up on the subtle shift of weight in T'Loak's body and the tone of which she spoke.

"He used to be apart of the salarian Special Tasks Group. He's brilliant and dangerous." Aria returned to her more dismissive pose. "Just don't get him talking. He never shuts up." Her head turned to study the Spectre. "If you really need to find him, take a shuttle to the quarantine zone. No guarantee they will let you in of course."

'_I doubt asking her to let us in will be a good idea_.' Liara sent

'_Yeah I got that. Don't worry, I'm not going to press her further. We've clearly been dismissed. She's nearly as cool as Tevos when she said "Don't let me detain you." It doesn't matter we got what we came here for.'_

Aloud Shepard said: "Thanks for the information." she stood up as did Liara preparing to go but Arias voice shot out.

"Yes, well just try not to bring the plague back with you." there was an unmistakable razor's edge to the voice.

"What kind of plague is this?" Shepard dared to push the boundaries of what had been a fairly cordial discourse.

"Visceral. And if I'm right, and I always am, it was made in a laboratory. Perhaps the sort of laboratory Cerberus has. Humans so far have not been afflicted. It makes one wonder if the humans _are_ responsible or if they were _meant_ to look responsible.

"I have faith in Mordin's capabilities to find a cure. Until then I've ordered the area to be cordoned off and all bodies burned until the plague passes, Mordin cures it or the Blue Suns kill everyone. Either way the problem will be resolved."

"Effective and prudent but I need Mordin." Shepard pressed.

"Why he so important to you? I know it can't be for your Cerberus trap, you wanted him as the professor, not the STG agent he used to be."

*I wouldn't tell her everything.* Aleena uttered advice in the ear piece. *You've gained her favor but only just. Give her too much and you'll never have her respect, and then you will not have her resources when we need them.*

"Collectors are hitting human colonies out here in the Terminus. I will stop them. But I can not do it alone." Shepard responded seemingly divorcing herself from the words of caution Aleena had offered.

Aria's head snapped around, she knew the three events related collectors, Cerberus and the Spectre. Just as she knew the plague she knew lay at the feet of either the collectors or Cerberus. She wasn't discounting either one at this point. And she wasn't going to allow either to make such a trespass on her station. The arrival of the Spectre will work to her advantage. Young, naive enough to believe she could still live her life with her honor intact and that justice had true meaning. So very easy to manipulate if you placate that sense of duty, honor and justice.

"You're targeting not only Cerberus but the collectors as well? You are ambitious and foolish. The first is doable, the second means going through the Omega-Four relay. Are you truly mad enough to believe that is possible?" Aria scoffed. She watched the Spectre's reaction carefully. Committed idealists were always so easy direct, all she had to do plant the seeds and watch them take root.

"Many things are said to be impossible until they are done. They said going to Ilos was impossible and yet I did. And maybe I am mad. It's almost certainly a good thing because half the things I do probably wouldn't work otherwise."

Aria snorted an amused chuckle. "We shall see, Spectre. We shall see. If you are intent of doing the insanely impossible then by all means do so. I'm sure many eyes are watching with great interested anticipation to see if you will fall or you will rise above."

"The possibility of failure isn't an option I can afford to entertain. The collectors are connected to the Reapers. I don't know exactly how just yet but I will. I have to find someway to stop them. If it means doing crazy-ass things then I'll do crazy ass things like going thorough the Omega-Four relay. Right now it means going into a quarantine zone to recruit a scientist, so that's what I'm going to do."

Aria glanced over the Spectre's left shoulder. "Your friend is quite the idealist." her lips curled into a smile. The seeds had not only been planted into the ground which more than fertile it would produce one hell of a bumper crop. However it would all go to seed if her sister poisoned the soil, though she doubted it would happen. She need only test Aleena's dedication. Easy enough to play inside card, change the face, the ink, the pheromones it had been a trick the Pirate Queen mastered long ago and had taught her sister do to the same. But there was one thing Aleena couldn't fake-true dedication…true belief, not with Aria.

"One of her finer qualities, I have discovered." Aleena answered. A moment later she reappeared having deactivated her cloaking device. "That and her tenacious nature."

"You follow her?"

"I do." Aleena answered without hesitation. She met her sister's stare steadily.

Aria gave a glance to the young human before her. Did Shepard know that in those two very small words how much credibility she had just earned? She didn't, it was clear to read in those expressive blue eyes. The question that now remained was how much Shepard going to bank on it?

Shepard stood up, gave a subtle nod to her head, "Thanks for the information and for the space."

"We'll see if you still feel that way after you're little dance with Cerberus and if you survive your dalliance in the plague zone. Like I said, don't bring it back."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

The ground team reconvened in a private room in the lower bar. Shepard had relayed everything that had transpired during her meeting with the Pirate Queen.

"So she's just giving us a space?" Garrus said disbelievingly, "With no strings?"

"The gratitude of a Spectre isn't exactly a freebie, I fully expect her to call in on my 'gratitude' at sometime or another. It doesn't matter, we have what we need." She didn't add the word want but it hung there in the air like an albatross.

"I suggest we investigate the location Aria gave us before venturing into the quarantine zone." Liara advised.

"My thoughts exactly." Shepard nodded. "Going into the plague zone is going to be problematic. Aria has her Blue Sun grunts patrolling it not to mention getting past the gate guards at the front gate. I'd rather not shoot them if possible. They are after all serving a function."

"Containment of the area was a very wise move for T'Loak, on many levels." Liara said. "If this plague reached the rest of the population or worse escaped the station, it would become an unstoppable pandemic." Shepard looked to Liara, before turning her gaze to Garrus, Wrex and Tali.

"Shit. Who the hell designed this plague? I don't think even Cerberus would so something like this." Ash said voicing what the Spectre was thinking. "I know they are seriously anti-alien but this serves no purpose."

"It serves a purpose, Williams." Wrex growled. "Population control. Xenocide Looks to me like the humans are following in the salarian and turian footsteps, only they ain't stopping at one race."

"No, it doesn't make sense. It's made to look like the humans did this, but I don't believe it." Shepard returned. "Someone else, something else did this."

"Despite the fact they are immune to all diseases it can not be the vorcha, they're not intelligent enough to create such a virus." Liara put forth. "I am sorry Samantha. I hate to say it but there is precedence for humanity do something like this. Cerberus has a reputation. Surely you do not think them above suspicion?"

"To tell the truth. No I can't. But what do they gain? There must be something more than xenocide. Okay let us assume they are studying the release of a biological weapon in a dense population, but in preparation for what?"

"I can think of something." Garrus said, his mandibles twitching. "The Citadel. Cerberus wants humanity on top, full domination of galactic space. How better to do that than release a plague that destroys everyone else?"

Shepard shook her head. "I despise Cerberus, but this plague if released on the Citadel…is unthinkable. It leaves too much of a power vacuum, economical, political…the ramifications are astronomical. TIMmy might attempt a military coup but a xenocidal plague? No. I still don't think so."

"We will not gain answers standing around here debating it." Liara said. "The one person who may have insight is the very person we are trying to reach."

"Dr. Solus." Shepard nodded. "We're going in, but only a human team. It's safer. Tali, you're definitely going back to the ship."

"Shepard, if it is contained in the …"Tali started.

"You have your orders Miss vas _Normandy_." There was a hardness to Shepard's voice Tali had rarely heard from the human, though she had heard it plenty of times from her father. There was concern in the eyes however that softened the cool edge. She saw it then the fullness of Shepard's fear for her, her care.

"Aye, aye, Commander." Tali saluted. "Permission to go to the bait site. I will be able to place a few of my assault and defensive drones as well as any other mechanical security issues that pop up."

Shepard thought about it for a moment. Her gut said send the girl back but if the contagion had already somehow escaped the quarantine zone, Tali had already been exposed to it. Going to bait site posed no more risk than walking the streets of Omega's markets, which was to say the only true concern was gunfire, the possibility of a knife in the dark or ambush. All things concerned a rather typical day for the crew of the _Normandy._ Besides Tali had a valid point her technical skills would be invaluable.

"Permission granted. And along the lines of the drones, radio the _Normandy_ and have them send down proximity drones, mines and in case things become hairy I want one of the atlases dropped. Hopefully the location will have a good bird's nest or two. Alright people, move out!"

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEMEMEME

In the end it took taking a shuttle from the transit hub just outside the nightclub to Aria's warehouse. They did a standard flyby scanning the location into the hardsuit onboard computers and omni-tools.

"Fairly standard layout with a lot of little cubbyholes and warrens to duck into and bunker down." Garrus announced pointing to the blueprint display on his omni-tool. "A number of chokepoints where barricades can easily be set up. Here, here and here." He pointed out three areas on the holographic map along a long stretch of bridge.

"This bridge seems to be the only way in to this loft space. It's a perfect location for funneling the enemy where their numbers work against them." Shepard observed. "We make sure it's the only accessible way in."

It took the better half of the afternoon to thoroughly check the compound. They discovered three main chambers large enough to contain three small battalions as well as a host of smaller antechambers and one bay large enough to contain a gunship or shuttle-craft. Crossing the bridge the ground team found the loft was more than defensible, it was easily fortified. It would take very little effort to place turrets, combat and defensive drones, and set up a perimeter along the upper balcony as well as the lower sections of the apartment complex.

"Look at this place!" Ash exclaimed "Full amenities, a full mess including one of those vending machines, water, racks in the upper quarters, two heads, and an independent power source. A squad can hole up here for weeks and not run out of resources. The gratitude of a Spectre… that's one hell of a favor you're going to have to pay back. I just hope it doesn't take a big chunk out of your ass when she bites."

"That makes two of us." Shepard admitted.

Her keen eyes looked over location before she brought up the schematics on her omni-tool. "We have to find a way to secure the rest of the base." She looked at the balcony and thought of the many steps of the Council chambers. Ash was right all those stairs had made for a good defensive position. Unfortunately by the time Shepard and her small team had arrived on site, the area had been dominated by the geth. "I want defensive drones along the catwalk, here and here." she pointed to two open areas of the upper tier. I want the turrets along the line of the balcony that overlooks the bridge and I want the atlas on the ground floor near the door."

*Shepard,* it was Wrex. He and Aleena had scouted out the lower levels of the bunker in order to secure any vulnerable entry point. *We found three vulnerable areas. Access tunnels, probably maintenance shafts. Stubborn enough person will tunnel their way through. Be easy enough.*

"Is there a way to seal it off, other than close proximity charges?" Shepard asked.

*As a matter fact there are. Shutters will seal the maintenance tunnels.* Aleena said. * If we place proximity mines along the tunnels and the combat drones on both sides of the shutters, then seal them the area will remain secured for the duration of our occupation.*

"Get it done you two and good work." Shepard ordered.

*Shepard, wait. We've got an idea.* Aleena spoke up.

"Alright, lay it on me."

*Not over the comm, wait until we get back up there.* it was Wrex again. *There's something else I need to talk over with you.* there was a seriousness to his voice, Shepard had heard only once and that was back on Virmire.

They didn't have to wait long before the two bounty hunters rejoined the rest of the group. Upon seeing Wrex's mammoth form Shepard tried to gauge his body language, all she read was determination.

"What's going on Wrex?" She said as soon as the old krogan came within hearing range.

"Nothing bad, so you can wipe that expression off your face."

"What expression is that?" Shepard was a little surprised by Wrex's comment or perhaps it was that he had so easily read her as she had been attempting to read him.

"The one where it looked like he kicked your puppy then put it on a spit for roasting." Aleena answered for him.

Shepard scowled, "I did not look like that. Now. What is going on?"

"You know when I was talking to that four-man back in the markets." Wrex started in.

"Yes. I also seem to recall you threatened to blind him in his two right eyes if he didn't lower his prices for you."

"Omega bartering skills, it's expected or you'll get shelled." Wrex made a throaty noise that sounded a bit like forced laughter.

"I think you mean fleeced." Ash said.

"Do I look like I'm some wooly mammal to you, Williams? I know what I mean. The markets here are not all safe and pretty like those on the Citadel, nor the false subtle faces on Illium. You show raw strength or you get shelled and your liver eaten. Remember that, young Williams."

"Wrex, I suspect you were going somewhere with your exchange with the trader." Shepard drew the conversation back to the start.

"I was, yeah. When you were having your little heart-to-heart with Aleena, I thought I saw a familiar face near that trader's kiosk. By the time I was done with the four-man, the man I thought I saw was gone. Didn't give it another thought until I saw his ugly mug in Afterlife. He was talking to one of Aria's people over a bounty he just brought in. I was right about seeing him back in the markets. Zaeed Massani.

"I ain't seen a meaner, ornery nor uglier bit of human flesh than that old son of a bitch. Like most us bounty hunters, he's self-serving and his moral compass aint exactly pointing in the same direction yours is, Shepard." the old krogan pointed his thumb to himself and Aleena "Unlike the two of us."

"He's what you might have called a gunslinger in your 'Old West' days." Aleena supplied.

"So what this guy is like Wyatt Earp and Wild Bill Hickcock or we talking Jessie James and Billy the Kid here?" Williams interceded.

"Yes." answered the asari.

"Wonderful." Shepard puffed out a bit of air. "I wager once he finds out I'm here, he'll be coming after me next."

"Not if we get to him first. " Wrex shook his head. "And recruit him."

"Hold on you just said he was the meanest, orneriest human you've encountered and you want me to recruit him?" Shepard was agog.

"It isn't as if you haven't done the same before." Aleena pointed out.

"Yes, however you are not as you described this male." Liara argued.

"Only because you haven't seen my more malevolent side, Dr. T'Soni. Believe me when I need to be I can be quite _unpleasant_."

"That aint no lie." Wrex nodded in agreement. "She's been down right agreeable and reasonable so far. Maybe getting bit too soft in her old age." He chuckled. "Or might be that's because she went and got herself domesticated."

"_IF_ I might put things back on track!" Shepard's voice held a commander's sharp edge. "I recognize the name now. He's from that list you gave me, the one with the bounty hunters that signed on with Udina to kill Liara. Tell me why I should recruit him and not put a bullet in his head?"

"Because you don't want to waste what you can use." Aleena said, "You already said you 'took care' of me, your reputation within the circle of bounty hunters will skyrocket when word gets out you press ganged Massani into your cause. Use him as an example when you must just as you did with me. The finer point is as you humans say; Massani is better brought to heel than dogging your tail."

"And you're going to need someone like this son of a bitch for when I leave the _Normandy_." Wrex said his voice becoming lower and grave.

"Leave the _Normand_y? Wait. What?"

"I aint abandoning you, Shepard. I put a lot of thought into this. To fight the Reapers, you're going to need more than just one battlemaster; you'll need the full might of the krogan. Remember back on the first _Normandy_ you said I should help my people. I did that once didn't work. But now that Jarred's dead, the Reapers are out there, I need to try again. Not just to fight the monsters, but for the krogan survival. We won't last if we're not united.

"This is something I have to do, you showed me that, and I can't do it on the _Normandy_. I'm going back to Tuchanka. I'll hold a Crush not just with the other male clan leaders but the female clan leaders; I know a few that will agree with me. This one shaman, she'll know the benefits of a united force. And with her voice other female clans will listen, they listen-the males will. May have to crack a few skulls to make my point but the clans will see reason. May take a year or two, but I'll have them united. And then we go to war and save the galaxy just as we did with the rachni" he chuckled

The disappointment on Shepard's face was washed with admiration and approval. Her old friend was right, the united force of the krogan people was absolutely necessary. She smiled warmly. "I understand. We can drop you off…"

"No need, I'll book passage from here after we get Massani either on the leash or dead." Wrex claimed.

"That soon?" Liara said unable to keep the astonishment out of her voice, even Aleena looked a bit shocked at Wrex's plans for a swift departure.

"Try not to miss my devilishly good looks too much T'Soni, you still have your squishy bondmate to cuddle up to. Way I hear it she kisses better, anyway."

Liara smiled. Shepard's face started to change into a more crimson hue.

"Damn fine idea you old shellback," Garrus complimented. "But don't go thinking we'll miss that mug of yours anytime soon."

"Ha bird-bones. You're just glad you won't have a true rival for the rest of the ladies. You just watch, now that I'm gone they'll _all_ be turning to their own sex for comfort."

"Phft. as if you had any of them swooning before, you old lizard."

"Oh…I don't know." Aleena piped in. "I've enjoyed a tumble or two with a krogan. Maybe you should give it a try sometime, Vakarian. It might be quite illuminating."

The turian coughed and look a bit embarrassed by the taunt. "No thank you, my interests in interspecies intercourse isn't with a krogan." his mandibles twitched involuntarily as he tried to avoid looking in Tali's direction. He coughed again and wished to the Spirits something would blow up or start shooting so everyone would stop staring at him with those evil all-knowing smirks.

"How in the hell did topic of Wrex leaving to unite the krogan end up with sex?" Williams shook her head.

"It's one of two things krogans constantly think about. It's the one thing they have in common with salarians." Garrus said.

"Ain't no calling being _that_ nasty, bird-bones." Wrex snorted. He turned back to Shepard. Who but for a few words had remained mostly quiet. "I'll have your back when the time comes, Shepard. United krogan force or not, you'll not go into that war without me."

The Spectre grabbed Wrex's forearm in a warrior's salutation. "I know. And I'm sure as hell going to miss you Big Guy."

"Of course you will." Wrex barked out a laughter of pure mirth. "Who else is going to pull your scrawny ass out of the fire?"


	48. Professors, Plagues and Plans

Chapter 48: Professors, Plagues and Plans

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME MEME

Liara was sorely tempted to tell her bondmate she didn't need a protector. She was going to be fine here in the loft with Tali and Garrus. But after the attack on the Citadel, her beloved Spectre was more than hesitant to leave Liara without a full guard if she wasn't there in person to watch over her.

This would not do. Not in the face of forthcoming battle, not in the war that lingered heavily in the air like the rot on a corpse. That uncertainty, that hesitancy could cost Samantha her own life, the battlefield and the war.

'_We both have much to do, beloved. We are secure. Samantha…the grave is a fine and safe place. If we live, we bleed. If we live, we heal, we fight, we survive. If we live, we love. Now…you must live, and you must allow me to live. It is I that should be dreading where you are going, not you where I am staying. I am safe here, you on the other hand are going into a plague zone, and though it may not kill humans, there are Blue Suns, vorcha and victims who have guns and vendetta. You are not safe from their wrath or their bullets. The vorcha are notoriously difficult to neutralize. Their regen-rate is more swift than even the krogan. I am not pleased I will not be at your side to __**protect**__ you.' _

There was silence on the other end of the bond for several heartbeats. Then softly: '_I…. You're right. I trust you Liara. I trust my team. Be useless to tell you not to worry wouldn't it?'_

A small smile crept upon Liara's lips. '_Absolutely futile. But as you said I trust my team. They will not let you fall. At least not here, you're far too stubborn. I imagine bleeding out you would pull your mangled body up from the mire and continue to fight the Reapers to your last breath until you knew they were stopped. So I console myself that you will not perish in a death-zone riddled with hot-headed-mercs, trigger happy vorcha and the plague that kills all but your race and those scavengers. Not to mention you intend to confront a man that has been compared to the worst of your history's gun slinging outlaws and try to make him convert.' _

'_I'll watch my six.'_

'_Try not to get it shot. I do so enjoy running my hands along the curves and making you purr._' She couldn't see it of course but Liara knew her Samantha's ears had turned bright red. She allowed her mind to fill with images her nipping the curve of ear before nipping the lobe as she ran her fingers empowered with a low-yield biotic pulse along the lines of Samantha's buttocks

'_Oh you are an evil, evil woman!'_

Liara laughed boisterously causing both Garrus and Tali to turn in her direction.

"Must be nice to be able to do that." Garrus said almost wistfully. "No need for radios, just tap into the mind of your lover and have conversations…" he smirked, "Even mind-sex. Think of the possibilities."

"As apposed to online sex or comm-sex?" Tali teased.

"Of course! Much more private. No one can overhear you."

"So… you had a lot of on-line sex then Vakarian?"

"What?" he cleared his throat, "Ah…no…not…not…well…um what about you?"

Tali shifted her weight to one foot coquettishly, with one hand on her hip she tilted her head and looked as coyly as she could under the mask. "And if I had, why would I tell you?"

He swallowed a bit and looked away before Tali caught the embarrassed flinch of his mandibles. "Ah…no reason. A lady doesn't kiss and tell right?"

Tali sauntered up and placed her hand on the turian's arm and whispered. "Oh on-line sex talk isn't about kissing and telling it's about…." here she dropped her voice to a husky sultry whisper. "It is imagining the touch of your lover as you hear their voice over your headset." She trailed her longest finger along his chest. "Why if said in just the correct tone, anything can be…_stimulating_. Even talking about the coupling sections of a drivecore can be…provocative, or how about calibrating the main guns on the _Normandy_?"

Garrus swallowed once more. She laughed and turned away, her voice now normal and conversational.

"Am I making things a little uncomfortable? We can always talk about weapons. Guns for example. You can tell a lot about a person by the sort of gun they carry."

"Huh?" there was still a fog clouding in Garrus's mind he couldn't quite think around. "What about them? You know I carry a sniper rifle, you're the one that likes things at short range."

"And _you_ prefer to keep everything at a distance." it sounded almost like an accusation.

"Exactly. Wait. What?" they were still talking about sex weren't they?

"Nevermind."

Yes they were. Oh women are evil, Garrus decided. Spectre, Prothean Expert, boom-stick toting marine or a saucy-lovely and very sexy engineer, they were all evil.

"You like things up close and personal. Always the shotgun for you isn't it?" he stepped up to her, his hand fingering the hood of her helmet. 'If she wants to play dirty, I can do that.' He made sound deep in his throat he knew turian women responded very favourably to, he wondered just how well it would work on a quarian.

Again her voice dropped low, almost an equal purr. "I guess it depends on who it is."

"Good thing Shepard's a married woman or I might have had some competition." his hand slipped from her hood to her waist.

Tali laughed. "Are you talking about me or you?"

"Good point."

"You know I could just be using you to relieve some tension. Reach and flexibility training…" Tali flipped her hand in the air with a bit of a risqué flourish. She allowed her fingers to trace the blue tattooed lines along his left mandible that caused more of the butterfly-in-the-stomach-making thrumming sound from his throat.

"I'm okay with that." he uttered softly.

"Ahem." Liara cleared her throat causing both Tali and Garrus to jump having quite forgotten they were not alone.

"We were just…um…Ah…I think one of my mandibles got caught on her helmet and…"

"It might have caused a rupture. So…so I asked him to check…" Tali quickly finished the lie.

"Be…because you know of infection…risks. Didn't want to jeopardize the mission…."

"Ssooo…."

"Yeah…"

Liara chuckled. "I'm very happy for you two. Truly. I know Samantha is too."

"Thanks, Liara." Tali relaxed.

"Guess you know how it is. It helps to have something to come back to." there was note to Garrus's voice that hadn't been there an hour earlier. One of hope perhaps.

"What do you mean to come back to?" Tali toyed. "I already told you this is just a fling, Vakarian. I'm using you for your _body_."

"You're so mean." he uttered back playfully and more than a little flirtatiously. He leaned in close. "As I said. I'm okay with that."

"Not to throw a bucket of cold water on you both, but we do have a mission to prepare for. It would not be advisable to disappoint our Commander who is depending on us." Liara diverted the attention away from a more smouldering topic to one (though debatably) of greater importance. The Maiden could not begrudge nor chastise the two their bizarre moment of intimacy when she had just had her own with her bondmate, but there were things that needed to be done. And swiftly.

"Don't worry, T'Soni. We're all professionals here, we're not about to let Shepard down." Garrus said his voice now back to its normal tenor. "By the time she gets back here, everything will be well in hand and well fortified."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Zaeed Massani didn't think twice when an emerald skinned asari sidled up to the bar and ordered a Serrice ice brandy - dirty. She sipped it slowly, gave a cursory look to him then drew her attention back to the drink in her hand, ignoring him completely.

Massani didn't give her a second glance. But when the old scar faced krogan-a battlemaster no less, stepped up a on the other side of him, he knew he was in a trap. Of all the stupid bloody foolishness. He never let his guard down, especially in this pit of villainy and double-dealing crime lords. He was fucked, Zaeed knew this was going to get messy, real messy. He took a step back and found the muzzle of a pistol clashing with his lower spine. At the flank of the krogan stood a dark-haired human woman, a marine by the looks of her. In her hand she held the butt of an M-3 Predator.

He wasn't just fucked, he was royally fucked. But he'd been in worse situations than this. He'd just have to think bloody fast and smart. Shit and he liked Afterlife, but when this was over, Aria would not welcome him back.

"Easy, we're just going to have a nice friendly chat." the gun behind him said. A woman then, another asari or another human? He felt his sniper and assault rifles being removed from the locks on his hardsuit by the woman behind him. More than that however Zaeed felt the faintly familiar tingle of biotic energy even through his armour. Gun-Behind was making a very clear point. She didn't need her pistol to do damage.

"I take great exception to people going after my bondmate. You were seen at the conclave of bounty hunters answering the call of one Donnel Udina."

"Doesn't mean I took the job." Massani didn't dare turn around. So the woman behind him was Shepard. She had all but declared war on the galaxy's nest of bounty hunters. He kept his eyes steady upon marine, the krogan and emerald asari. He recognized the krogan now as Urdnot Wrex. The human had to be Shepard's second in command… Williams he thought ere names was. But the asari…she sure as hell wasn't T'Soni that much Massani was certain. Still there was a familiarity to her, he couldn't quite place. He saw his rifles being casually tossed to Urdnot, who secured both on his hard suits weapon's rack.

"Your reputation precedes you, Massani. You are known to be feared as a ruthless and relentless hunter, a veteran mercenary. So why not take up the bounty? Other bounty hunters as equally ruthless, relentless and tenacious took up the contract. Why not you?" Shepard questioned.

"Didn't like the reasons." Massani answered glibly. "First human Spectre married an asari, was the only reason Udina wanted you both put down. Sounded like bull-shit. More than that, it was pretty fucking petty."

"You trying to sell that shit, Massani? I don't see anyone here buying it." Wrex said.

"Maybe I saw the competition, didn't care for it."

"You could have pressed a few of them into a crew. You've done that before. More than a few times." Emerald said.

"You are?"

"You saw me at Udina's little party. Only I was my natural violet. And I don't wear yellow and black armor."

"Huntress Aleena." he snorted, "Should have guessed you'd show up. So that's what Shepard meant when she said she took care of you. You've been conscripted."

"Same as you." Wrex leaned in, his face close to Zaeed's. Close enough to deliver one hell of a wallop if the krogan was in half of a mind to headbutt him.

"So that's how it's going to be?" Massani growled.

"Yes." Shepard said coming around face him. "It is."

"Join up or die? You know they say the press ganged become resentful. You sure you want to play it this way, Shepard?"

"You're not so stupid as to ask me the question that once you're on my ship what's to stop you from claiming that bounty. You know you'd never make it off alive. But I'm giving you an option, here. Be smart and listen." Shepard was calm, her voice neutral as if she was contemplating what to have for dinner.

"Why use force when we have something you want. You see we happen to have an information broker onboard." Aleena spoke smoothly. "And she dug up Intel on Vito Santiago, the man you've been hunting for the past twenty years. You sign up with Shepard, you get Santiago's locale, the backup to confront him and the past two decades of your life back."

"How much that worth to you?" Wrex pressed, still close enough to Zaeed to headbutt him if needs be.

"And on the off chance I say no? You walk out of here and I don't?" the old man took two steps back, defiantly reclaiming some of his personal space.

"Something like that." Wrex answered. "You think I'm going to let you walk out of here with an open bounty as big as the one that is on Shepard and T'Soni's heads? I know how you work Massani. You're just waiting for the competition to weed itself down, do most of the work for you. Too big a bounty for you to let go. It's twice your bringing them in alive fee."

"Unless there is something bigger on the table," Aleena finished, "you didn't walk away from that anymore than I did. And you're not walking away from a chance to get Santiago. "

"Yeah and what did Shepard offer you, Aleena? Your life?"

"A spot on her crew. There's one hell of a storm coming, Zaeed. All our lives are not worth shit, if we do not do something first."

"Join up to hunt the geth? That's your big god-damn storm?" the old codger snorted in contempt. "Don't make me laugh."

"No. The Reapers, though for now it's the Collectors. That's the target. They've been harvesting whole human colonies without a shot being fired. But because it's happening out here in the Terminus Systems the Council and the Alliance can't or won't step in. I can. As a Council Spectre, I'm not bound by laws or boundaries. I will do what I must.

"I'll make this deal with you Zaeed Massani. Join my crew and I'll do what I can for you. Don't and you walk out of here and you keep walking. We meet up again, there will be an _incident_."

Zaeed saw deep conviction in the lass's eyes. Her stance, the weight she carried was far deeper and more engrained than her scant few years had given her. She was what a mere thirty years old if that, and yet it was if she not him was the aging war-dog. "Vito Santiago? This better be on the up and up Shepard."

The Spectre only tilted her head in the slightest of aristocratic nods.

"Fine, you got yourself a new crewmate. Where do I store my gear?"

"I'll have a yeomen pick it up and store it in one of the cargo bays." Shepard answered. She looked at Wrex then back to Massani. "There is a private space though not overly large should you want it."

The aging bounty hunter looked at the krogan. "Hell I can bunker down in one of the cargo decks. Slept in worse areas. Give me a cot and I'm good. Just to let you know Kid, I don't do the coffins. And I'm going to need my guns back."

It took a nod from Shepard for Wrex to relinquish the weapons back to Zaeed, who calmly and methodically replaced them back onto their locking mechanisms on his hard suit. "The way you said you're going to send some of your people to retrieve and stow my gear, it sounds like you're not finished here."

"No _we'r_e not." Shepard said. "I need to recruit another person. Dr. Mordin Solus. He's running a clinic in the Gozu district."

"The quarantine zone? Going to press gang him too?" Zaeed scowled.

"No. But I'm going to offer him a chance at something he will not want to pass up. You want this Santiago guy. You're a man of blood and bullets, easy to figure out what motivates you, Zaeed. Solus on the other hand is a man of science. I need only appeal to his enthusiastic curiosity, his tenacious drive for discovery and meeting impossible challenges." Shepard answered dryly.

"And what motivates a woman like you Shepard?"

Without missing a step Shepard responded to the old bounty hunter as if the question was self-evident. "The oaths I took. I uphold the vows that came with the N-Seven uniform. As a Spectre I took an oath to protect and serve - to be a guardian. As for my bondmate…even as she protests she does not need a protector, I will do so.

"I am no more difficult to figure out than you are Massani. I have one driving goal and that is to stop the Reapers. I will drag the whole galactic community kicking and screaming into a full universal alliance in order to do so. And I _will_ stop the collectors from taking any more colonies."

"I generally make it a rule not to get involved the dedicated crusading types. Cuts life expectancy short." Zaeed's gruff voice took on an almost jovial tone. "But seeing how you're going to give me Santiago, it'd be a bit hypocritical to stand by that rule."

"What the hell did that guy do to you?" Williams said following the party towards the market district.

"Bitter history and payback. Once we get closer to him, I'll tell you. Right now seeing how we're going into a plague zone, it's not exactly relevant."

"All you bounty hunters like this?" The question was given to Wrex by Shepard.

"For the most part. Keeps you alive."

"And its part of our charm to be tight lipped assholes." Aleena smirked. "Makes others want to figure out 'the old scarred soul' underneath the gruff exterior."

"Worked on you Shepard." Wrex barked out a laugh, which caused a reactionary shoulder check by Shepard.

"Oh shut up."

"Or maybe you're just attracted to men with scars eh?" he laughed. "I know why you like your sweet piece of blue tail. Can't blame you there, T'Soni is…hot. But you haven't had a true tumble until you've had a krogan and felt his quad swell."

"Ehch!" The spectre rolled her eyes.

"Oh that's just all kinds of wrong." Ash commented on the side.

The krogan's deep baritone laugh caused many a head to turn, and Zaeed's eyebrow to rise. It was evidently clear the two had a deep and trusting friendship.

"I just like knowing the type of people I'm working with. It's good to know if I can leave my six to them or make them take point. Why do you think that until we had a few ground missions under us that I had you and Garrus taking point? He's a hot-head and you're…"

"Krogan." Wrex grinned.

"I wasn't going to say…" The Spectre returned the grin. "But you did shoot an unarmed man."

"Fist had it coming."

Williams looked as if she were going to say something but the look on her CO's face silenced the marine before a syllable was uttered.

"Not going to get in that argument again." Shepard said.

"Only because you know I'd win because I'm right. That code of honor of yours Shepard will one day bite you in the ass."

"This is why she has people like us around." Aleena looked directly at Zaeed. "I have no quarrel shooting an opponent or one asleep in his bunk."

"I know your reputation Aleena." The old hunter acknowledged the threat for what it was. "So, considering you're green and your eyes are too, what's your new call sign? Doubt you'd keep your huntress name give all the trouble you went to to hide your true features."

"Dr. Mal'dicta S'thasa MD, specializing in combat medicine. I'm _Normandy's_ premiere field medic under the ship's chief medical officer."

"Hell of a good cover, given your preferred style of killing."

"Was. But Shepard has a very keen eye and a sharper mind for things. Before you know it the ray's turned into a shark and you're dead in the water."

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Not to borrow a line but if you forget, we'll remind you by shipping your sorry ass out the nearest airlock." Williams threatened. She made it quite clear she didn't trust this guy as far as she could throw him.

Shepard frowned. Now wasn't the time to ask but she was curious now more than ever at the reference of the two oceanic animals and why Aleena was intent on making them.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME EME

"Samantha, try to remember your biotics have defensive properties. Keep your barriers up!_"_ Liara paced back and forth, unconsciously highlighting Shepard's battles in the Kokomo Plaza. She felt the sting of shots against armor that was not hers. She felt the sympathetic vibrating pull of her biotics coursing through every nerve-ending.

Tali and Garrus looked at each other nervously. The room was vibrating, pulsing in dark energy. Books, end tables, lamps, sofas, shook and rose in spiraling cyan micro cyclones. A lamp spiraled end over end nearly striking Garrus in the left temple, he managed to duck, but only just.

"Oh Crap!" he gasped.

"Keelah! She's lost control."

Another lamp whizzed by striking the wall and shattering.

"It isn't her, it's Shepard." Garrus was now lying on the ground along with Tali. "It's that bond. Shepard is using all the strength of her powers; I think Liara is sending her more."

"Ya think?" Tali shot sarcastically. "By the way Vakarian, I didn't think turians knew how to duck."

"We don't. I've learned from Shepard sometimes you have to improvise."

"You adapted! I didn't think turians knew how to do that either." there was a smile behind the words.

An end table whizzed past, the two on the floor and out the balcony overlooking the bridge.

"Sometimes Tali you can be a real _bosh'tet_."

The young woman giggled. The room was still vibrating with biotic overflow but at least there were no more flying objects for the moment. "Okay so who's going to talk Miss Prothean Expert down?"

"You're her Trusted." the turian prompted

"And what if those biotic missiles should hit me and cause a suit rupture?"

"Oh don't play the meek quarian with me _vas Normandy_, I know better."

"Humph."

"We have to do something, T'Soni's worrying over Shepard will tear this place apart before Cerberus or the mercs even reach us."

"Agreed. But who?"

Garrus looked at the pacing asari, still muttering mostly to herself. Powerful dark energy coiled around her.

"You remember that game Ash and Joker played when they had to tell Shepard about the shipment of her Serrice Ice Brandy gone missing?"

"Rock, paper, scissors, I think it was called." Tali cocked her head, "okay, you remember how it's played?"

Garrus nodded his head. He held his fist out, meeting Tali's own.

"One." Garrus said.

"Two." Tali answered.

"Three." They said together.

Garrus's hand remained as a fist, but Tali held up one finger.

"Dynamite. It blows up rock. I win." the smug quarian, smirked behind her mask.

"Wait? What? There is no dynamite!"

"Sure there is. It's in the DLC content."

"The what? That doesn't even make sense! You made it up. It's a hand game, not a video game. It's called rock, paper scissors not rock, paper scissors, dynamite. You just can't add new rules to it.

"Sure I can."

"Who says?"

"Shepard."

"No she didn't." Garrus argued. "She always says just because you can break the rules doesn't mean you should."

"But she changes the rules when she needs to. And I just did, you now have to talk to Liara." Tali rose to her feet before her friend, and then lowered her hand to help him up. "I'd do it now while there's a lull in the storm."

"You know when I said you were mean before?"

Tali nodded. "You also said you were okay with that."

"I'm amending that comment."

"Phft. Stop acting like a whinging batarian over the fact you lost."

"Oh and she goes straight for the pride!" Garrus mockingly clutched his chest where his heart was. "You're just lucky I find the way you cross your arms and sway your hips cute my little quarian." his mandibles flapped slightly as he gathered his nerves and stepped up to the agitated asari. "The only possible woman I'd do this for is Shepard."

"Who wouldn't? Now go." Tali pushed.

"Something on your mind Liara? Or is it someone?" He gestured to the room "Or you just want to trash the place? Because if this is your idea of redecorating I have to say, it isn't working for me."

Liara looked up, drew in a breath of air and resumed her pacing completely ignoring the jibe. "I should have insisted on going with her."

"You know that wouldn't have done any good." Tali shook her head. Now that Liara was distracted the pulsating energy field dissipated. "Shepard is very stubborn and protective. She would not have permitted you to go into the plague zone. You saw how I practically begged her to be allowed to be even here in the Kima district."

"You are not her bondmate." Liara said almost snapping. "I should be at her side!"

"And be at risk of the sickness that kills asari?" Garrus scoffed. "Liara, we'll all be at her side if we could, but she'd not allow it."

"She took Aleena." there was some resentment in the T'Soni's voice. "She's willing to risk her in the quarantine zone. If she wanted an asari at her side she should have taken me."

Tali laid a tentative hand upon Liara's shoulder. "Aleena is more expendable than you are. Think about it for a moment. It's not about taking another biotic into the zone or an asari. Aleena is a commando but she is also a battle medic. And maybe it's about having another bounty hunter covering your flank with an unknown element like this Massani guy."

Liara thought about the tactics Shepard generally employed. It had often times the far-sight of a matriarch. There was a ploy here, Liara knew that. Ray and shark that was what Shepard was, Aleena was correct. And this was the ray's movement.

"She takes Aleena because she _is _asari, but more than that she _is_ Aleena, matron huntress, conquered by the mighty Commander Shepard. Massani will see Samantha's immanent dominion over her even ordering her into almost certain death, and she obeys."

"A powerful message." Garrus nodded. He suspected already this was Shepard's motive. He half suspected this was the bounty hunters' reasons as well. "One, Massani can't miss."

There was a cold hardness to Liara's ever expressive sapphire eyes. "That human male had better prove his worth."

"I doubt Wrex or Aleena would have suggested the human if they didn't believe his skills would be of use to Shepard." said Garrus.

"She is entrenched, caught between Blue Sun and vorcha war parties. She has enough dangers surrounding her, she need not add another." Liara resumed her pacing.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME ME

Getting to the professor's clinic had been a test of resolve, and endurance. No different from any other day really. Of course they could have done without the smell of burning corpses. Even if it was a viable way to contain the contagion from spreading further.

They had crossed paths with plague victims, alive and dead, looters and terrified humans bunkering down in their homes, hoping the Blue Suns wouldn't kill them. It took a bit of persuasion but the looters had been stopped, and the terrified humans convinced to go to the clinic but it was done.

The near continuous onslaught of Blood Pack: vorcha, varren and krogan shock troops, combined with the Blue Suns were exhilarating. Throwing biotic lifts, throws, shockwaves, reave, and slams, singularities, warp ammo and with a very heavy handed reminder from Liara barriers was a test of Shepard's endurance.

The Spectre had to admit albeit shamefully she tended to rely heavily on the shields of her hardsuit rather than her own biotic barriers. It was a habit Shiala and Liara were hell bent on rectifying. It was a failing perhaps in her marine training. It was only during the N7 program that Shepard was trained to use her skills as a biotic adept. Before then however she had gone through the ranks trained as a vanguard never using her biotics to the fullness of her potential.

Not until recently that is. With the brush of Cyan Syndrome, the gestalt and the prothean devices, Shepard needed a new more powerful implant, one that could stabilize the dark energy nodules littering her nervous systems. She became perhaps the first human L5 biotic. Being a Spectre allowed her a certain freedom she hadn't had in the Alliance. She was allowed to be purely biotic that just happened to be a crack -shot with small arms.

Of course Shepard hadn't been the only biotic in the Corps to be treated with some reservations. The Alliance military did the same with Kaiden Alenko. He was trained as a sentinel to use tech-skills along side his biotic abilities. It always seemed that the Alliance wanted more of their biotics than just their dark energy abilities. It was as if being a biotic simply wasn't not enough, biotics were not as reliable as an omni tool or guns, (despite the asari commandos proving this belief wrong). Shepard reveled in her new freedoms.

At times there was the occasional telepathic thwat on the head, to do things like remember to pull her barriers up. Shepard knew her bondmate was frantic with worry, especially after that last hit from a vorcha's rocket launcher that completely knocked her hardsuit's shields out and put Shepard on her ass. You'd think she was turian for not ducking swiftly enough. The only reason's the shields held against the near direct hit from a rocket blast was due to the Prothean upgrades and quarian ingenuity on the hardsuit. And the only reason Shepard was still alive and not having her face half-blown off was due to Liara's _shout_ at her to pull her barriers up. And just in time.

Despite the hard run through the slums the ground team made it to the clinic with relatively little injury. The clinic was not unlike many others Shepard had seen in more impoverished settlements. It was utilitarian - the last place you'd want to go to, but to some it was the only place. Mordin obviously tried to make it as sterile and sound as possible, there only so much you could to with desolate and dilapidated surroundings. It was the place of the forgotten. The place carried the indescribable stench common to all hospitals, strong antiseptic, unwashed bodies, sweat, the dying and ill but this also carried the unique scent of axle grease. The latter no doubt coming from the mechs stationed at the rear of the clinic.

Amongst the bodies of turian and batarian were human medics trying to ease their pains and woes. If asked they would have all said they owed their lives to Mordin. Apparently the professor was either loved or hated, but one thing he was amongst all parties was respected and a bit feared.

In the back of the clinic a distinct salarian voice was easily discerned amongst drone of others. "Use malanarin. Almost as good. Plenty on hand. Causes cramping in batarians. Supplement with butemerol."

"Malanarin and butemerol. Got it." one of the lab techs. A young human male by the sound of it.

Rounding the corner the members of Shepard's squad saw the doctor in question, who was indeed talking with a human assistant. The salarian seemed to be multi-tasking within his own mind.

"Cenozine is the catalyst. Bonds to generic markers. Hard to find. Expensive to mass produce. Why not use helacore? Too unstable. Inconsistent results. Demozane better option. No. No. No. Demozane toxic to humans. Not an option. Not an option."

"Professor Mordin Solus?" Shepard took a step forward watching the man who had engendered fear in so many, very carefully and with a great deal more curiosity.

The strange salarian walked up without saying a word, waved his hand encased in a medical omni tool before uttering a single sound. "Humm. Three humans, clean. Asari and krogan no overt signs of plague. Clean. Smart to wear hardsuit helmets, with fully independent respirator. Don't recognize you from area." he turned and walked back to the makeshift desk on top of which were several computers. "Too well armed to be refugees. Not mercenary uniform. Quarantine still in effect. Here for something else. Vorcha? Crew to clean them out? Unlikely? Vorcha a symptom not a cause." he turned back to Shepard and her group. The plague? Investigation possible use of a bio-weapon? No too-many guns not enough data equipment. Soldiers, not scientists. Yes. Yes. Hired guns, maybe? Looking for someone? Yes! But who? Someone valuable, someone with secrets. Someone like me."

He's becoming twitchy: 'Pop. Pop. Pop.' the words of human civilian cowering in his apartment filtered not only into Shepard's mind but Ash's as well. Williams wasn't a quick draw but she had a steady aim, she wasn't about to let the guy get the drop on Shepard.

"Relax Mordin, I'm Spectre Shepard. I came here to find you. I'm here on a critical mission, and I need your help." The human interrupted the rambling scientist. 'Before he gives himself an aneurism.' her hindbrain whispered. Of course she had to wonder how he hadn't suffered one already.

"Mission? What mission? . No. Clinic understaffed. Plague spreading too fast. Who sent you? Spectre? The Council?" He turned away from them to his computer monitors.

"Actually one of your former students recommended you. Chorban? And Aria T'Loak told me where to find you." Shepard attempted to placate the man's worried questioning.

Williams and Aleena both shared a measured look, if they took but a moment to look at the others they would have seen the same expression upon a krogan's craggy face and even upon the scarred features of Zaeed.

"Why? Relative to humans? Plague doesn't affect humans. Armor and weapons. Might have thought you were Cerberus..." he turned back to Shepard and her team, his large eyes blinking repeatedly.

"Did they do this?" Shepard crossed her arms over her chest, as she rested her weight on her left foot.

"No". It was a surpassingly very simple answer from the salarian whose speech pattern was thus far fragmented sentences or gerunds.

"How do you know?" Williams piped up

"No covert operatives remaining within area. Was one. Female. Gone now. Plague happened after she left. Suspected Cerberus. But recent data does not fit supposition. Why are you here? Chorban. Remember him. Always pushing accepted theories. Heard he developed keeper scanning device. Good. Information collected very valuable. Suspect the Council would not agree. He sent you to me? Your mission beyond his scope."

"Collectors are kidnapping entire human populations. Were going to find out why and stop them." Shepard explained.

"Collectors? Interesting. Plague hitting these slums is engineered. Collectors one of few groups capable with technology to design it. Our goals maybe similar." he walked away from Shepard and returned to the computer terminal. "But must stop plague first. Already have cure. Must disperse it at environmental control center. Vorcha guarding it. Need to kill them."

"Why can't anyone just say sure, I'll help no strings attached?" Shepard sighed grumpily.

"No deed is done without one in return. Rule of galaxy." Mordin answered.

"I'll go in and deal with the vorcha, will you then join my team?" she pressed the issue.

"Yes. Will be free then."

All of a sudden the fans cut out with in the clinic.

Aleena looked up. "That sounded troubling."

"Vorcha have shut down environmental systems. Trying to kill everyone. Need to get power back on before district suffocates. Here take cure. Also bonus in good faith. Weapon taken from dead Blue Suns may come in handy against vorcha. One more thing. Daniel. One of my assistance. Went into vorcha territory looking for victims. Hasn't come back." Mordin sucked in a deep breath claiming much needed oxygen.

"If I see him, I'll do what I can to help." Shepard said.

"Thank you. Told him not to go. But he's smart. Bright future. I hope."

"Any idea where I can find him?" the Spectre cocked her head.

"No. Heard of infected batarians behind vorcha lines. Daniel went to help. Warned him not to go. Too dangerous. Patients needed him here. Snuck out anyway."

"Speaking of infected batarians. I found a one of them near the entrance to the neighborhood. Can you send someone to help him?" The Spectre's voice became slightly soft. So much so it actually managed to startle Ashley.

Williams was far more willing to allow the blighted man to die, he was probably a slaver anyway. Better for him to die than live and go back to snatching innocents and slamming control chips in to their brains. And yet she admired her commander for keeping her word, it also worried her. Wrex was correct; it wasn't going to be an enemy's bullet that put down the Saviour of the Citadel but her own sense of honor.

"Hum… Risky. Blue Suns, vorcha still battling. District not safe. Will see what I can do."

"You've been experiencing attacks on the clinic?" Shepard asked despite knowing he had killed mercs in defense of clinic. She wasn't asking to have him confirm the fact she already had but to gain a measure of him.

"Nothing major. Blue Suns came for humans. Made threats. Killed them before things escalated."

"For a doctor you're awfully calm about taking out a bunch of mercs." Again Shepard's tone changed. She was measuring the man before her.

Aleena smirked behind her helmet; Shepard was doing to Solus what she had done to her back on Ilos. "Wasn't always a doctor. Some work with Special Tasks Group. Can handle myself." Mordin pulled out his pistol and looked at with casual curiosity. "Advantage of being salarian. Turians, krogan, vorcha all obvious threats. Never see me coming." He smiled. One he shared with Shepard.

"Professor? What can you tell me about this plague?" Shepard pressed for details.

"Advanced design. Suspected Collectors before you mentioned them. Purpose seems experimental. Destroys respiratory systems with harmful genetic mutations. Makes sense to avoid humans. Unnecessary to force mutations on human genetic structure for sake of variance."

"Unnecessary mutations? What are you talking about?" puzzlement clearly reflected in the Spectre's blue eyes.

"Possible goal of virus. Tests on viable mutations in various species. Horrific. But feasible for Collectors. Humans known to have diverse genetic background. Wider range than other sapient races. Makes sense as a control group."

"A control group." Zaeed sorted. "What about the bloody vorcha?"

"Immune to diseases. Not viable for tests. Humans only option for tests."

"What do you know about the vorcha?" Shepard asked. They had her curious beyond their regen capabilities and piranha teeth. In truth Shepard had little contact with the species beyond a few scrapes with merc bands.

The answer came at a muzzle velocity snarl. "Cowardly! Opportunistic scavengers! Not tactical or aggressive. Scale of attack unusual for them." Mordin shook his head. "Suspected vorcha working for Collectors. Dispersing plague, collecting data. No proof, but theory fits evidence."

"Now we have an even greater reason to fight the collectors." Williams growled.

"You want to kill the collectors?" Mordin gave the Spectre a studious and apprising look.

"I don't like bullies. I don't care what race, what region of space or what their intelligence is. My job is to protect, to be the guardian." Shepard grinned. "The job title comes with the name."

"Spectre?

"No. Shepard." The human woman grinned. "Even if the spelling isn't the same." She turned to her companions. "Come on we have a ventilation system to get back on line, and a plague to stop."

"Yes. Good. Release cure. Will be here when you return."

As they left Aleena looked behind her and saw the salarian looking up the word shepherd on the extranet. She had to admit she had done it herself after she signed on to the Spectre's ship. Of course googling the human's name had come up with several key-words one of them was the guardian of sheep. An almost laughable occupation, until the asari dove deeper into meaning the word. Some of it had very religious significance, while others proved that a shepherd was no meek keeper of wooly mammals. In their ancient days they fought off great predators of Earth to safeguard their wards: lions, ravenous packs of wolves, wild dogs, hyenas, and leopards. The beasts and thieves were the threats and they were pushed back to keep the flock safe.

A shepherd braved great terrestrial dangers to find a single lost lamb. Was that what they were, the crew of the _Normandy_, Shepard's flock? And the strays they were picking up, were they the lost lambs? Reapers, collectors, Cerberus, bounty hunters and mercs. They were the predators, they were pushed back to keep the flock safe. Shepard…a protector, a guardian. The job description was in the name…

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

Three clicks out and they ran into an ambush. They were immediately assailed by a wall of sound; animalistic snarls of vorcha and varren, the unrelenting staccato of weapons fire, metallic moans of steel as it was bent by biotics.

"Get to cover!" Shepard bellowed. She rolled on her shoulder taking a refuge behind a large crate that was part of a makeshift barricade on her left. Aleena was just behind her at her left flank. Wrex and Zaeed found safety behind the barricade stacked crates to the right and above them. Williams took the top left.

Gauging by the Blue Sun corpses the deceptively secure barricade wouldn't offer Shepard's team any more sanctuary it had the turians. There was little room for maneuverability; the pit was a murder hole.

"Hey Wrex, Zaeed, Williams ready to do some skeet shooting?" There was a playful smile on the Spectre's lips.

"I like the way you think, Shepard. Let's have some fun." Wrex laughed.

"Boom-stick ready and waiting, Skipper."

Both males loaded their rifles with incinerator rounds, waiting for the kill shots. Ash opted for cryo-rounds. Burn them to a cinder or freeze them solid. Either way the enemy was most certainly dead. The concept of the attack plan was easy; the women used biotic pulls forcing enemies into the air neutralizing them thus allowing Wrex and the two humans easy targets.

"Aleena pull those bastards out of their cover." Shepard ordered.

"Roger that, Spectre." The huntress confirmed.

Aleena and Shepard stretched out their arms; their bodies took on the familiar glow of biotics. Because they were standing so close together, the combination of human and asari 'lifted' five vorcha into the air, 'pulling' them towards them. A breath later their bodies exploded in a mass of orange mist. What was left was nothing but burning chunks of burnt meat still spiraling in the air by the mass field.

Shepard drew dark energy in, routed it though her new customized L5 amplifiers and gave it direction. The reave struck a charging varren's nervous system. It collapsed to the ground whining in its agony before it died.

Aleena's shockwave slammed into two more vorcha striking them like a sledge hammer. Even their regen-capabilities were not fast enough repair the damage swiftly enough to save them from shots fired in to their thick plated skulls.

What happened next came as a complete surprise to the vorcha, as Shepard surrounded her body with a barrier then triggered a 'charge'. The Spectre rushed straight at him, within the space of three steps her body became a cyan blur. Fueled with additional strength coursing though her body as she hit one of the skulking males and sent the thug flying. The vorcha smashed into a cement pillar with such force and momentum it became stuck in a 'stone angel' left by imprinted by its body.

Shepard assayed the area quickly; she spotted Aleena but neither men nor Williams were no longer near the barricade. "Call in."

*Wrex here.* the deep bass of the battlemaster crackled over the radio which was quickly followed by a confirmation from Zaeed. Both men popped up from small alcoves at opposite ends of the complex.

*Five by Five, Shepard.* Williams reported in.

"Damn fine maneuvering." the old bounty hunter complemented once he rejoined Shepard's side. "Always liked working along side biotic powerhouses."

Aleena smirked "You just like us doing all the heavy 'lifting' while you just splatter what's left."

"Too right."

"Cut the chatter," Shepard ordered. "We've cleared this section, we're not done yet. We still have to get to those environmental controls, double time it people."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

"I have a question." Tali asked the others of her squad who were now all seated within the common room of the apartment. "What's to stop Lawson from pulling a Shepard on us?"

"What do you mean?" Liara frowned. "They are _nothing_ alike. If Lawson was anything like Samantha was she'd never have joined an organization that instigates torture, monstrous experiments and xenocide."

"No, not like that. I mean the way Shepard thinks. Shepard wouldn't go directly into a trap, she'd go around it. Hell she'd march right up to the lair of her enemy and kick down his door and shoot the _bosh'tet _right in the face. And there'd be a couple of explosions along the way.

"Miranda Lawson is supposed to be some kind of ultimate model of humanity, superior genes, looks, biotics and everything. Right? Why do we think Lawson will come right in to a trap she doesn't even know where it is? Isn't she more likely to go where the _Normandy_ is docked and pound on the outer hatch and give herself up in trade for her sister's release?"

"Tali has a point. It's precisely what Shepard would do if someone were to take you Liara." Garrus said. "She'd go directly to the source, to where her enemy felt the safest. So why wouldn't Lawson?"

"Especially if she studied Shepard's records, her battles and methodology." Liara followed the line of reasoning. "Unless we make this a more desirable target."

Garrus scratched the back of his neck. "Shepard would never agree to bring the kid into a hot combat zone. Hell she won't even let the girl step a foot on Omega."

"All Lawson has to believe is that the girl is here." Liara said. "It is what we intended to do in the first place."

"We have to make this place more interesting to get Lawson's attention." Garrus nodded. "It won't be easy but we're going to have to get the notice of the three top merc bands on Omega and piss them off."

"You're talking about the Blood Pack, Blue Suns and Eclipse." Liara gasped. "You want to get into a war with them? That's insane!"

"Yes, which is why it will work. It always does for Shepard. The more insane it is the better it works, because no one thinks someone is crazy enough make the attempt much less pull it off." Garrus said confidently. "Lawson will rush here to save a sister she thinks is endangered because the mercs. Mercs I might remind everyone who sent to hunt down you and Shepard because of Cerberus and Udina."

"Okay." Liara said softly. "That can work, but the Blue Suns already know Shepard is in the quarantine zone. She's been fighting them as well as hordes of vorcha. There is no reason for them to think she is here in the Kima District."

Tali wrung her hands nervously, "But Shepard isn't the true target, Liara. You are. They simply have to know your location."


	49. Facing into the Storm

Chapter 49 Facing into the Storm

The vorcha and krogan were not as it seemed random thugs but belonging to the Blood Pack, identifiable by the skull on their mismatched armour. And like the scavengers they were the vicious marauders were feasting upon the poisoned skeletal remains of the district with impunity. The Blue Suns had all but been vanquished the deeper into the territory the companions delved. The only way to get to the environmental controls was to cross the courtyard, filled with the mercs.

"If I didn't know better. I'd say that squirrel on coffee was trying to get us killed." groused Williams.

The same nagging feeling that her 2IC voiced infiltrated Shepard's hindbrain. She wasn't so positive that the good professor hadn't done just that. But then if he had who would restore the power to the air filtration system and distribute the vaccine? Mentally slapping herself for the lapse in concentration that could get her killed or worse her squad mates the Spectre focused on the objective. "We split up as before Aleena and I serving as vanguards drawing out the targets, the rest of you create a flanking perimeter along the stairs. Wrex, you're Tail-End Charlie. Watch for rocketeers."

Creeping up the stairs both biotics activated the cloaking shields hardwired in their omni tools. They both flung stasis fields around two vorcha flamers, causing them to go paralytic. They would die by thermal clips fired from Williams and Zaeed. Set'em up, knock'em down: a proven tactic of asari commandos. Frontline vanguards rushed, stilled the opposition with _stasis fields_ or _pulls_ allowing squad mates to take the kill. It was no contest to gain the best points. This was no game; it was guerrilla warfare: huntress style.

Power swarmed around both Spectre and huntress fuelling their bodies with Ee-Zo which enhanced muscle and bone. Just as they came out of cloaking, they _stormed_ two more combatants.

"Get them! Get them!" screeched one of the vorcha troopers.

"This is how a real man fights!" roared a krogan vanguard just before charging.

"And this is how one dies!" Williams shouted back hitting the reptile with three sticky grenades. The orbs sailed like so many miniature baseballs through the air and adhered to the enemy's hardsuit's breastplate. Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

"Oh fuck!" the krogan rumbled, his hand seconds too late as he franticly tried to dislodge the gooey projectiles.

**Kablam-Splack! **

The krogan was felled but did not die. Orange blood oozed from a score of different places. Even as his body struggled to regenerate, he was losing more and more blood. It would have been better had he died instantly.

Aleena looked over her shoulder saw the pathetically dying male and delivered a merciful biotic kick to the shelled head. What followed was a sickening crack of hard bone and a frightfully satisfied grin on the asari's face.

The next eighteen minutes were a nightmare. Snatches of stop-motion scenes of violence, rocket blasts, the click-skrat of thermal clips slamming into place, gunfire, roars of battle cries and grunts of pain as shields were damaged or downed and the screams of the dying echoing long after Sergeant Death took its meat.

Shepard's squad hit the top of the stairs, HUD cams in the helmets showed no heat signatures of enemy reinforcements. For a moment the flagship ground team was in the clear. Shepard looked at her squad to ensure they were able-bodied. Mostly her focus was on the newest member. He was a proven warrior yes. But the tactics of a lone gunman vastly differed from that of a proven team mate. Shepard knew instinctively he could never be a good leader, too much of a loner. In these last moments he had proven that he wasn't a true team-player. Williams had been left open far too long before Massani closed the gap, and he never made the attempt to ensure the point positions were covered.

He was a grenade plain and simple. Just as deadly to the handler as it was to the enemy. Useful yes, deadly most definitely but not wholly trustworthy nor completely reliable. Use and toss. Perhaps this was why he had come recommended by both Wrex and Aleena. It was often times regrettable but sometimes, just sometimes you needed a trooper that was expendable. Zaeed Massani thus far fit that bill.

The hall stretched out into a dead end, save for two doors on either side. HUD cam indicated four maybe five life signs coming from the left. Better to neutralize the possible threat now than leave the rear flank open for attack. Shepard and Ash took either side of the door's threshold even as Wrex and Aleena readied their assault rifles. Ash slammed her omni-tool against the doors locking mechanism allowing Shepard to toss a flashbang in as per SOP. Just in case there were friendlies in the room, the low-yield grenade was nonlethal. A bitch to the eyes and ears but not deadly.

Five voices rose in curses. Batarians. First thought what the frack were they doing this deep in Blood Pack territory? Second thought. These were the trapped men that kid Daniel had gone to aid.

"Shoot..._cough…cough_…the hos. .._cough_…the hos…hostage!" one of the voices croaked out.

Five bodies scrambled or attempted to scramble to their feet. Most were dizzy, falling back down on their asses. One so disoriented toppled to the ground and remained there.

"Secure their weapons." Shepard ordered keeping her M-9 Tempest trained on the one she assumed was the leader, if only because he was the closest to Daniel's shivering body with a heavy hand gun in his hand.

Aleena and Ash darted in making swift work to disarm the disorientated batarians.

The leader quicker to regain his senses levelled his pistol at Daniel's head.

"Come any closer human and we put him down." a more confident voice barked. "This bastard came here to poison us."

"Wait!" the young man's yelped. "Wait! I came with the vaccine!"

"Liar!" Leader snarled.

'Are all batarians this stupid?' Shepard growled internally. One of the many reasons she actively despised the race. "Just think for a moment." She snapped. "If he was intent on unleashing the plague why the frack would he come into vorcha territory? They are immune."

"She's got a point, boss." said a voice of reason.

"We release him, we can go?" Leader kept his gun level at Daniel's head but his face was turned to the Spectre.

"You have my word." Shepard said tilting her head ever so slightly to the right, indicating a marginal if contemptible diplomatic respect for him. Or at very least the gun in his hand.

"Fine. Get out of here." The leader lowered his gun hand.

Daniel darted past him and practically ran into Wrex still loitering in the rearguard. "Thank you. Thank you…"

"Shepard. Special Tactics and Reconnaissance." her title caused the batarians to give nervous looks to each other. Her clipped voice brought all their sixteen eyes back to her. "Just get back to the clinic." the Spectre commanded to the human. "Dr. Solus is in need of your help, the clinic is over run with patients."

"Yes ma'am." the young man gave a look to the looming Krogan before darting down the stairwell. He practically expected to hear gun fire, but none came.

"We let him go. We're free now?" Leader diverted attention back to him.

"I gave my word, batarian. Leave."

"Nobility from a human, I didn't expect that." Leader said and much to his own surprise he hadn't scoffed at the honor shown him.

They held their hands out for their weapons but Shepard shook her head. "I said you can leave, I never said you'll be leaving armed."

"And if we run into trouble, Spectre?" the one dubbed Reason spoke up.

"I suggest you run." Williams supplied. "It's the batarian way to hit-low, snatch and run isn't it?"

Four jowly faces snarled at the slur, but they knew as it stood they were powerless to do anything but shout insults back.

Even as they were still filing out, Zaeed spoke out. "Damn mistake letting 'em off like that. Even unarmed, they'll only turn around and…."

"I gave my word." Shepard said coolly cutting off the old bounty hunter. The batarian thugs departed going in the same direction Daniel had disappeared. The way was mostly clear, even if they ran into trouble, there was that lingering dark part of the Spectre's mind that said: 'No great loss…' "Take the thermo clips, the rocket launchers, destroy the rest."

The weapons were piled in a stack on top of a crate where Ash tossed an incendiary grenade and shut the door behind her. There was a muffled POP, then nothing.

The right door. Multiple lifeforms appeared on the HUD in little ruby specks. "We do this in our own smash and run." Said the Spectre.

Hit and run, smash and run the tactics were virtually identical. As it stood it was the best option before the squad. The one rule of smash and run is to expend at least half your ammo outside your sweep area; that way the enemy is kept confused as to where you actually are—that and keep moving, do everything fast. You're always heavily outnumbered: surprise and speed are what saves you.

Ash and Zaeed were already loading their rocket launchers while Shepard called out orders. "Squad! By leapfrog! Biotics Advance!"

That left the human rocketeers with nothing to worry about for twenty seconds, so they jumped before discarded heaps of crates nearest their positions, raised the launcher to their shoulders, found targets in the upper balconies and pulled the first trigger to let rocket have a lock on its target, and pulled the second trigger and kissed it on its way, jumped back behind the crates.

Shockwaves ripped ahead of Aleena clearing a bloody swathe before her, tearing into a grouped pack of vorcha troopers, one of them a flamer. He fell hard against his fellows exposing the explosive pack on his back. The huntress saw the opportunity and took it. The stink of roasted flesh rose in the air born on a cloud of cloying black putrid smoke. The creature died with flames searing down his throat. He literally choked on fire. Those around him were caught in the explosion and ignited. Their bodies became brilliant torches assaulting the courtyard in ghastly illumination. Screams rose highly pitched and then suddenly deafeningly silenced.

At the same moment Aleena attacked with her shockwave, Shepard deployed a _warp-singularity_ at a charging krogan as she had the fraxon shark so long ago. The battlemaster deep in blood rage shrieked as he was flung back against a bulkhead. His shelled body was twisted and torqued in a way no krogan could bend gave momentary pause to even Wrex. Shepard's power had greatly intensified its yield of dark energy. Her _warp-field_ sustained tearing at the redundant organs within the enemy krogan. The results would be the same with reptile as it had the giant fish on Thessia. His organs liquefied. Death though instant was excruciating.

Wrex sprinted to the left flank, letting loose a barrage of gunfire. His own terrifying bloodrage roar reverberated off the walls. He sent his own biotic _slam_ into the masses, causing two varren and one vorcha to sail into the air only to crash down with enough g-force to shatter the skeletons into so many little shards of bone.

The enemy line had lost cohesion.

The flagship team continued to leapfrog: the biotics moved forward struck, then rockets, and finally the battlemaster. In this fashion they cleared the section and moved into the control centre proper. Here they paused for they were not attacked but spoken to.

"NO! You don't come here!" the vorcha leader screeched through his piranha teeth. "We shut down machines. Break fans. Everyone choke and die! Then Collectors make us strong." he held his fists near his emaciated exoskeleton torso as if to demonstrate the promise that had been given to them.

"What did the Collectors want?" Shepard demanded.

"Collectors want plague." the beast-man screamed in a voice that sounded as if the answer should have been self-evident. "You work for doctor. Turn on machines, put cure in air. We kill you first!"

The team scattered. Ash and Wrex rolled to the left attempting to take refuge behind the pillars separating the main chamber from the alcoves and nearly ducked right into enemy hands. The same was true for Zaeed who had gone to the right.

Shepard and Aleena fell back near the door of the core control room. With no overt cover; Aleena dropped to a crouch and erected a _bubble_ of pure dark energy to shield her commander and herself from the hail of gunfire raining down upon the position.

"Aleena, maintain it." The Spectre nearly ordered the others to fall back until saw the simmering orange shields covering both Wrex and Ash's hardsuits effectively causing the structural integrity to harden into power armor. As long as the power was active both soldiers were going to be incredibly hard to kill.

Both launched a couple of rockets into a nest of vorcha rushing from the left fan control center. With any luck one of the skulking bastards would be armed with a flamethrower. Rocket and flamer made for an explosive and quick end to saboteurs.

Leapfrog maneuvering was over. The advance had been pressed, all advantages of the prior assault gone. It was getting less healthy to remain anywhere even moving fast. The companions had an enormous advantage of being able to rampage in amongst the Blood Pack in a fashion that let the ground team fire at them without the fear of hitting each other while the enemy stood a great chance of hitting their own people in shooting at Shepard's people.

Nevertheless the vorcha were relentless, even barbequing their own men did not hamper them, did not derail their momentum. They simply closed the gap left by their dead and pressed forward. Wrex and Williams's supply of rockets had swiftly been depleted as had the grenades. They were now resorting to their rifles, as was Zaeed.

Aleena struggled to maintain the _barrier bubble_; it took all of her concentration thus prohibiting her from doing anything else. From all flanks the vorcha had taken the balconies, launching volley after volley of rocket fire.

Pinned down as they were, the Spectre became desperate to protect her squad, to push back the enemy. Instinctively her mind traveled along the length and breadth of Prothean knowledge sealed within her. Shepard's mind flashed suddenly with the memories of Regent Izu-Chuan.

She had been the Prothean overseer of Attican Beta Cluster of which the planets Feros and Quana in the Theseus system were a part. Izu-Chuan had initiated the Avatar Program. It was a highly controversial plan to best the galactic dominance and inevitable annihilation of all organic life by the Reapers. The Avatar Program relied on the success of the vinculum's capabilities to collect and store the consciousnesses of all those who had submitted.

Shepard's mind had been filled with countless memories of the Protheans. It had been the Cipher and the explosion of that first beacon that changed her mind forever. The Spectre not only had the beta waves of a Prothean, she had their biotic capabilities. Coupled with the affects of the gestalt, that power when released was unstoppable. It was in those memories, preservation and battle became a flare in Shepard's waking consciousness. She was no longer fully human nor did she think like one. Suddenly she knew exactly what to do, how to do it, but she needed more power.

'_Liara!" _Shepard sent through the bond_ "Link your biotics with me.'_ There was no hesitation only eager compliance from her bondmate. A surge of dark energy traveled through the mental connection pouring into Shepherd's body. "Squad, muster under the _barrier_. NOW!"

It took a second before compliance. Wrex and Williams retreated, scuttling backwards hurriedly to Aleena. Only Zaeed hesitated.

Shepard stepped forward to the rim of the _barrier bubble_. Both hands were held in front of her, her arms fully extended at shoulder height, her thumbs touching and her fingers splayed wide, she drew the life-force of her enemies into her waiting grasp, channeling them into her and absorbed their power. It was as a tsunami drawing back the vastness of the ocean before the unstoppable force surged hungrily onto the land. Shepard's eyes became the solid blue-white of an asari huntress.

Zaeed felt his chest clutch in pain, his body weakening. In sudden clarity he realized what Shepard was doing, his reluctance to obey the woman had nearly cost him his life. Falling backwards he crab-walked under the _barrier _Aleena was struggling to maintain. Wrex, a biotic as well lent his own _barrier bubble_ to strengthen the asari's. The _bubbles_ would protect them from the Spectre's _reave_

Aleena's own eyes went wide as Shepard unleashed the pulsating whirlwind of unstoppable fury. Great cyan waves of churning rushing unrelenting rage swept into the hordes of vorcha and krogan. The everlasting screams of the tormented filled the air in a flood of death. Bodies twisted, turned and rose spiraling into the air. It was a slaughterhouse. Bodies of the enemy were torn asunder.

Then it was suddenly silenced.

Smoldering piles of corpses littered the battlefield; the stink of burning flesh clung to the inside of nostrils as molten tar. Puddles of sticky orange blood seeped into the crevices of the floor. The Blood Pack were routed.

Shepard fell hard to her hands and knees, panting. Williams rushed out of the _bubble_ to her skipper's side but the Spectre pushed her aside. "I'm fine." she said between great gulps of air and gritted teeth. "Get to the air filters. Complete the mission."

This time it was Ash who hesitated. The others were almost fearful to move before Wrex ambled forward. He didn't know what just happened. He in all his centuries of life had not seen anything close to this. A biotic _pull-_and_ push _coiled into a s_ingularity _and had _warped_ forward. How was it even possible? It shouldn't be possible!

It unnerved the great battlemaster. More than that, Shepard actually managed to place fear into his heart. It was a feeling he had not experienced before. Not like this. Not even during the Rebellions had he ever seen such power. What was Shepard becoming? Disliking this feeling the battlemaster pushed ahead for the core's control systems. "Massani, Williams you heard Shepard. Get to the port and starboard fans get them started."

"Wait, what the fuck just happened? What the fuck was that? " Massani demanded.

Shepard was still drawing in great gulps of air and didn't answer. Tendrils of dark energy quietly and dimly spiraled around her limbs like electricity around Tesla coils.

It was Aleena who spoke. "The Protheans."

"The Protheans? What the fuck?"

"Massani!" Wrex barked. "You were given an order. Do it! You too Williams."

Ash gave a fleeting look to her commander and friend before springing to her designated location to comply with orders.

"Massani!" Wrex's second bellow broke the hypnotic hold of the bounty hunter's awe. With a lasting glance of her shoulder the old man sprinted to the starboard fan controls.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Liara was on her hands and knees. She felt every aspect of her body drained. Only once before had ever she felt her connection to her biotics so utterly exhausted. Forty years ago, Liara had suffered a biotic backlash from a Prothean security device when she attempted to open a vault door on Quana. It took her a full day to recover. She suffered a migraine and her body felt as if every muscle had been drawn so taut she feared they snap, her nerve endings infested with spider-ants biting and stinging as they spun their webs. This feeling now was more so.

It was all the more potent for the connection to Samantha. She could not help but experience her bondmate's fatigue on top of her own. Her head exploding with excruciating pain she had never felt before and at once Liara knew what it was, a migraine stemming from over exertion of an incredible amount of biotic power.

Liara knew her bondmate felt the crippling headaches from time to time, more so in her childhood than now because of the treatments for Cyan Syndrome. But Goddess the pain was overwhelming! How had Samantha ever survived with this torment, especially as a child? Liara gasped in pain, holding her head, willing the agony to leave her. Spots of searing white light sparkled and strobbed beneath her eyelids.

Garrus and Tali sprinted to the asari's side as soon as she toppled to her knees. Worried glances to each other spurred their next actions. Garrus scooped the agonized woman into his arms and carried her to the loft's bedroom and laid her down on one of the lower bunks. Tali sprinted to their food stores grabbed one of the blue-foil MREs and a canteen filled with a highly potent energy drink as well as one filled with water. She rushed back to the bedroom so quickly she dropped one of the canteens which clattered loudly to the floor causing her and Garrus to wince when Liara moaned in pain for the echoing sound of it. To her it must have seemed over a hundred decibels of sheer auditory torment.

"Sorry." Tali cringed and scooped up the offending container. She handed it to Garrus who opened it up and tried to bring it to trembling purple lips.

"Here, try and take a few sips," he said tenderly.

But Liara shook her head, as she curled up into a fetal position. Garrus looked over to Tali who shrugged; she was at a complete loss at what to do. He capped it and set it aside for the moment.

"It must be Shepard. Something happened to her." Tali said softly. "Something bad."

"You don't think…" Garrus couldn't bring himself to utter the words: 'she's dead.' It felt a betrayal to even think them.

"She's still alive." Tali said firmly, unwilling to entertain any other possibility. The unspoken words were there to read in the turian's face and Tali hated herself for thinking them as well. Even if it was just for a moment. "It's their link, their biotics. You saw it. Liara was all glowing then she stopped and fell. Shepard must have pulled a lot of energy from her."

"But why would Shepard need that kind of power? What was she fighting a thresher maw on foot?" the turian wondered aloud.

Tali shook her head. Gingerly she crept closer to Liara's prone form. "Liara, I know you don't want to but you should drink something. The juice or water. You need to get your electrolytes back up. You need to get hydrated. Just try, okay? It will make you feel better." Tali handed the last canteen to Garrus. "I promise."

A blue trembling hand reached out to take one of the canteens. Liara held it but she was shaking too hard to even attempt to bring it the short distance to her mouth. Garrus took over, he held the back of her neck to support her and tilted the mouth of the canteen over Liara's and spilled a small portion of the dark ruby liquid into her throat careful not to choke her. Some of it spilled down the corners of her mouth which Garrus wiped away with the pad of his thumb. He looked back over his shoulder to Tali, her body language mirrored his own expression. One of fear and worry.

If Liara was this bad, how much worse off was Shepard?

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Shepard swallowed back the wave of nausea and emptiness now consuming her. Never before not during that last battle at Elysium, not with Sovereign falling down upon her in the Citadel Tower had she used her biotics in such a way. Never had she encompassed such power. Never before had she felt the raw glory of dark energy filling her. Never before had she felt so utterly drained.

Someone touched her. It took several heartbeats to realize it was no friendly. The hand too rough, too strong to be anything but a krogan's and it wasn't Wrex.

"DIE!" The bestial battlemaster bellowed and then he threw her.

Shepard flew through the air, so fast so hard she had no time to brace herself for impact. She struck one of the supports of the left hand alcove, so hard it bent the metal. Though her hardsuit had taken the brunt of the abuse, it was only due to her reinforced skeleton and bio-synthetic organs that she did not die on impact. She landed with a hard bounce against the metallic floor and rolled to a stop.

She looked up to see a body coated in orange blood, it leaked from eyes, ears, it streamed from his great maw in steady rivers. His barrel chest was caved in as if by a great fist struck its center mass and yanked out his gut, leaving a dark blistered cavity behind.

Aleena's biotics were as exhausted as Shepard's. Nothing left. Her head dizzy from maintaining the barrier bubble to protect them all from the _warp-storm_. She could not stop him with biotics. A shaking hand reached for her Disciple shotgun.

The krogan had Shepard again by the back of the neck. Again he flung her into the support structure. There was no crash. No cry of pain, no onomatopoeic sound of meat and armour slamming into metal. Shepard flew! She flew up. Gravity betrayed the battlemasters great rage.

A shot rang out. The krogan looked down. Looked behind him and saw an asari teetering on unsteady feet holding a shotgun. He fell to his knees. The last image he saw as his head turned upwards was Shepard standing on the wall near the beam he meant to crush her against.

Aleena followed his gaze and laughed almost hysterically at the sheer absurdity of the situation.

The grav-locks! Of course!

Shepard had insisted that each hardsuit be equipped with the GLs. They were not on unlike mag-lock boots but didn't require a metal surface to function. In the GL training the soldiers of the _Normandy_ had learned to use the leveler to fall 'up' to slow their 'descent' to a controllable fall, then to fall 'down' again onto whatever surface they wanted if they desired to stay on it for awhile. The ground-troops partiality those without biotics learned that they were essentially using the equivalent to a biotic lift without a time limit. As Tali once explained the GLs do not level gravity as so much as lock it in a micro-fractional bubble. It neither creates nor alters the actual acceleration of gravity merely redirects it without loss.

In this case, when Shepard was thrown, she had microseconds to activate the GL allowing her to fall down onto the I-beam rather than slam into it. The effect was the amount of force of impact. The landing merely knocked the wind from her lungs again rather than suffer head and spinal trauma.

She staggered down the surface of the support structure until she met the floor and deactivated the GL.

"Damn good thing you remembered that." The huntress said nodding to the small discus sized device on Shepard's utility belt.

"You're telling me. Good shot by the way."

"Easy shot." Aleena corrected. "Nothing like shooting a corpse with even more holes than he already has."

The others came running even as the asari finished speaking. "We heard shots fired, and a roar. What the hell's going on? Skipper you all right?

Shepard shook her head. "I'm fine. The battlemaster here didn't know he was dead. Aleena and I just had to explain it to him."

Wrex was still wary of the power he witnessed but Shepard was his friend. And he trusted her. "Looks like you got tossed around a bit."

Shepard nodded.

"Ah the wonders of redundant organs."

Shepard rubbed the back of her bruised and sore neck. "Yeah humans don't have that."

"Must have hurt like hell then." Wrex snorted sympathetically.

"I'll live." It should have hurt like hell. The pain only lasted moments before she was on her feet, this wasn't right. Something was wrong. The Spectre felt queasy but…she should be out cold. "I hear the fans kicking in." Shepard changed the subject. "I take it we have joy on the vaccine disbursement."

"All systems are go." Williams confirmed. She took a step closer to her CO. "Skipper, are you sure you're okay? Seriously you look like you're going to pop your cookies."

Shepard gave her a look.

"I'm just saying."

"Zip it Williams." the voice suddenly became stern. It was the voice of command and filled expectations of obedience. "Let's get back to the professor. He'll want to know about this."

"Pretty damn sure the Professor already knows about the enviro-units coming back on line. What I want to know about is how in hell you pulled off that biotic _storm_, Shepard. And what the god damn hell did your lackey mean it was Prothean?" Zaeed Massani growled.

"Need to know, Massani and right now you don't need to know the details." Shepard said utterly dismissing the older human. "We have a beta team we need to rendezvous with, a professor to get back to my ship and an operative to collect. I neither have the time nor patience to explain anything to you this moment. We move out."

Wrex and Ash having known their commander longer, knew Shepard was not only hiding the pain her body was in but her own fears of what had just happened. How she was able to control such enormous biotic power. They could read it in her electric blue eyes, Shepard was terrified of it. In those orbs they also saw dread for her beloved bond-mate. She was all but chomping at the bit to return to Liara's side. Whatever the Spectre had done had equally affected T'Soni.

"Here." Aleena handed Shepard one of her protein bars knowing as a medic that had she told the human to eat the suggestion would have been dismissed or rather placed: 'yeah in a moment' category. Handing Shepard a half unwrapped bar, she'd automatically bite into it and eat it without noticing she was doing so. Considering the bars left the mouth feeling father dry and gritty feeling, Shepard would take care of drinking from her canteen on her own.

Shepard's mind boggled. Why wasn't she in more pain? Why wasn't she incapacitated? Hell, she shouldn't even be moving; her head should be killing her. The neurological, biological and implant upgrades to stave off Cyan Syndrome should not have completely taken away the after effects of what she had done.

The voices of her companions droned on and on as she sought out the solutions to the questions she already knew the answers to. Liara had taken her pain, taken her exhaustion, her suffering from the biotic backlash_._

"She aint talking, but you three know what the hell happened back there. I want answers." Zaeed demanded. "What the frack was that? And don't give me no Prothean bullshit either."

"Shepard said need to know, you'll know when and if she's ready to let you know, Merc." Williams shot back. "Not before then."

"I knew signing on to this crew would be bad news." Massani groused. "All I can say you people better damn well deliver your end of the bargain."

"Shepard keeps her word." Wrex rumbled.

There was no response from their leader either to confirm that Massani was to have his Intel, orders to keep his teeth together or walk. Nothing. Not that the members of the ground crew actually expected her to, at least not after that _storm-wave_ she had created. Her distraction was understandable. The three who knew her wanted answers just as much as Massani did, and the answer of the Protheans was getting old and very worn. But if Shepard didn't understand how she came to use such a phenomenal force how could she explain it to anyone else?

'_Liara_.' Shepard whispered through the bond that linked her soul to her beloved. '_Liara this isn't your pain. Love, pull up your barriers. Do not suffer this.'_

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

"Not until you're out of that…place." Liara swallowed hard. The migraine was so intense it was difficult to talk, to think to do anything but succumb to the pain.

Garrus looked quizzically at his friend. "Liara?"

"I said no!" Liara's hands flew up to her skull. Her eyes screwed shut her teeth gnashed together. "**Argh**."

Tali grabbed Garrus by the arm. "I don't think she's talking to us."

"You think she's talking to Shepard? I thought that was all in here." he tapped his head. "It's all internalized."

"She's probably not aware she's talking aloud." Tali answered. "Something happened when Liara was all glowing. I don't know what Shepard did, but it had to be big. Something to do with biotics that created one hell of a backlash."

"Like what happened to them when their baby was killed and the scare with CS." Garrus responded. "Spirits, that was barely a month ago and yet it seems like it happened a hundred years ago."

"I don't think it does to either of them. They are still suffering from their baby's death. Their hearts still are mourning." Tali murmured. "The shock of the attack, connected to their child's soul when she died, then trauma of CS, there is only so much pain a person can take before…"

"…before their friends pick them up, dust them off." Garrus finished the thought. "When Shepard admitted what was going on with her, I looked up more on Cyan Syndrome. It was damn lucky Chakwas caught it in time before permanent damage set in."

"I know." Tali uttered softly. "I did it too."

They hadn't been the only one on the flagship ground team that had done a bit of research. In fact all of them had. What they discovered about the illness was profoundly troubling. Victims of CS suffered devastating emotional states. All emotions were felt with such intensity it became overwhelming. Even if Shepard was only borderline CS sufferer she had been prone to the early affects of the illness. And they had seen how turbulent her emotions were: swift anger which should only have been a mild annoyance. Rage from anger. Inconsolable sorrow from sadness, the love of friendship into luminous lust, what was pure love became possessive jealously guarded passion.

All that was little more than a month ago. This whole exercise with capturing Miranda Lawson had been birthed during Shepard convalescence from CS. While fundamentally the capture of an enemy agent was a sound idea, the rage that coincided with it was troubling. But the Shepard's team would go along with it, not because it was expected but because they believed in her. She was a part of them even as they were a part of her.

At the end of the day, they were just that a team whose connection was stronger than family. What worried the rest had it been Shepard's visceral reactions against Cerberus for that was explainable as was not only her own angst she was feeling but Liara's as well. Shepard and T'Soni were so connected, what happened to one happened to the other. What one felt so too did the other, physically and emotionally. Shepard's obsessive drive to take Lawson came from Liara's insatiable hunger for revenge.

In truth, it was Liara's reaction that become greater the concern, for in some aspects she was not the young asari they knew a year an a half ago. T'Soni had become a woman of rage and vengeance. Gone was the sweet innocent, socially awkward archaeologist found in a Prothean security bubble on Therum, in her place was a woman who would not hesitate to flay someone alive with her mind.

Liara's reaction now was the prime disquiet. The bond with Shepard had debilitated her with crippling migraines. Her body was responding as if suffering from physical trauma and fought to repair injuries that were not there.

"Liara," Tali tried reasoning with the older woman. "I know you're trying to help Shepard, but you can't, not this way. Your body isn't hurting, there is nothing wrong with you, but there will be if you don't filter the bond. I know Shepard wants you to, so listen to her and block out her pain. Without knowing how injured she is she'll do even more damage to herself. On top of that she can't be treated properly if you don't."

"Where she is, if I let go of her pain and return it to her, she will be vulnerable." Liara asserted.

"Then do so gently, not all at once." Garrus suggested. "But she needs to know her limitations."

Part of Liara's imagination toyed with what Shepard's response might be to such a statement. That she couldn't afford to have limitations. In that moment she saw her beloved crawling, inching her away across war torn ground, her body broken, bloody breathing its last as she struggled to finally put an end to the Reapers. And as she stopped them, explosions and destruction all around her, her life eking out like the blood from a gaping wound. The dog tags she wore rose from a crushed chest…

'You will not end like that.' Liara vehemently swore. 'All our little blue babies need their sire.'

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

A flash of anxiety stuck Shepard hard before it was peeled back and controlled. '_Li? It's okay, the way is safe I'm not in danger._' She responded mistaking her bondmate's dread of her immediate situation rather for the future nightmare Liara had entertained. '_We have Morden and on the way back to Omega proper. Liara you must stop. Pull the filters up to our link."_

'_I'll try.'_

Shepard grunted. Her breath came in pants of air. It was getting shallower. Pain lanced her mind causing her to fall to her knees.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

The color was rapidly returning to the asari's face now and her breathing was becoming deeper ad more regular. "Good Liara. Keep blocking the bond, you'll get better." Tali took Liara's hand.

The pain in Liara's head was already leaving. "I'm so sorry Samantha." she whispered more to herself than the others. Even if they had not heard the words, Tali and Garrus heard the guilt in the tone of the asari's voice.

"You did was for the best, for both of you Liara." Garrus tried to soothe. "Her suit's computer will register her vitals and Chakwas will be aware of what's going on and can treat her properly now. The doc was probably concerned over your false readings."

"It made her vulnerable, when she can not afford it." Liara lamented.

"What she can't afford is not knowing her limitations." Garrus pointed out. He thought asari were supposed to be the smartest in the galaxy. But sometimes Liara could be incredibly dense. A look to Tali and he amended his last thought. It was the act of love that caused both Liara and Shepard to do stupid things. Would he do the same for Tali, he hoped he had the courage to do so.

He was a turian it was expected of him to protect his squad, to die for them if necessary, certainly to kill for them. If there was one person still alive at the end of the battle it was worth it. So few other races got that, the krogan did surely but the others not so much. Garrus always thought he made a rather poor turian. Not because he was unwilling to kill and die for his squad but because sometimes he didn't follow orders. At least he hadn't in C-Sec, he had failed there. But out here with Shepard he was a good…man.

He looked to Tali once more and knew deep in his gizzard he'd be as stupid in attempting to shield her, protect her as Liara and Shepard. He'd do it not because he was a good man or a lukewarm turian but because he loved her.

He. Loved. Her!

"She's not alone, Liara. Ash, Wrex and Aleena are with her, they will make sure she's…okay." Garrus whispered softly knowing that Liara needed to hear the words.

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

The entire lower half of the viewing window was filled with the semispherical edge of red giant class M star. The brilliance nearly dominated the field of stars behind it and gave the inner sanctum of the Illusive Man's base a rather (and some would say appropriate) sinister glow.

To the kingpin of Cerberus it was the epiphany of what the galaxy truly was. Beautiful, glorious and most certainly deadly. The star was in its last vestiges of its six-billion lifecycle. When it gave up the ghost it would implode upon itself creating a massive black hole in its corpse. Whereas its birth had created moons, planets and asteroids, its death would wipe them all out. The entire system would collapse, for nothing could escape its gravitational pull into darkness.

The Illusive Man was not going to allow that to happen to humanity. He had promised this long before when Hislop and Core were killed more thirty years ago. They died as they lived protecting humanity to the last. And what they helped discover not only confirmed everything the Illusive Man believed then and now. It proved to him beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is something out there to protect humanity against.

Years ago a turian named Desolas brother to Saren had warned humans that the stars look warm and inviting to humanity. Places to be explored, knowledge to be hand, riches to be made. But humans will not always be welcome. Those who came before may not be willing to share. It was as always the inevitable way of things.

There is nothing more elusive than the obvious fact. Thirty years ago The Illusive Man knew a dark time was coming and humanity tested. At the time he did not know who would be doing the testing or why, only that humanity had to be ready to meet the challenge. Humanity had to meet all others and succeed because to do anything else would be inhuman.

That was when the Cerberus manifesto began, the vow to watch the dark places-and bring illumination. To make it happen technology had to be mastered. Tools that humanity had to master. Not just to survive but for the betterment of mankind. Thirty years ago the Illusive Man made the promise - humans can and will take their rightful places in the stars. It was his manifesto.

His words had stirred hundreds, nay thousands over the years. The opportunity to avenge the wrongs from the First Contact War had filled the ranks of Cerberus troopers. Seemingly limitless budgets and top-of-the-line equipment and resources brought in engineers, scientists and specialists. Opportunities brought in many more, havens from the oppressive alien conformists had brought still more eager personnel in. And some came because they needed, wanted hope. To them Cerberus was a sanctuary.

The Illusive Man took a long drag from his cigarette, pulling in the smoke to fill his lungs before hissing it out in a plume of blue-gray haze. Miranda Lawson had been at sixteen one of the latter. She sought out the Illusive Man to help her save her baby sister form her father. She vowed her service to the Cerberus Manifesto if only little Oriana was saved.

Hennery Lawson had grown complacent and rebellious. Taking his daughter from him, a daughter he would not have had had it not been for Cerberus's clandestine scientific resources was poetic justice. The Lawson legacy was within Miranda's DNA, which she submitted in accordance to standard operating procedures. A legacy that would be adapted as needed.

The babe was handed to two employees at Hislop and Core Corporation on Illium so she might live a normal life. It was not an unreasonable request and the benevolence to the teenager was granted. In return Cerberus had gained an exemplar agent, moulded into the perfect operative by the Illusive Man's personal mentorship.

Until now. Lawson had gone AWOL.

Perhaps it was the Lawson Legacy at work, not the perfect genes, but becoming rebellious and complacent in the power given because of station. Kelly Chambers a seemingly benign girl had been sent to Lawson's ship to watch the operative and report back her emotional state. After a rather disturbing and albeit juvenile taunting from none other than Commander Samantha Shepard: Council Spectre, Lawson's demeanour radically changed.

She had become more cold and withdrawn, making her former Ice Queen reputation look warm and cosy by comparison. Any minor infraction by the crew was severely punished. It appeared to the Illusive Man that the plain to push Shepard over the brink had backfired substantially and struck Lawson full on.

And he knew why. His agents on the asari world gave a very concise report that Lawson's sister had been taken by the Spectre and a team of asari commandos. Lawson was behaving precisely the way Shepard should have after the death of her asari lover's child-a rebellion reengaged. Chambers admitted she was growing concerned for Lawson's mental and emotional health. When asked if Miranda's loyalty to The Cause was in question, Chambers denied it.

For now the orders stood, allow Lawson to feel as if she were off the lead and allowed to run and rescue her sister. When his errant operative caught up to Shepard, he'd reel them both in.

He took another long pull from the cigarette caught between his fingers. His attention now focused on the discoveries of Dr. Chandana in the Thorne system of the Hawking Eta cluster. The 37 million year old Reaper has been a boon to Cerberus's long term agendas. If was only after Shepard's proclamations did the Illusive Man understand truly what they had in their possession. A Reaper, just like Sovereign. Only this one was dead, a derelict and ripe for the plucking.

"Sir. I have growing concerns of the Reaper's continued capabilities of indoctrination. My people are still suffering from headaches and now they seemed to be sharing memories."

"_Your_ people, Doctor?" The Illusive Man drank in more smoke from the cigarette. "The WNISCE and HAARP ceased being effective?"

WNISCE-White Noise Indoctrination Stimulus Control Experimentation. Based upon the documentation study of Reaper victims. It was an effective means to insure utter obedience in the new cloned shocktroopers. HAARP the acronym for High Frequency Active Aural Research Program was yet another technology based upon mind control. This one born from the research of one of Earth's greatest scientists, Nichola Tesla which was carried on extremely low frequency (ELF) radio waves. Cerberus scientists had discovered this was how the Thorian controlled their thralls. The Illusive Man ordered counter measures. Measures he had ordered Chandana's team employ against possible Reaper influence.

"Sir, those measures have been exhausted by the Reaper's still active capabilities."

"And what of the specimens? Any change in their reactions." The Illusive Man did not allow his voice nor face to give way to his emotional state. After all this time the 37 million year old Reaper was still capable of influencing minds. Astonishing! It was an inconvenient accounting that his people had to suffer its effects, but sacrifices were necessary. As many sacrifices as were needed to protect humanity and ensure its advancement and dominance.

"Yes sir. Very intriguing results sir. There was submission from them for a week before the Reaper reasserted its control."

The Illusive Man's face grew grim. "Unfortunate that you are unable to extend this dominance and thus failed so abysmally. Fortunately you are an intelligent man and understand there is a benefit to failing, you learn from it. So you will understand that Cerberus can broker no further failures. I will further remind you your task is not only to uncover this Reaper's technology but to overcome its overall control over its thralls. It is imperative we find away to assume direct control. The future success of Cerberus forces depends upon your successes here, Dr Chandana. Humanity is counting on your successes to safeguard them against further threats. "

"Yes sir. I understand that. But the fact is while we can use partial husk-convergence on the tank-bred clones to create the Centurion and Guardian class troopers, we simply do not have the means to employ this on minds already fully developed without causing severe brain damage. Drug therapy can only go so far. And whatever discoveries that rogue Spectre Saren might have uncovered on Virmire was destroyed when Shepard nuked the place.

"I know of a salarian doctor by reputation, a Professor Mordin Solus. I have read many of his journals. He made extensive studies in the field of Reaper indoctrination and other methods of mind control. Perhaps if we consult with him, he may see a flux in the patterns we do not."

The cigarette in the Illusive Man's fingers was now a butt that he extinguished in the inset ashtray in arm of his chair. "That may be an avenue we may be forced to take. Continue your work Doctor." With a flick of his finger he cut the com-link to Chandana.

Perhaps a fresh perspective was due. Rather than looking at a new pair of eyes, the direction Cerberus should be going into wasn't so much as knowledgeable men but where the technology came from. The Collectors had superior tech for a millennia, tech with Reaper foundations. Tech that allowed the insectiods to leapfrog into new frontiers of sciences and warfare. The specimens recovered from Freedoms Progress were a prime example of the capabilities of the Collectors utter dominance over their prisoners.

Cerberus needed that technology in order to succeed, in order for humanity to succeed. They had to catch the Collectors during a raid, and more The Illusive Man needed the data stored within the bugs' computers. How to gain it however was another issue entirely.

Another command was tapped into the keyboard, one that brought up captured images of the Collectors taken by that quarian kid.

Of course!

Nothing was as elusive as the obvious fact.

The Collectors were desperate to capture Shepard. All that had to be done was to let a few doctored details slip on the extranet, the Collectors were sure to pick it up and investigate. They had shot down the original _Normandy_ (before the names were changed by that farcical coup pulled by the Council) believing Shepard to be aboard. When they did not find the body of the Spectre in the wreckage, they placed her capture on the back burner as it were.

Their primary agenda was the harvesting of human lives. For whatever purpose was still vexingly unknown. It wasn't enslavement, any race could have been chosen for that. It had to be something more nefarious. The Geth had been choice because they were not simply servile they were synthetics and infinitely more reliable than the bio-synthetic keepers.

But why humans?

Thus far there was no pattern to which colony in the Terminus Systems would be next. If somehow, the Illusive Man could force them to strike a particular target. One Shepard was on; she would put a stop to their action hopefully mid way through their attack just as she had with the pirates on Elysium. This meant key pieces of Collector tech would be left behind, which meant Cerberus agents could reap the benefits from the interrupted harvest. Shepard then pursues the Collector vessel, boards her and seizes control of her data banks. The data if Lawson was in the right place at the right time would come back to the hands of humanity's truest protector, The Illusive Man himself.

Lawson's redemption in her going AWOL lay in her retrieving that data. The execution of the plan could not have been better had it been deliberately orchestrated by the Illusive Man's own mind. Shepard was deliberately inviting the viper into her midst and willing it to bite her. Or so it would appear. What intrigued The Illusive Man the most was that humanity's first Spectre seemed to be playing the Game for the Game's own sake. But surely Shepard's honor and superlative self-righteousness would never allow her to be so extraordinarily duplicitous.

And if she were, who then was her mentor?

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

Miranda knew time was not an ally and that it was only a matter before it caught up to her. She had gone AWOL, but how much of a leap was it to assume she had gone rogue as well? The Illusive Man would assume the worse and send another agent after her. Not Jacob Taylor, he was more prone to volunteer his aid in her endeavour rather than reel her back in. The Illusive Man was more likely to send Kai Leng.

Next to her he was one of Cerberus top wet-works operatives. And like her, he was discreet, and knew how to plan and implement complex and delicate operations. Unlike her he was a callous ruthless killer with a strong predilection for brutality. That slippery sadistic little bastard, Mirada despised him.

Best to be prepared to expect him. Better to be cunning and capricious when dealing with the likes of Leng, more so now than ever before. She'd have to be just as cunning and capricious against Shepard. The Spectre proved able to wield such capabilities with her deceptions back on Ilos with the dropping of the Geth ship on the retrieval operations, and again on Illium when she took Oriana. Shepard had an extraordinary military mind, keen and very duplicitous.

The trap she set up on Omega would not be straight forward. How upsetting it would be to walk-up unarmed to the _Normandy's_ docking bay and surrender herself in exchange not only for Oriana's safe return but her freedom.

It would not be so easy as that, the _Normandy_ would be docked within a hidden place and cloaked. Shepard would want to be found but it would be in a location far from the public and innocent lives as not to be caught in the crossfire.

Gaining the knowledge of that location meant dealing with the one person Miranda disliked dealing with nearly as much as Kai Leng but for different reasons. Aria T'Loak the Pirate Queen

MEMEMEMEMEMEME

AN1: Sam's Prothean biotic attack in the environmental control room is taken directly from the inspirational asari's melee attack in MP. As was the moments my squad managed to put in stasis, reave, pull and use lift grenades on a target at the same time. I have Sam doing something similar here though without the aid of lift-grenades for a bit of drama. As for the Prothean power, Sam used and the words some may say "Javik couldn't do that." Well Javik was a soldier, we don't know what a Prothean adept is capable of. Remember I set in my own fanon that all Protheans like all asari have biotics; some simply do not choose to fully train in it. Javik didn't specialize in it as an adept would have.

AN2: Love ME3 Multiplayer! Truly helps to work with a proven and trusted squad. Though they may not have known it my squad of whom I've grown fond of helped me immensely to picture combat in my mind. Cookies all around…especially to our captain, who is a very good and proven leader and our second in command, who ensures no one is left behind. (Picked up a ton of points because of her actions.)


	50. Shadow Storm

Chapter 50: Shadow Storms

Cerberus had seeded operatives through nearly every branch of the Alliance government since its inception. There was almost no place in Council space any target could run where they wouldn't eventually be tracked down. Their agents were everywhere. Even though the Illusive Man never managed to gain a foothold on the enormous space station of Omega he had positioned a few lower rung agents.

They had to maintain an exceptionally high cover for Cerberus's well-known radical pro-human agenda did not make them popular amongst alien warlords, gang leaders. Still there were a few lingering on the station who were sympathetic to The Cause. Still word of Lawson going AWOL might have reached even their ears by now. It wasn't a risk worth taking, not with Oriana's safety teetering in the balance. As it was she only had a very small window before the Illusive Man sent agents after her.

If she had anyway of finding where Shepard had hidden herself, there was little option for Miranda Lawson to do anything but go to the Pirate Queen Aria T'Loak. Going to T'Loak was a very dangerous maneuver. But if anyone knew where Shepard was and what the Spectre was up to it would be her. Nothing happened on Omega without T'Loak knowing about it. This meant Shepard had to have dealt with her. If the Illusive Man taught Miranda anything it was that when dealing with criminal elements that if a deal was stuck then a great one could be made. The only one easier to manipulate than the greedy was someone who was altruistic with emotional and personal ties.

Time and again the Illusive Man cautioned his top agents from creating connections, attachments to anything but the Cause. And Lawson had agreed there was effective wisdom in those words. That wisdom was more evident now more than ever. Lawson would never call herself altruistic but she was a fundamentalist, and she believed fully in the Cause. But she had been easily manipulated because of her unwillingness to let go of Oriana.

Everything she had done since she was sixteen had been for her little sister, to give her a normal life, to see her protected. All of which the Illusive Man made happen. He allowed Miranda to become part of something greater than herself, gave her a cause to believe in. The Illusive Man never said something couldn't be done; he gave his people the resources and expected them to do it. He once told Miranda, missions could either be talked about or done. He preferred they be done. Let the Alliance military brass-monkeys talk all they wanted about their missions, the true dogs of war knew how to do things.

So did Pirate Queens.

Her men were looking for Miranda. No sooner had the operative's transport docked than she was confronted by a batarian demanding that she accompany him to see Aria immediately. To enforce the Queen's proclamation he brought with him two turians and an asari. The former held assault rifles the latter glowed with the cyan of biotics.

Considering she wanted an audience with the Pirate Queen she found the show of force overplayed and unnecessary. No doubt T'Loak had facial recognition surveillance equipment targeting her specifically, which was why the goon squad was on her tail so quickly. Of course she could have done what several agents did and utilized a disguise but that would have been counter productive to her ultimate goal which was to find Shepard and reclaim her sister.

She half expected to be paraded through the lower bar like an inmate on death row. 'Dead woman walking.' Instead she was led though a darkened alcove hidden by being right out in the open and made to be unimportant and unassuming. The corridor opened into a private room where an ancient krogan was speaking to a couple of asari patrons. From the snatches of conversation Miranda heard the old male seemed to be reminiscing about the good old days about how to murder someone's entire family in front of them just to make sure they came out mad and easier to kill.

"The Patriarch," scoffed one of the turians. "One of Aria's trophies. Maybe she'll collect you too, Cerberus." Apparently the others found this comment to be immensely funny given their boisterous laughter.

Little ceremony was spent with introductions. Aria was lounged upon the sofa as if she were sat upon a gilded thrown. Her arms stretched over the back of the settee with the air of an empress or a goddess from descending from Mount Olympus. Or given her species from the arms of Athame. Her violet skin had an unearthly glow cast from the neon lights of her dominion. The Heart of all Evil.

"Cerberus bastards are no better than petty thieves on my station" Aria's voice was a low whisper. "You come into the galaxy, thinking to dominate it and what you cannot dominate you corrupt, destroy. No, your kind are not petty thieves, you are far worse than the vorcha."

"The vorcha are vermin. They have no cause save for their nest pay check. They have no loyalty not even to their own kind." Miranda countered. "Cerberus has a cause, we insure humanity is protected. We are guardians."

"So tell then why is humanity's first Spectre hunting you?" Aria challenged. "Humanity pushed for Spectreship for two decades, now that you have one you want her destroyed. Why?" the queen smiled as she answered her own question with more. "Because she refused to be corrupted by you? Or is it because she took an alien as a bondmate?"

Miranda had no answers.

"The killing of her daughter was that another punishment for breeding with a non-human?"

Again no answer was forthcoming, Aria didn't expect one. "If I were Shepard and had it been my daughter executed, I would not have bothered with such an elaborate scheme to trap you. I would have allowed you to walk through the doors of my dominion. I would have allowed you a single glimpse of your sister just before I snuffed out her life making you stand helpless and impotent to stop her blood from spilling."

"Of course there is nothing stopping me from administering a little Omega justice upon you. But first I will have answers. How did you get the vorcha to carry out your will? What promises did Cerberus make them?"

Miranda expression of distain for the Pirate Queen's threat over Oriana changed into to frown of confusion and denial. "Cerberus has had no dealings with the vorcha. We had nothing to do with this plague, I assure you."

"Assurances? Do you think your guarantees mean anything? You are apart of a prohuman hate-group! You were here for nearly a month: time enough to make certain alliances, certain promises to very gullible vermin. Of course the likelihood of the vorcha coming out of the quarantine zone in force was minimal at best. And when the Blood Pack emerged who would believe their claims that a purely xenophobic pro-human group made such promises? Clever of your Illusive Man.

"As for the plague…are you going to stand there and tell me _Operative_ Lawson that Cerberus does not have a bioweapons division? Are they not working on the manufacture of devastating weaponry to deploy on any nonhuman colony or as you Cerberus folk like to call us…freaks?"

The expression held in the human's blue eyes turned to shame; her hand strayed to her left collarbone scratching just under it. "There are some in the organization that use that term yes. And we have many divisions devoted to ensure humanity's survival. But Cerberus had nothing to do with the plague…"

"SILENCE!" Aria snarled. "I will hear no more of your lies, human" Aria quickly threw a stasis bubble around Miranda. "Anto, Liselle seize her. If the human Spectre wants

Lawson, she can have her. _After_ I have my answers." a coy smile slipped on the purple-blue face. "I warn you, I will not be gentle."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMM EMEMEME

Liara woke with a soft touch of her lover's hand caressing her scalp and tender lips pressing against her cheek as the subtle scent of her bondmates's musk filled her nose and she smiled. For a moment she thought she was in her own bed in their quarters on the _Normandy._

But the wisps of sleep were swept away as the waking world seeped intrusively in. The sounds were all wrong, the acrid scent of stale air brought Liara back to full reality. She was in the apartment complex given to them by Aria. Why did Samantha have to wake her up? She was having such a beautiful dream. She and her beloved were aboard a single ship getting lost within the Great Void, the Reaper War long over and truly behind them. The floor of their quarters littered with children's toys, which Liara was busily picking up. Samantha was stretched out upon the sofa with two little girls identical to each other. They were nestled on either side of their arda as she read to them from an old Earth storybook titled 'Green Eggs and Ham.' It was such a lovely gentle dream.

The eyes Liara woke to were welcoming; the setting was not, the reminder of why she was here was not. Liara snapped up suddenly recalling another fact. "Samantha! You're…"

"Better." Shepard finished for her bondmate. "I'm okay. Really. And Mordin is safely aboard the _Normandy_ working with the science team to find away to circumvent the seekers." she touched her lover's cheek and pressed her forehead against Liara's. From their bond Liara could sense the truth in this. She found herself relaxing and yet perplexed.

"Samantha what was it that you did? How did you accomplish such a feat?"

The human shook her head. "I don't fully understand it myself. I just knew. Something from the Cipher. I knew what to do…to _reave_ energy from the enemy and send it out in a great _shockwave_ or rather a very broad _annihilation field_. "

"It was a _tsunami_." Liara corrected.

Shepard nodded her head conceding the point. The way it swept through the masses of the enemy was a biotic equivalent of a _tsunami_. There was no other way to put it. While similar to the biotic annihilation field in which the user creates a damaging 360 degree area of effect field that harms enemies that step into it and detonated to blast enemies. What Samantha had performed was beyond that. It was as if this rediscovered technique combined the effects of a biotic _storm _and _annihilation field _and empowered not simply by the user's own biotic prowess but by reaving the enemy's life-force. The greater the number of enemy combatants the stronger the _tsunami_ force became.

If Shepard had not been linked to Liara there would have been far greater consequences. As it was, it had knocked both Shepard and Liara down for several hours before they managed to recuperate the physical and mental drain the use of the power left upon them. No wonder Prothean practitioners only preformed this technique with a full company of soldiers, for they would have been utterly vulnerable after unleashing it. Had the protheans several squads of these _tsunami_ casters they would surely have decimated whole platoons of enemy lines. The question was - could it be used against the Reapers?

Liara for a moment thought of her people. She envisioned whole companies of asari commandos utilizing the _tsunami_ tactic against the onslaught of Reaper abominations. They could rip tides though entire legions. "By the Goddess, Samantha you must share this knowledge!" she said suddenly. "Teach it to the commandos on the _Normandy_."

Sam's face contorted into an indefinable expression. "I…I don't think I can." she held up her hand to forestall words of protest that were already forming on her bondmate's lips. "It's not that I'm unwilling to, I don't know how to. It's like Shiara said it is like trying to explain colour to someone without eyes. I know how to do this only because of the memories within the Cipher and those of the Vinculum."

Liara stood up abruptly, her mind working at a whirlwind fury even as she started pacing. "A knowledge bond! You already shared one with Shiala. If you were to do so again you can show her how you able to create the _tsunami_, she in turn can share this with other commandos." she grabbed Samantha's hands and held them tightly. "Tell me, you will do this. You will give my people this knowledge. When the time comes to face the Reaper hordes it will give us a fighting chance."

"Of course I'll share it with Shiala," Shepard squeezed the hands holding hers captive. "She must already possess this knowledge via the Cipher. The Vinculum only gave me a better understanding of it. Or at least I think so. I don't know." Sam rubbed the back of her neck and shrugged. "All I know is that one moment we were being overrun by enemy numbers and in bad positions with no true cover. They had us hemmed in a perfect kill zone. And the next I simply knew what I had to do. I knew it was a prothean adept's technique and how to do it. But if Aleena and Wrex hadn't been there to create a _bubble_ the team would have fallen." Shepard looked away clearly disturbed that she nearly killed her own people.

Liara took her bondmate's chin into her hand and turned her face so blue eyes met blue eyes. "But they didn't **because** you took the necessary precautions Samantha. You knew the risk of using the _tsunami_. And now we know the consequences to the user after deploying it."

"And then some." Again the Spectre's face was awash with an expression Liara knew well: Shepard's internal battle with guilt.

"It is a risk that needs to be explored now we know the dangers of using such a powerful technique. Asari who share such powerful bonds will need to take care to give strength to one another and to share the burden of aftereffects. You have seen first hand on the _Normandy_. The commandos do not have the bonds of marriage, but they have all melded with each other. It was one of the reasons asari commandos are so effective. They share intimate knowledge of each others minds."

That was true; Sam had seen the asari commandos share meldings with one another on a regular basis. This was not to say they had casual sexual intercourse with one another, far from it. But some acts of the mental bonding could be just as close. She also noted that to other squadmates they tended to be more tactile where as if an asari commando was interacting with another species personal space was well and truly respected.

Sam conceded to her bondmate's logic that teaching the asari the _tsunami_ technique would be advantageous in the long run against their war with the Reapers. However teaching it to other races such as humans, turians and krogans and whether or not they could sustain such power was another point. Yes most of Shepard's physiology was still human, but she was bonded to an asari, and her mind forever altered by prothean technology. Had this made a significant difference? The Spectre highly suspected it was so. Could an unbonded or rather an unconditioned mind wield this power?

Then again an argument was that prothean adepts used this technique very skillfully. Were the practitioners bonded to another as Shepard and Liara were? Or were their physiology and mental capabilities enough? Liara said that like the asari all protheans were biotics so more than likely the answer to the latter question was yes.

The conversation took a different turn at this point with Shepard needing to inspect the security measures complex. She trusted her troops explicitly, she knew without a doubt her orders were carried out to the letter by Liara, Garrus and Tali. The shutters to underground arteries had been shut off. On the opposite side of the shutters Garrus had planted proximity mines, which would detonate as soon as enemy forces came within range.

On their side, Tali had programmed Alliance assault drones to hold the line should the minefield be crossed and shutters breached. The same measures were taken for the bridge: the only access point to the apartment complex. While the mercs no doubt would send expendable troops possibly freelancers across first thus clearing the landmines, the measures would decimate enemy numbers. No assault drones were used on the front picket line for it was to be held by a triad of snipers, namely Garrus, Williams and Zaeed.

The biotics would hold the ground floor while Tali took the stairwell with her combat drone Chikkitika and as well as the defensive drone she had yet to name. Her role would also have the task of hacking mercenary mechs, sabotaging and overloading their tech via her omni tool..

During the inspection Liara kept a close eye on the newcomer Zaeed Massani. She gave the human male no trust and was relieved to see that same mistrust reflected in the eyes of Garrus and within the body language of Tali. She knew her bondmate didn't fully trust Massani, either. From Samantha she got a vision of what could only be called a parable. Samantha trusted Zaeed in as much as one could trust a scorpion. It was in their very nature to sting, it was only a matter of when. He had a face well lived in and deeply as scarred as Wrex's. His voice was deep and gruff possibly from far too much whiskey, but that was only speculation on the asari's part.

From his accent Liara knew he hailed from London. Had she asked Samantha, her bondmate would have told her the reason why it wasn't as refined or cultured as others she had heard from the city was because it was Cockney-the slang dialect of the lower classes born sometime in Earth's nineteenth century.

"I've been wondering something, Shepard. Maybe you can help me out here?" the object of Liara's attention spoke.

"What about?"

"Why all this trouble to trap one woman? Clearly you're expecting an invasion. But hell if you want Lawson why not just let her turn herself in, in exchange for her sister's release?"

"You are overlooking one thing, Massani. The very reason I choose Omega in the first place. This is the one place in the whole galaxy that has all three main mercenary companies in one place at any given time. The Blood Pack, Blue Suns and Eclipse are all here. There are also a fair few independents as well. With a single battle I can cull the hordes hunting us significantly.

"I can't fight whole companies of mercs on the _Normandy_. What does it take for mercenaries to decide that mark simply isn't worth it, despite the bounty? I purposely let it be known that I 'took care of Aleena.' I was deliberately vague on how this was done; making sure people drew the wrong conclusions. Battlemaster Urdnought Wrex is already known to be on my 'payroll' and now rumors will spread that he is uniting the krogan clans to later fight under my flag against my enemies. What they don't know is that I intend to use that united front against the one foe that truly matters: the Reapers.

"Now _you_ have joined my crew. Again, it is another strategic strike against the morale of the remaining bounty hunters. I want them…need to them to falter. They are not the true enemy; they are but a symptom, but one that needs to be contained.

"By now word has leaked out as to where Dr Liara T'Soni and her human bondmate are. We already engaged the Blue Suns and Blood Pack in the Gozu district. Radio contact was not cut off in the quarantine zone. What we did there to their numbers will equally spread. Rage and greed will motivate them into reckless action."

"Stirring your enemy into an unthinking lather. Smart." Zaeed nodded his withered and scarred head. The kid had something going on in that brain of hers.

Shepard displayed an expression, Liara had long ago termed as 'that's the idea' look.

"Have to say Shepard, takes a real cold-stone set of balls to use your own wife as bait." Zaeed's voice seemed to sound as if he approved of Shepard's tactics.

"It is a ploy I do not like, but it is necessary." Shepard surprisingly admitted. "Lawson is bound to follow the pack of rabid dogs to the kill zone. Whether she joins them under false pretences as a freelancer or simply trails in their wake is an unknown. But she will be here when we engage the enemy, if only to insure her sister is safe from overzealous hunters her organization hired to kill us."

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMMEMEMEME

Released from Aria's custody with only the words 'Omega is mine, Cerberus. The only law here is mine. Had your people released the plague the Spectre would not have her prey despite what she paid for you."

Miranda was shoved towards one of the private rooms on the lower-floors of the nightclub. A Blue Sun batarian male recruiting freelancers at five hundred credits a head to aid in the storming of the base of the Spectre's asari whore. In turn the operative was pointed to another Blue Sun batarian name Sulki who took her and a couple of others including if Miranda wasn't mistaken the twin salarian egg-sisters known as the Mournful Blades. There was as well some punk kid with a fifty credit pistol trying to make a name for himself. Live or die that was up to the kid, it wasn't Miranda's problem. Way she figured it if he was dumb enough to join up he was doing the human genepool a favor by dying.

A spiteful part of Lawson's mind imagined Shepard pausing at the door of the recruiting room, taking the gun from the boy's hand smashing the side so that the thermal-clip chamber was inoperable making the gun useless. She'd then tell the kid to take a hike. Oh yes a _paragon_ of virtue and yet she kidnaps an innocent girl from her bed just to enact revenge! Shepard paid that tyrannical asari bitch off like some slaver to aid in Miranda's entrapment. Was she behind what the Pirate Queen had done during the forced meld of the interrogation? Somehow Lawson figured that act of depravity was all the alien cunt's doing. But had she known, Miranda believed Shepard would not have made one note of protest. In fact Lawson could see humanity's first Spectre turning to T'Loak and asking for the Pirate Queen to share what she had learned from the mental violation. Miranda's heart became cold. Let the kid die because Shepard would have saved him.

Lawson prowled the merc base sussing out their numbers, fortifications, resources and power. The first barricade was held by the Eclipse. They were dominated by salarians ran by a man named Jaroth. From Cerberus Intelligence, Miranda knew that The Eclipse held twenty percent of Omega and had the corner of eezo market. Apparently this fight was personal for the man as much was it was for Lawson. Jaroth's brother had been killed by the Spectre's turrian bastard.

Stationed just a little further up the road was the second barricade controlled by the Blood Pack. The snarls of the vorcha led Lawson to a great behemoth of a krogan calling himself Garm. He made the claim that the Blood Pack were the true muscle on Omega. Everybody loves them and everybody hates them. Lawson figured Shepard and her crew mostly just hates them.

Garm had a personal beef with the Spectre and her crew. Shepard utterly decimated entire ranks of the Blood Pack in the Gozu district when the plague was still hot. The vorcha wanted her eviscerated. The krogan wanted her head as a hood ornament for his shuttle. Shepard was doing the same in Kima district as she had done in Gozu. Not only had the Spectre been thinning the Blood Pack ranks with her snipers but she had been cornered by Garm and slipped away just as the krogan's reinforcements arrived. It was as if the Spectre had deliberately taunted the krogan battlemaster into a blind fury.

Lawson left the seething practically rapid Blood Pack armed with more knowledge than the Blue Suns or Ellipse had given to her. What was Shepard up to? This was far beyond trapping Lawson, this was a culling. Shepard had gone out of her way not only to turn on a neon sign saying human Spectre here; she was deliberately provoking her enemies into a carefully choreographed confrontation. The enemy forces were going attack but they would so on Shepard's terms and exactly how she wanted them to, when she wanted them to. Her intention was too wipe them out. All of them.

Lawson fond herself once again admiring the Spectre: her tenacity, her machinations, and the sheer simple brilliancy of manipulating her enemy to do what she wanted them to do. It was how the Illusive Man had mentored Miranda. Find out what provokes, stimulates, encourages and demoralizes your opposition and never be afraid to use it. In fact use it with impunity. While it was the core of the Illusive Man's teachings it was not his originally. The manifesto belonged to Sun Tzu.

Apparently Shepard had pushed the three heads of the merc groups into such desperation they had grudgingly forged an alliance with each other. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Apparently aliens used that philosophy as well. However the truce was ever steadily uneasy. Was Shepard counting on that? Hungry mad hounds leashed only by a very thin rotten lead would soon turn on one another despite the scent of their prey on the wind or perhaps because of it. A truce forged in hate is an uneasy alliance at best.

The need to find out more drove Miranda to seek out this Tarak, the leader of the Blue Suns here on Omega. But because she was considered a freelancer the bastard would have nothing to do with her. He sent one of his commanders, a redheaded human woman named Jentha to deal with her.

"This is a lot of fire power to go after one Spectre and a handful of her people. She has what four or five with her?" Lawson said attempting to feign ignorance. "It seems your bosses intend to use us freelancers as fodder. Is Shepard really that powerful?"

Jentha said. "Never put much stalk into myths before, but what they say about Spectres is true. And there is a reason they made Shepard one of them. She and her crew took out several of our troops, not just here but in the Gozu district as well. Yeah she helped to cure the plague but she cut a bloody swatch through our numbers doing it. Not just us the Blood Pack too. Utterly decimated 'em. Not that anyone is going to miss the vorcha but it pissed Garm off someth'em fierce."

"First couple of days the plan was working. But most of you freelancers were either so ill-equipped, inexperienced, or just plain inept, it allowed Shepard's people to easily pick 'em off. It's forcing us to rethink the plan. Most of your kind will be cannon fodder, but you appear to be far more competent. Sulki said you'll going with the Mournful Blades as apart of the infiltration team."

Days! The word hit Miranda like a wrecking ball. She had been out for days?! It seemed like one maybe two hours since Aria forced her way into Lawson's brain stealing information, not days. Miranda had been able to block a great deal of Aria's probing. But each block was awarded with unrelenting migraine pain. Aria was surgically precise in hunting for information about the plague and what Lawson knew of it. She also seemed intent on ripping out information about the Collectors. Even with the special conditioning Cerberus high level operatives were given to withstand such torments, Lawson was unable to fully resist. In the end Miranda was forced to give up what she knew about the elusive beings that called themselves Collectors. Why Aria wanted that Intel, Lawson never knew, she was never told.

When it was over she was dumped into a room with a cot, minimal facilities and three MRE packs and told she could leave at anytime. Anto the batarian thug laughed at her and wished her luck when dealing with Shepard. She was going to need it.

Schooling her face, Lawson continued fishing for what she could learn from the red-headed Blue Sun woman. "Yes he said something along those lines. He wasn't very clear on a lot of details though he was less vague than that recruitment officer back at Afterlife. But if I'm in a job I need as much detail as possible."

Jentha nodded. "Good to see we gained a few brains this new batch. The freelancers are to attack first in conjunction with the infiltration team, followed by the Eclipse and their mechs. Whereas the Blood Pack are going to launch an attack through underground tunnels concurrently with a strike over the bridge, and finally an airborne assault by us supported by Tarak in his Gunship."

"Gunship? Impressive firepower." Miranda said. "So let me get this straight. Shepard decimated your troops and now you're sending more after her? It seems like a suicide run."

"You don't want to be here, freelancer, don't be here." Jentha chided. "But ch'ya. There is a reason for her great success. Being a Spectre's part of it but she has Zaeed Massani on her side. Eyes in Aria's club saw him joining up with her. Even went into the plague zone with her. She has hell of a quad on her to make him do that."

"Massani?! He's very big in the biz and he's what on her payroll?" Miranda was shocked at this.

"Yeah. Tarak says he remembers seeing him at that little shindig Cerberus held to hire a shit-load of bounty hunters and merc bands to go after that T'Soni woman. Shepard already offed that asari huntress Aleena, another big name. And she has Urdnot Wrex assembling an army on her behalf back on that fallout world of the shellbacks. And now she has Zaeed following her like some muzzled junkyard dog."

"Wait. I heard of Wrex." Miranda's duplicitous voice became pitched just right to milk the information from the other human. "She has him assembling an army to what fight you guys? Last I heard she was fighting the geth and Cerberus."

"Geth…and those imaginary Reapers she goes on about and yeah Cerberus. Killing Shepard's kid in her woman's belly may not have been the best move the Talons made; they should have finished the job. But the idiots let the little blue bitch swim away in the Citadel Lake. Yeah Shepard's mad with blind-rage but it's that T'Soni chick that has the real bite.

"According to rumors she has some heavy hitters in the asari underworld now working for her. Entire legions of asari commandos just waiting in the wings on Illium to hit Cerberus hard. Real hard. Not only that but some of the surviving freelancers swear before they tucked-tail and ran like the pussies they are, that T'Soni's able to flay people alive with her mind. That's bullshit. No biotic can do that, not even them asari. It's just scare tactics, nothing more. But her getting troops from Illium? That I can believe."

Miranda took stock in this. Could it be true? Illium was just like Omega only with a better fashion sense. There were a number of underground elements there, not just the Eclipse Sisters. T'Soni's influence ran deep. Of course the young prothean expert would trade on her mother's connections both in the underworld and in the more influential areas within the government. Even Aria was openly dealing with Shepard and T'Soni! The interrogation...Miranda visibly winced in pain for the bitter still very fresh wound of its memory. Once more the operative pondered the very distinct possibility that Shepard or T'Soni ordered it or was as it seemed that Aria done it on her own initiative? Now Miranda wasn't so sure. It was quite possible that T'Soni and not Shepard had made the deal with the Queen of Omega.

And the krogan battlemaster…it was true that Urdnot Wrex was completely devoted to Shepard. It wasn't difficult to believe that on her say-so he'd do just as Jentha said and amass an army. Fuck an army of krogan? How closely paralleled was Shepard to Saren! Did the Spectre even see it? He too had krogan warlords at his beck and call as well as scores of asari commands under another T'Soni's command all doing as the rouge agent ordered. Wrex was more than a mere battlemaster however, he was a clan leader. If he could convince enough krogan clans to unite under him, Shepard would be unstoppable.

Miranda looked over her shoulder to the man leading the Omega Blue Suns. Tarak was the unofficial coordinator of the entire operation, his gang having the most amount of manpower and resources, including the aforementioned gunship. He also seemed to be the most paranoid. A handy tool.

"Look, I have to get back to Tarak. Check in with Sergeant Cathka, he's in charge of the freelancers and infiltration team." Jentha said and walked away.

Miranda left feeling more perplexed than she had when she first started her Intel gathering. For days, (the Cerberus operative still didn't know how many had passed) Shepard and her squad had held out against overwhelming odds and not only held off enemy forces but had them in a panic. Then again this was the same woman who single handedly held off an entire platoon of slavers on Elysium. Now she wasn't alone, she had a number of snipers and biotics with her.

Garrus Vakarian, Zaeed Massani and more than likely Lt. Williams, okay that made three sharpshooters.

Biotics. Shepard was a very powerful one, then Liara who was even stronger than Shepard, that was two. No doubt Shepard had a couple more with her. Since the attack on T'Soni's life the young asari didn't go anywhere out of Shepard's view without a whole contingent of asari commandos. But from what Miranda gathered from the mercs, there seemed to be only Shepard and T'Soni. But there might be the very distinct possibility there was either one or two others-probably asari. And Shepard would have tech experts as well. No doubt that quarian kid Tali'Zorah was tagging along.

'Six confirmed.' Lawson looked around her at the small army amassed. 'She decimated their numbers with so few numbers. And yet she has them bathing in their own fears and paranoia. The Illusive Man is right, there is a reason the Reapers fear her. Shepard will not stop, she will never stop.' She slipped past the second barricade just as two men fell, taken out by snipers. 'It was a mistake to goad her into this course. How much easier would it have been to simply tell her the truth about the colonies, to ask for her help? It's gotten completely out of hand. Her child died because of it and now Oriana is trapped because of it.'

Miranda looked around her dozens of men and woman in varying degrees of hardsuits, and weapons, many belonging to the three main merc bands, dozens more independent. It was a mess. And her little sister was caught up in all of it.

Perhaps there was something to be done to even the odds. Miranda recalled seeing a few mechs in a bay and then there was the gunship.

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"Shepard!" Garrus called out. "We've got more organized moment at the barricades. Looks like their going to be sending a wave of those freelancers."

Shepard sprinted to the balcony to where the turian had positioned himself. He handed her his sniper rifle so she could look through the scope. "Mechs too." she said before pulling the trigger and popping the head off of one of the automatons with a single shot. "One less now." The rifle was handed back to Garrus. "Take your positions people, the enemy is making their final push."

"Hey Skipper you think they got that gunship fixed?" Ash asked with a small hint of satisfaction as it had been her rocket that had grounded the beast in the first place.

"Hard too say. Let's hope not but count on it showing up eventually." Shepard answered.

"Count on it. That son of a bitch Tarak will have had his man Cathka working all hours to get her to fly again." Zaeed piped up. "You can bet your sweet tight ass it'll be here with that old bastard at the stick too."

"Then it is fortunate that we have Tali here." Liara countered confidently. "She took down its shields before; she will be able to do so again."

"Yeah so how'bouts she starts with them mechs down there?" Zaeed pointed below the balcony to a line of mechanoids clanking their way past the barricades blind to their organic comrades falling to sniper fire on all sides.

"I'm on it." Tali called out. Three fingers dances across her omni tool. The Eclipse had such a sheer number of battle-mechs with them they hadn't bothered to shield all of them from being hacked. Tali hacked into one CPU then another and another altering their IFF causing the clankers to turn on one anther.

"Ah crap we have a 'stompy!' Garrus shouted the warning over the hardsuit radio. "Heavy mech at your three Shepard!"

"Copy that!" came the reply. Even as Shepard narrowed the behemoth mechanoid into the scope of her assault rifle the thing turned on its masters and began opening fire. "Excellent work, Tali!" the Spectre complemented.

"It wasn't me." the quarian said.

"Say again."

"It wasn't me. I didn't do it. Something must be corrupted with its IFF. As soon as it was online it turned."

"Take the window!" Shepard ordered meaning for her people to take advantage of chaos caused by the rogue mech as it wouldn't last long.

Shepard and Aleena tossed flash bangs into swarm of mercs, just before they and Liara deployed _shockwaves_ into the cloying smoke, further spreading the chaos as the plague had spread Gozu. From above the sniper's nest rained down hellfire on mech and merc alike.

Miranda remained on the sidelines shielded by a cloaking device. Watching. Waiting. She heard Jaroth growl out that 'if you wanted something done correctly it had to be done yourself.' Not long after Shepard put a bullet into his horned head.

The Spectre's team pulled back, seemingly to assess their new situation and regroup. For a moment Lawson relished the idea of throwing the fact she had reprogrammed the heavy mech's IFF in Shepard's face. Instead she watched, she had to understand, had to see Shepard in action. According to the plans the Blood Pack was next up, Miranda was anxious to see the Spectre up against such voracious numbers.

An alarming blast from below rocked the earth. Antiquated bookcases along the far wall screeched balefully from their moorings and toppled to the floor sending up plumes of centuries old dust. So that's how Garm was going to come up from behind. How long had they been tunneling? Surely such activity could not have gone unnoticed by the Spectre? Or Aria, if what the Pirate Queen claimed was true and there was nothing that happened on Omega that she wasn't aware of. Miranda had learned from Garm that the Spectre had collapsed the tunnels below the complex but the operative had underestimated and undervalued the tenacity of the Blood Pack. She could not help but wonder if the Spectre had hubris.

Miranda like any high operative serving Cerberus knew how many of the famous or rather infamous mercenary bands were organized and started. It was imperative the Illusive Man said to know the organs of your enemy so when it is necessary you can strike a blow to their heart with devastating precision.

The Blood Pack originally a vorcha gang was transformed into a mercenary legion by visionary krogan battlemaster Ganar Wrang. Exiled for striking a female in anger, Wrang obsessed over reclaiming his lost status.

Obsession could be easily exploited; you just had to know how. Clearly Wrang knew how for he did so with the thuggish barely-sentient vorcha. Leading the vorcha pack as a pirate crew, Wrang cultivated recruits and infamy for a decade before incorporating his fighters as a security company across the Skillian Verge. His notoriety ensured his initial public offering for investors made him rich beyond most krogan's dreams. Wrang returned triumphantly to his clan, rallying elders, krogan hordes, and their firepower and biotic support toward professional violence in the Terminus Systems. They had an extraordinary presence on Omega and habitually recruited any krogan or vorcha who wanted to serve. It also seemed that they regularly bred enslaved vorcha, inducting them into service directly from the egg. Disposable shock troops in other words not unlike the tank-bred clone troopers Cerberus had developed.

And just as effective. The vorcha troops cropping up were but a prelude for what was to come.

Still safely concealed behind the cloak Miranda navigated the battlefield, miraculously dodging the firefight from both sides. Tucked away in a corner of the lower apartment's basement she watched as Shepard and T'Soni worked in synchronized harmony. Never before had she seen such phenomenal unity at work. The whole of the team worked in compete unison but it was the two lovers that interested Lawson.

One would place a _stasis-field_ around an enemy the other would use a _warp _or a_ shockwave. Singularities_ and _lifts_, and _pulls_ tore through the ranks. Lawson witnessed T'Soni fling a _pull_ at a krogan charging at them only to be shot point-blank in the face by Shepard's M-77 heavy pistol.

Almost as if sensing her presence the Spectre turned to the spot Miranda had hidden. Still concealed by the cloaking device, Lawson was almost afraid to breathe lest she give herself away. Shepard shook her head apparently deciding she had not seen what she thought she had. She turned away but the instant she did T'Soni turned and pinned Lawson's shadowy corner with a cold stare and what could only be described as a playfully cruel smile. Not unlike the one Aria had displayed when Lawson was brought at gunpoint to the Pirate Queen's court.

They knew! Somehow they knew she was there! They left her where she stood without so much as a word or a raised gun.

"We go in teams of three and three. Stay alert, stay alive. Move out." Shepard barked the orders. Then she turned back to Miranda's corner and mouthed the words: 'You coming?'

Shepard was deliberately tormenting her, Lawson saw it clearly. It was as if she wanted Miranda to witness the forthcoming battle. But why? Posturing? That seemed most likely. But somehow Miranda didn't think being dragged down into the bowels of the complex to show-off battle prowess was so cut and dried. There was another motive at play here. One she could not see. It was like staring at an extreme close up of a paused image on a vid. Look too closely and all you saw were pixels rather than the whole picture.

Lawson was surprised to see how extremely well prepared Shepard's team was to confront the enemy. Within the sub-basement there were three chokepoints that could be shut off by shutters. The one directly off the stairwell had been welded closed, guarded by swarms of Alliance assault drones. They hovered in place, weapons at the ready.

Miranda saw Shepard activate her omni-tool and scan the door. "The seams are holding for now." she proclaimed. "But that blast was big, we need to ensure the other two arteries are secure. Liara, throw a _singularly _at starboard side. We'll go portside first; it has the largest ground to cover."

T'Soni obeyed without question and seemingly without effort summoned the sphere of dark energy, a nebula that would entrap and suspend enemies helplessly above the ground. Once ensnared the effect of the gravitational pull would not last long, but long enough for either the drones to pick off the invaders or for Shepard's team to return and do it.

The emerald skinned asari sprinted ahead of the others, leaving Shepard behind. Once more the Spectre pinned the darkened recess Miranda had chosen to conceal herself with a hard stare. Liara darted past following in the wake of the huntress before Shepard picked up the tail-end. Once more she gave the corner a predatory glance, smirked and disappeared into the shadows of the corridor ahead.

Shepard was defiantly toying with her now, Lawson knew it. The fact the operative was wearing a cloaking shield seemed almost moot. Miranda felt like a swimmer in the ocean just after spotting the dorsal fin of a shark. It peeks up every so often getting closer and closer before disappearing back into the murky depths of the vast waters, leaving behind its trail the cold dread fear of when the beast would strike. You tread water, knowing in the next few moments you were going to feel the jaws snap around you and pull you under.

Shepard was circling. Drawing ever closer. When was she going to close her jaws and drag Miranda into the depths? Shepard's anger was great, her wrath greater still but whose blood was going to be spilled Miranda's or her sister's? Had it been Aria's decision it would have been Oriana's but would the Spectre do the same? How much coaching had the Pirate Queen given Shepard? Had Shepard listened to Omega's matriarch or had she ignored those words of dark wisdom and gone her own way?

Miranda felt like she was drowning in the waters she had been treading. She had never known this kind of fear before, this dread was so completely alien to her but she was far from incapable of coping with it. The shark was closing in.

Lawson scrambled after the Spectre and her asari huntresses. Her hindbrain tripped on that last part. Huntresses. That was exactly what Liara T'Soni had become. Before the death of her baby, Dr. T'Soni was the leading prothean expert in Council space, content with being the scientist and bondmate to humanity's icon of heroics. When her child was murdered the soft-spoke socially awkward woman had been utterly replaced by a huntress. Baptized in the blood of her unborn daughter Dr. Liara T'Soni rose with a heart burning with the cold fire of vengeance. Debts would be repaid, debts T'Soni placed solely at the feet of Cerberus, at Miranda's feet because she was a part of that legacy.

The great depths didn't just have one shark. The one you could see. But there was a larger one, darker one, a more dangerous one because it had been overlooked. Shepard allowed her silhouette to be seen, to rise and fall above the waves as it were all the while the shark you didn't expect ambushed you from the side. It wasn't the Spectre's bite Lawson had to be concerned with, it was T'Soni's.

Shepard's orders were given. Miranda followed the companions into the portside avenue. She expected Shepard to use the highly strategic staggered approach when confronting enemy combatants. What she didn't expect was such an extremely novice mistake of aligning her team behind one of the defunct trucks for cover.

Shepard turned to S'thasa and called out a single word sharp and curt. "Bubble!"

The command was headed immediately. In theory any biotic could cast and maintain a biotic _barrier bubble_ to protect herself and or her comrades. But while her full concentration was locked onto maintaining the _bubble_ she was incapable of performing any aggressive counter action.

Shepard and T'Soni seemed to have some communication shared between them beyond radio contact. Not that Lawson was privy to private radio frequencies used by the _Normandy_ crew but in the manner of their countenance it was a telepathic union that united Spectre and huntress.

Scrapes of bare clawed feet padding across ancient cement echoed more loudly than any shot fired from a gun. The shutters were breached. Waves of vorcha and varren poured through. Relentless bestial blood rage soaked through higher cognitive senses of the enemy causing berserker madness to spread like a disease.

She didn't know what Shepard was planning, but she knew one thing, it was going to be explosive. Following Dr. S'thasa example Lawson generated a biotic _bubble_ to shield herself. She didn't need to know the particulars to know that there was one hell of a storm brewing and she was fuck damn in the middle of its eye.

_Bubble_ erected. Just in time. Both T'Soni and Shepard pulled in the power of a _reave _from all enemies and not just those within a certain radius. Death was in the air. They reached outside the scope of even the more practiced of this discipline and touched every heartbeat that was not protected, drew it in and consumed it utterly.

What Lawson witnessed next she would later describe as a biotic _backdraf_t. Not unlike the explosive event resulting from rapid re-introduction of oxygen to combustion to environment starved of it, the biotic _backdraft_ had the same deadly result. Only this ever-consuming fire was birthed from twin souls working in the perfection of harmony.

Shepard and T'Soni. It will always be Shepard and T'Soni until the ending of the galaxy. There would never be one without the other.

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME

Even as Shepard and her biotic squadmates pushed back the hordes, many of their numbers had filtered through to the upper level. The snipers nest was nearly overrun by the remnants of the Blood Pack but they could not take the seasoned warriors of the _Normandy_. Tali continuously sabotaged their shields and overloading their weapons and barriers. Garrus and Williams held their positions felling one after the other.

Zaeed not yet fully integrated in the team had not found the harmony of the squad's momentum. He had always shifted in the mercurial and danced on one side and then the other. He'd lie; change his priorities with the single one necessity of remaining alive.

Shepard's crew was different. They were like the cells with in a single body, separate but part of a greater whole. They worked in perfect tandem and in the camaraderie that comes with a lifetime of serving together. It had been it seemed eons since the old mercenary witnessed such a thing let alone been allowed to take part of it. But he wasn't a part of it. Was he? He was still very much the outsider, only allowed to have a glimpse. Shepard had compiled one hell of a team.

"Scoped and dropped." the turian cheered out.

"I'm still ahead by two, Vakarian." Williams countered.

"Don't get cocky Williams, those two were varren. Put down two bloodraged vorcha with one bullet then you can boast."

"Humph, that was a lucky shot, you didn't intend for that to happen."

"Still takes skill to take that shot girl." Zaeed quibbled. "Give due where it's due."

"Yeah it was good." Ash agreed. "And look you've got the chance to do it again. We've got more coming through."

"Shepard better get those goddamn shutters closed soon." Grumbled Zaeed "We'll get overwhelmed."

There was a sudden ear-splitting-teeth jarring-ka-boom from the ground floor. All heads turned to an energetic little quarian who had just did a fist pump in the air. She shrugged playfully "What?" and there was a smile in her voice. "You can't hang around a woman like Shepard and not pick a few things up."

Ash was the first to recover. "What did you do?"

She pointed to the one of the pyro-troopers. "When they were all packed up like that I thought what would Shepard do? She'd use an explosive. I overloaded a sticky grenade and flung it at the tanks and…"

"…Boom!" Garrus laughed finishing the young engineer's sentence. "I knew there was a reason I fell for you." He hadn't realized he blurted that last bit out until Ash turned to him and did a double take to Tali.

"Wow, you two hooked up?" Ash was a bit amazed in discovering this.

"Now aint the best time to talk'n about who's shagging who." Zaeed said. "That little girl bought us some time, but not much. The Blood Pack aint finished with us and Tarak is still coming."

Garrus took a determined step forward taking exception to the older human's words against the woman he loved. Ash slipped between the males and placed a hand on the turian's breastplate and hoped she wasn't making a huge mistake. As much as she wanted to see the old codger get a lump or two for his comments against Tali, the scarred bounty hunter had it right; there was a time and place for everything. "Let it go, Garrus. You can pop him one later."

"You're a very lucky human." Garrus growled. "Tali'Zorah vas _Normandy_ deserves more respect from you, Massani. Maybe you should try to remember that if you intend to stay on the crew."

Below Tali smirked behind her helmet no one other than Shepard had charged to her defense so quickly. Garrus doing it, felt different than when Shepard had done so on the Citadel. It made her feel…warm inside.

Another rumbled. Another explosion but not from below, it came from not so far above. "We've got company." Massani said. "Right on time."

"Shepard!" Ash activated her radio. "Get up here; we've got movement on the HUD. SHEPARD!"

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The last of the shutters fell. Broken bodies of varren, vorcha and krogan littered the avenue. Three women fell to their knees breathing heavily, regaining their strength. The shadow drifted along the corridor, the occasional crunch of rubble lost along with the symphony of sounds made by any battle. There were whispers of gentle explorations; the sort that portrays cunning and power. It was answered a sudden and sharp blast, a scream instantly cut short: Miranda was pinned once again by a _stasis field_.

Unlike Aria who commanded her minions to seize her, Lawson was held firmly by the throat by the Spectre's hand. Her body aglow in the cyan power of biotics, her eyes as white as an asari huntress's. She had sprinted to Miranda's shadowy corner so swiftly Lawson had never even seen her move. It was as if Shepard _blinked_ from one spot and existed in the next in the silent break between heartbeats. Shepard had become a shadow. Miranda hadn't even known what hit her until the Spectre was on top of her.

"Let me tell you how this is going to be," said Samantha Shepard, as urgent sounds suddenly filled the corridor. She leaned over the body pinned on the floor. "You will be humanely handcuffed and a neurocollar strapped around your neck for the duration. I understand that operatives of Cerberus are under orders and hypnotic suicidal compulsion to avoid capture. But I'm betting right about now you're fighting that compulsion for the sake of your sister. But just in case you feel the need to carry out that drive, precautions are in play. You will be watched carefully by a team of asari commandos, who apart from being damn fine huntresses are not also burdened with being on my ground team." She intensified the biotic _pulse_'s power and went on in a conversational tone.

"If I put my ground team on you, they'd make a very messy end of you and I'd have to discipline them for doing what the average member of the public might do if they were brave enough and if they had cradled their dead child in their arms. They would do it if only restore in their mind the balance of terror." Shepard flared her biotics, nearly suffocating Miranda. "Often the law treats them gently, if it worries about them at all.

"It's said the anger of a good person is not a problem. Good people have too many rules. They say I'm a paragon of heroic virtue, implying I'm a good person." The biotic _warp_ intensified. "I say a good woman doesn't need rules. Today's not the day to find out why I have so many." Shepard momentarily changed her hold, "You and your organization are nothing but bullies who found it easier and easier and decided that anyone not human wasn't a real person, not like you, and when you know that, there's no crime too big, is there? No crime Cerberus wouldn't do.

"Being a Spectre is what's stopping me from squeezing the life out of an agent of murderers who slew my daughter. Why will I biotically squeeze her only into unconsciousness while despising myself for every fragrant breath I begrudge her? I'll tell you wretch of Cerberus, that what stands between you and sudden death right now is the law you don't acknowledge. And now I'm going to let you go, just in case you die on me, and I can't have that. However, I suggest you don't try and make a run for it, because my ground team is not bound by the same covenant as I am, and some of them can be quite tenacious and are not very fond of Cerberus, especially the quarian. Understand? Then there is my bondmate who has a considerable amount of biotics and knowing the T'Soni temper she will quite probably do things to that would make a batarian slaver-breaker say, 'Whoa, that's going a bit too far.' She has a grudge to pay back; it's a debt she will have paid. You or TIM it's all the same to her."

Miranda was bound as the Spectre promised with only with wrist restraints but with a neurocollar that plugged into the port at the base of her skill where her amp had once been. The collar was a means for law enforcement agents galaxy-wide to apprehend and confine biotic convicts.

*Shepard! Get up here; we've got movement on the HUD. SHEPARD!* Williams' cry belted over the radio.

"Copy that, on our way." Shepard answered. She spun around, her attention for a moment given to another. "Aleena secure Lawson! Take her to the _Normandy_, take all security precautions. Liara with me."

END BOOK ONE

MEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEMEME 

AN1: Inspiration taken heavily from Sir Terry Pratchett, and of course the Bioware's wonderful ME franchise, and .

AN2: I love the new N7 shadows! In fact all the new N7 character in the MP of ME3. Thinking anyone's Shep in any fanfic despite class should have this training, i.e. shadows and slayers for biotics adapt/vanguard types. Destroyers for Soldiers so on and so forth. Or even a mix and match. So yes I gave Shepard the Shadow ability I love their shadow-strike and sword-warp thingy! Why is she displaying only now? (forget the fact we only just saw what they could do) well I have had her training with asari commandos. So I'm going to go with she picked up a few things from them including the echo game and how if you recall Velars taught her to 'see' with biotics. Going to have her had some of that training already being an N7 it's just we were cheated in-game with not having these abilities for Shepard. Oh and the sword…. cue evil maniacal laugh!

AN3: The story is continuing only that if I go on from here the chapter numbers will get ridiculously long as I still have ME3 to hit as well and I'm only in ME2 so BOOK 2 simply is there to restart chapter numbers back to 1


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